Timothy Gardner and Nandita Bolse

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The Biden Administration will release nearly $3.2 billion under the bipartisan Infrastructure Law to assist Americans in lowering their home energy prices. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced Wednesday.

Americans with low incomes spend as much as 30% of their earnings on energy. She said that this investment would allow them to upgrade their homes with better insulation, ventilation and energy-efficient heating and cooling systems, as well as lighting upgrades and other improvements.

Granholm explained that $3.2Billion is more than what the government spends on retrofitting houses every year. Granholm explained that while it might seem small, these changes have an immediate and significant impact on the lives of families by saving them thousands or hundreds of dollars each year.

The federal government upgrades approximately 38,000 homes every year. According to her, the extra amount will make that number 450,000.

Biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill into law in November. It would help create new jobs throughout the nation by providing billions to local and state governments for repairs and expansion of broadband internet access.

In 2021, the average nominal retail electricity price paid by U.S. residential electric customers rose at the fastest rate since 2008, increasing 4.3% from 2020 to 13.72 cents per kilowatt hour, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=51438 (EIA).