The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has lax information requirements for recipients of the Biden-Harris administration’s home energy rebates, leaving the program open to fraud and abuse, a report released Monday said. [emphasis, links added]
President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 allocates about $4.3 billion for states to implement rebate programs to encourage consumers to buy appliances.
Now, a report from the Department of Energy’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) finds that the department’s Office of State and Community Energy Programs (SCEP) is responsible for distributing grants to U.S. states and territories Failure to require states to independently confirm applicants’ income levels or even collect basic data such as Social Security numbers puts the program at risk of criminal exploitation.
“What is certain is that the nearly $4.3 billion SCEP provides to states under the Housing Kickback Program will become high-value targets for individuals and criminal groups to exploit,” Teri Donaldson of the Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General wrote in the report.
“SCEP did not utilize the best practices of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC) to implement an effective fraud prevention program.”
The OIG report found SCEP’s failure to require states to verify an applicant’s Social Security information could result in “double withdrawals,” in which an applicant applies for a tax refund multiple times.
The report also found that SCEP allows applicants to “self-certify” their income levels, leaving ample room for abuse because rebate amounts are partly tied to household income.
DOE updated revenue reporting guidance in March 2024 after OIG expressed concerns about SCEP internally and told states Remove access to allow only a limited group of applicants to self-certify, such as those who live in disadvantaged neighborhoods or low-income census tracts, According to reports.
“The Department believes that requiring the collection of Social Security numbers is inappropriate for purposes of this program. The program incorporates a number of other data collection requirements that would provide greater fraud prevention capabilities without incurring the burden of collecting SSNs.” risk,” a Department of Energy spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The Department of Energy is committed to fraud prevention as a fundamental component of grant administration and the proper stewardship of taxpayer funds.”
An August DCNF analysis of IRS data found that people making six figures were more than three times as likely to apply for the Biden-Harris administration's residential energy tax credit.
Another DCNF analysis in January 2024 found Under White House rules, elite areas such as Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard are eligible for “low-income” electric vehicle (EV) subsidies.
Read the break from The Daily Caller
