in particular it was argued that they have not been very demanding and that negotiating and monitoring the agreements was also a resourceintensive process in contrast empirical studies also showed that the full levy but not the agreement was successful in promoting energy efficiency and innovation suggesting that there is a case for the abolition of the latter below three programmes are discussed the rural energy for america program reap eqip and the water and waste disposal program in addition reap can no longer provide funding for feasibility study grants nor for blender pumps due to the exclusion of retail energydelivery mechanisms in the modified definition of renewable energy system councils ie nonprofit entities or affiliates are now eligible to apply for energy audit and renewable energy development assistance grants although the programme s funding is reduced to usd million in mandatory funding and usd million in discretionary funding per fiscal year from through the programme continues to provide assistance to agricultural producers and small businesses in rural areas for adopting renewable energy and improving energy efficiency