II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1914 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a credit for 

performance based home energy improvements, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 18, 2011 

Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Mr. BINGAMAN, and Mrs. FEINSTEIN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

a credit for performance based home energy improvements, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; ETC. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Cut Energy Bills at Home Act’’. 

6 (b) AMENDMENT OF 1986 CODE.—Except as other7 wise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amend8 ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment 

9 to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference 


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1 shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi2 sion of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

3 SEC. 2. PERFORMANCE BASED HOME ENERGY IMPROVE4 MENTS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart A of part IV of sub6 chapter A of chapter 1 is amended by adding at the end 

7 the following new section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 25E. PERFORMANCE BASED ENERGY IMPROVE9 MENTS. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual, 

11 there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed 

12 by this chapter for the taxable year for a qualified whole 

13 home energy efficiency retrofit an amount determined 

14 under subsection (b). 

15 ‘‘(b) AMOUNT DETERMINED.— 

16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (4), 

17 the amount determined under this subsection is 

18 equal to— 

19 ‘‘(A) the base amount under paragraph 

20 (2), increased by 

21 ‘‘(B) the amount determined under para22 graph (3). 

23 ‘‘(2) BASE AMOUNT.—For purposes of para24 graph (1)(A), the base amount is $2,000, but only 

25 if the energy use for the residence is reduced by at 


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1 least 20 percent below the baseline energy use for 

2 such residence as calculated according to paragraph 

3 (5). 

4 ‘‘(3) INCREASE AMOUNT.—For purposes of 

5 paragraph (1)(B), the amount determined under this 

6 paragraph is $500 for each additional 5 percentage 

7 point reduction in energy use. 

8 ‘‘(4) LIMITATION.—In no event shall the 

9 amount determined under this subsection exceed the 

10 lesser of— 

11 ‘‘(A) $5,000 with respect to any residence, 

12 or 

13 ‘‘(B) 30 percent of the qualified home en14 ergy efficiency expenditures paid or incurred by 

15 the taxpayer under subsection (c) with respect 

16 to such residence. 

17 ‘‘(5) DETERMINATION OF ENERGY USE REDUC18 TION.—For purposes of this subsection— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The reduction in en20 ergy use for any residence shall be determined 

21 by modeling the annual predicted percentage re22 duction in total energy costs for heating, cool23 ing, hot water, and permanent lighting. It shall 

24 be modeled using computer modeling software 

25 approved under subsection (d)(2) and a baseline 


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1 energy use calculated according to subsection 

2 (d)(1)(C). 

3 ‘‘(B) ENERGY COSTS.—For purposes of 

4 subparagraph (A), the energy cost per unit of 

5 fuel for each fuel type shall be determined by 

6 dividing the total actual energy bill for the resi7 dence for that fuel type for the most recent 

8 available 12-month period by the total energy 

9 units of that fuel type used over the same pe10 riod. 

11 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED HOME ENERGY EFFICIENCY EX12 PENDITURES.—For purposes of this section, the term 

13 ‘qualified home energy efficiency expenditures’— 

14 ‘‘(1) means any amount paid or incurred by the 

15 taxpayer during the taxable year for a qualified 

16 whole home energy efficiency retrofit, including the 

17 cost of diagnostic procedures, labor, and modeling, 

18 ‘‘(2) includes only measures that have an aver19 age estimated life of 5 years or more as determined 

20 by the Secretary, after consultation with the Sec21 retary of Energy, 

22 ‘‘(3) does not include any amount which is paid 

23 or incurred in connection with any expansion of the 

24 building envelope of the residence, and 


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1 ‘‘(4) does not include improvements to swim2 ming pools or hot tubs or any other expenditure spe3 cifically excluded by the Secretary, after consultation 

4 with the Secretary of Energy. 

5 ‘‘(d) QUALIFIED WHOLE HOME ENERGY EFFI6 CIENCY RETROFIT.—For purposes of this section— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified whole 

8 home energy efficiency retrofit’ means the implemen9 tation of measures placed in service during the tax10 able year intended to reduce the energy use of the 

11 principal residence of the taxpayer which is located 

12 in the United States. A qualified whole home energy 

13 efficiency retrofit shall— 

14 ‘‘(A) be designed, implemented, and in15 stalled by a contractor which is— 

16 ‘‘(i) accredited by the Building Per17 formance Institute (hereafter in this sec18 tion referred to as ‘BPI’) or a preexisting 

19 BPI accreditation-based State certification 

20 program with enhancements to achieve 

21 State energy policy, 

22 ‘‘(ii) a Residential Energy Services 

23 Network (hereafter in this section referred 

24 to as ‘RESNET’) accredited Energy Smart 

25 Home Performance Team, or 


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1 ‘‘(iii) accredited by an equivalent cer2 tification program approved by the Sec3 retary, after consultation with the Sec4 retary of Energy, for this purpose, 

5 ‘‘(B) install a set of measures modeled to 

6 achieve a reduction in energy use of at least 20 

7 percent below the baseline energy use estab8 lished in subparagraph (C), using computer 

9 modeling software approved under paragraph 

10 (2), 

11 ‘‘(C) establish the baseline energy use by 

12 calibrating the model using sections 3 and 4 

13 and Annex D of BPI Standard BPI–2400–S– 

14 2011: Standardized Qualification of Whole 

15 House Energy Savings Estimates, or an equiva16 lent standard approved by the Secretary, after 

17 consultation with Secretary of Energy, for this 

18 purpose, 

19 ‘‘(D) document the measures implemented 

20 in the residence through photographs taken be21 fore and after the retrofit, including photo22 graphs of its visible energy systems and enve23 lope as relevant, and 

24 ‘‘(E) implement a test-out procedure, fol25 lowing guidelines of the applicable certification 


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1 program specified under clause (i) or (ii) of 

2 subparagraph (A), or equivalent guidelines ap3 proved by the Secretary, after consultation with 

4 the Secretary of Energy, for this purpose, to 

5 ensure— 

6 ‘‘(i) the safe operation of all systems 

7 post retrofit, and 

8 ‘‘(ii) that all improvements are in9 cluded in, and have been installed accord10 ing to, standards of the applicable certifi11 cation program specified under clause (i) 

12 or (ii) of subparagraph (A), or equivalent 

13 standards approved by the Secretary, after 

14 consultation with the Secretary of Energy, 

15 for this purpose. 

16 For purposes of subparagraph (A)(iii), an orga17 nization or State may submit an equivalent cer18 tification program for approval by the Sec19 retary, in consultation with the Secretary of 

20 Energy. The Secretary shall approve or deny 

21 such submission not later than 180 days after 

22 receipt, and, if the Secretary fails to respond in 

23 that time period, the submitted equivalent cer24 tification program shall be considered approved. 


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1 ‘‘(2) APPROVED MODELING SOFTWARE.—For 

2 purposes of paragraph (1)(B), the contractor shall 

3 use modeling software certified by RESNET as fol4 lowing the software verification test suites in section 

5 4.2.1 of RESNET Publication No. 06–001 or cer6 tified by an alternative organization as following an 

7 equivalent standard, as approved by the Secretary, 

8 after consultation with the Secretary of Energy, for 

9 this purpose. 

10 ‘‘(3) DOCUMENTATION.—The Secretary, after 

11 consultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall pre12 scribe regulations directing what specific documenta13 tion is required to be retained or submitted by the 

14 taxpayer in order to claim the credit under this sec15 tion, which shall include, in addition to the photo16 graphs under paragraph (1)(D), a form approved by 

17 the Secretary that is completed and signed by the 

18 qualified whole home energy efficiency retrofit con19 tractor under penalties of perjury. Such form shall 

20 include— 

21 ‘‘(A) a statement that the contractor fol22 lowed the specified procedures for establishing 

23 baseline energy use and estimating reduction in 

24 energy use, 


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1 ‘‘(B) the name of the software used for 

2 calculating the baseline energy use and reduc3 tion in energy use, the percentage reduction in 

4 projected energy savings achieved, and a state5 ment that such software was certified for this 

6 program by the Secretary, after consultation 

7 with the Secretary of Energy, 

8 ‘‘(C) a statement that the contractor will 

9 retain the details of the calculations and under10 lying energy bills for 5 years and will make 

11 such details available for inspection by the Sec12 retary or the Secretary of Energy, if so re13 quested, 

14 ‘‘(D) a list of measures installed and a 

15 statement that all measures included in the re16 duction in energy use estimate are included in, 

17 and installed according to, standards of the ap18 plicable certification program specified under 

19 clause (i) or (ii) of subparagraph (A), or equiv20 alent standards approved by the Secretary, 

21 after consultation with the Secretary of Energy, 

22 ‘‘(E) a statement that the contractor meets 

23 the requirements of paragraph (1)(A), and 


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1 ‘‘(F) documentation of the total cost of the 

2 project in order to comply with the limitation 

3 under subsection (b)(4)(B). 

4 ‘‘(e) ADDITIONAL RULES.—For purposes of this sec5 tion— 

6 ‘‘(1) NO DOUBLE BENEFIT.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to any 

8 residence, no credit shall be allowed under this 

9 section for any taxable year in which the tax10 payer claims a credit under section 25C. 

11 ‘‘(B) RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS AND

12 APPLIANCES.—In the case of a renewable en13 ergy system or appliance that qualifies for an14 other credit under this chapter, the resulting re15 duction in energy use shall not be taken into 

16 account in determining the percentage energy 

17 use reductions under subsection (b). 

18 ‘‘(C) NO DOUBLE BENEFIT FOR CERTAIN

19 EXPENDITURES.—The term ‘qualified home en20 ergy efficiency expenditures’ shall not include 

21 any expenditure for which a deduction or credit 

22 is claimed by the taxpayer under this chapter 

23 for the taxable year or with respect to which 

24 the taxpayer receives any Federal energy effi25 ciency rebate. 


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1 ‘‘(2) PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE.—The term ‘prin2 cipal residence’ has the same meaning as when used 

3 in section 121. 

4 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULES.—Rules similar to the 

5 rules under paragraphs (4), (5), (6), (7), and (8) of 

6 section 25D(e) and section 25C(e)(2) shall apply, as 

7 determined by the Secretary, after consultation with 

8 the Secretary of Energy. 

9 ‘‘(4) BASIS ADJUSTMENTS.—For purposes of 

10 this subtitle, if a credit is allowed under this section 

11 with respect to any expenditure with respect to any 

12 property, the increase in the basis of such property 

13 which would (but for this paragraph) result from 

14 such expenditure shall be reduced by the amount of 

15 the credit so allowed. 

16 ‘‘(5) ELECTION NOT TO CLAIM CREDIT.—No 

17 credit shall be determined under subsection (a) for 

18 the taxable year if the taxpayer elects not to have 

19 subsection (a) apply to such taxable year. 

20 ‘‘(6) MULTIPLE YEAR RETROFITS.—If the tax21 payer has claimed a credit under this section in a 

22 previous taxable year, the baseline energy use for the 

23 calculation of reduced energy use must be estab24 lished after the previous retrofit has been placed in 

25 service. 


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1 ‘‘(f) TERMINATION.—This section shall not apply 

2 with respect to any costs paid or incurred after December 

3 31, 2016. 

4 ‘‘(g) SECRETARY REVIEW.—The Secretary, after con5 sultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall establish a 

6 review process for the retrofits performed, including an es7 timate of the usage of the credit and a statistically valid 

8 analysis of the average actual energy use reductions, uti9 lizing utility bill data collected on a voluntary basis, and 

10 report to Congress not later than June 30, 2014, any find11 ings and recommendations for— 

12 ‘‘(1) improvements to the effectiveness of the 

13 credit under this section, and 

14 ‘‘(2) expansion of the credit under this section 

15 to rental units.’’. 

16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

17 (1) Section 1016(a) is amended— 

18 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para19 graph (36), 

20 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

21 paragraph (37) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and 

22 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

23 paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(38) to the extent provided in section 

25 25E(e)(4), in the case of amounts with respect to 


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1 which a credit has been allowed under section 

2 25E.’’. 

3 (2) Section 6501(m) is amended by inserting 

4 ‘‘25E(e)(5),’’ after ‘‘section’’. 

5 (3) The table of sections for subpart A of part 

6 IV of subchapter A chapter 1 is amended by insert7 ing after the item relating to section 25D the fol8 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 25E. Performance based energy improvements.’’. 

9 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

10 this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred for 

11 a qualified whole home energy efficiency retrofit placed in 

12 service after December 31, 2011. 

Æ 


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