Eligibility & requirements. Comfort Partners is a free energy-saving and education program for low-income New Jersey homeowners and renters. Per the federal LIHEAP Clearinghouse, eligibility is set at or below 225% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, with priority for Universal Service Fund participants with high energy use. Participants must be customers of the participating electric or gas utilities. A BPI-certified contractor performs the work.
What you get. A free home energy audit plus direct installation of recommended measures at no charge, which can include efficient lighting, water heater replacement and water conservation measures, refrigerator and freezer replacement, thermostats, insulation upgrades, air sealing, duct sealing and repair, heating and cooling equipment repair or replacement, and custom measures. NJBPU materials describe typical bill reductions of 15–35% through the personalized upgrade plan.
Deadlines. No fixed end date is published; the program runs continuously subject to utility funding. Apply through New Jersey's Clean Energy Program.
How it works. Eligible households apply (call 1-800-915-8309 or apply via njcleanenergy.com). A BPI-certified contractor conducts the audit, selects cost-effective measures guided by a spending calculation based on the home's past energy consumption, and installs everything free of charge, including energy education.
Important notes. All measures and installation are free - there is no copay. Work already completed cannot be reimbursed, so apply before starting upgrades. Households struggling with bills may also qualify for the Universal Service Fund (bill credits up to $1,800/year) and the federal Weatherization Assistance Program.
Program details change - verify current rules on the official program page before applying.
Why a free upgrade plan cuts the bill instead of covering it
Comfort Partners installs improvements in the home rather than paying a utility bill, and that distinction is the point of the program's personalized upgrade plan. The record lists the eligible measures: efficient lighting, water heater replacement and water conservation measures, refrigerator and freezer replacement, thermostats, insulation upgrades, air sealing, duct sealing and repair, heating and cooling equipment repair or replacement, and custom measures. Each one lowers the amount of energy the home needs, so the saving repeats every billing cycle after the work is done. That is the contrast with the Universal Service Fund, which this record names alongside the program: USF credits of up to $1,800 per year pay down bills, while Comfort Partners changes the house so the bills start lower.
The personalized plan matters because no two homes waste energy the same way. The record says a BPI-certified contractor conducts the audit and selects cost-effective measures guided by a spending calculation based on the home's past energy consumption. The audit decides whether the priority is an aging refrigerator, a duct system leaking conditioned air, or missing insulation, rather than handing every household the same kit. A home with high usage gets a plan shaped around where that usage actually goes.
Who it is for
Comfort Partners serves low-income New Jersey households, both homeowners and renters. The record sets eligibility at or below 225% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, citing the federal LIHEAP Clearinghouse, with priority for Universal Service Fund participants with high energy use. Participants must be customers of the participating utilities: PSE&G, Elizabethtown Gas, NJ Natural Gas, South Jersey Gas, Atlantic City Electric, Jersey Central Power & Light, or Rockland Electric.
Renters qualify under the record, which is worth stating plainly because weatherization help is often assumed to be owner-only. High energy use relative to income is the priority signal: the program is built for households whose bills take the largest bite, and the USF priority means a household already known to its utility as struggling is first in line.
The eligibility figure is a guideline multiple, not a dollar amount this page will quote, because the dollar threshold moves with household size and the current federal guidelines. The 225% figure and the utility list are the two screens to confirm before applying; the program's intake channel can give the current reading for a specific household.
How claiming works, step by step
- Confirm the two screens. Check that your household is at or below 225% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines, and that your electric or gas service comes from one of the participating utilities named in this record.
- Apply before doing any work. Apply through New Jersey's Clean Energy Program: call 1-800-915-8309 or apply at njcleanenergy.com. The record states that already completed work cannot be reimbursed, so the application comes before any contractor, quote or upgrade.
- Complete the home energy audit. A BPI-certified contractor audits the home, per this record, and identifies the cost-effective measures for that specific property.
- Review the personalized plan. The contractor selects measures guided by a spending calculation based on the home's past energy consumption. Ask what the audit found and which measures made the cut, so the plan reflects the house you live in.
- Have the work installed at no charge. The contractor installs the selected measures free of charge, including the energy education component described in this record. There is no copay.
This record does not publish a document checklist, and this page will not invent one. Utility account proof, income documentation and proof of residence are the kinds of items program intake asks for, but the intake channel sets the current list, so ask it directly and arrive with the papers it names. The EnergyBS home energy audit checklist explains what an energy assessment documents, which helps a household read its own audit findings before work begins.
Worked example (hypothetical)
This record reports one quantified NJBPU figure: typical bill reductions of 15 to 35% through the personalized upgrade plan. The arithmetic below uses only that percentage band and a labelled hypothetical bill, so it is not read as a promised result.
Take a hypothetical household with a $2,400 annual energy bill. A 15% reduction is $360 per year; a 35% reduction is $840 per year. Over five years at those rates, the cumulative saving is $1,800 at the low end of the band and $4,200 at the high end. The record says typical reductions, not guaranteed ones: a home whose audit finds an old refrigerator and major duct leaks may land differently from a home where the audit mostly selects lighting and air sealing. Treat these as scale arithmetic on the record band, not a forecast for any one address.
The spending calculation the record describes runs in the same direction. Measures are selected based on what the home's past consumption shows is cost-effective, which means the contractor's plan is the household-level version of this arithmetic: put the free measures where this home's energy waste actually is.
How it sits with other household support
Keep the three New Jersey routes distinct, because they solve different problems. Comfort Partners installs free efficiency measures that lower future bills. The Universal Service Fund, which this record names alongside it, provides bill credits of up to $1,800 per year for struggling households: it pays bills, it does not fix the house. The federal Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) is the national cousin of Comfort Partners and works through state and local agencies rather than NJ utilities. A household can ask about each in the same season, because bill help and house fixes stack rather than compete.
The program is also separate from LIHEAP, the federal bill-payment safety net described in the LIHEAP entry. The ordering is practical: bill assistance stabilizes the account now, while Comfort Partners and weatherization aim to make next year's bills smaller. After work is installed, the electric bill guide shows how to check whether consumption actually fell, which is the household-level proof that the upgrade plan did its job.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Comfort Partners cost anything? No. The record states that all measures and installation are free, with no copay: the audit, the installed measures and the energy education are provided at no charge to eligible households.
Can renters apply? Yes. The record describes the program as serving low-income homeowners and renters, as long as they are customers of the participating utilities and meet the income threshold. A renter should confirm with intake whether the property owner needs to agree to installed work before the audit is booked.
What does the contractor actually install? The record lists efficient lighting, water heater replacement and water conservation measures, refrigerator and freezer replacement, thermostats, insulation upgrades, air sealing, duct sealing and repair, heating and cooling equipment repair or replacement, and custom measures. Which of these a household receives is decided by the BPI-certified contractor's audit and the spending calculation based on the home's past energy consumption, not by request.
Is there an application deadline? No fixed end date is published. The record says the program runs continuously subject to utility funding, and advises applying through New Jersey's Clean Energy Program. Apply before starting any upgrades, because already completed work cannot be reimbursed.
Program details change - verify current rules on the official program page before applying.