energy
How to check your utility rebates before you sign
How to find the actual heat-pump and weatherization rebates on your bill, what DSIRE and ENERGY STAR miss, and which lines have to be on the quote before you treat a discount as real.
The flyer in the driveway is not a program. A real rebate has a name, a sponsor (your utility, your state energy office, or a federal pot the state actually opened), a dollar cap, a list of eligible model numbers, and a person who files the form.
Until those five things are written on the bid, “we’ll handle the rebate” is a hope.
This is the paperwork behind the heat pump quote checklist. Read it when someone knocks $2,000 off because last year’s IRS language is still in the brochure. Heat pump vs furnace is whether to buy. Weatherize first is often a condition of the bigger rebate, not a separate hobby.
Three different pots of money
You are usually stacking three different things, and they don’t share a website.
Your electric or gas utility
A rebate, instant discount, or 0% loan for a heat pump, heat-pump water heater, insulation, or a panel upgrade, paid because you are on that company’s bill. These change by calendar year and often require a contractor on their list.
Your state or city
A tax credit, a clean-heat program, or a point-of-sale discount run by the state energy office. Massachusetts’ Mass Save is this kind of stack (utilities plus a statewide brand). New York’s Clean Heat and EmPower+ are another. The amount on a national blog is not your amount.
Federal money the state has to open
The IRS Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit (that’s 25C on the forms) covered qualifying heat pumps placed in service from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2025, with a yearly cap of $2,000 for heat pumps and heat-pump water heaters, plus up to $1,200 for envelope work, for a combined ceiling of $3,200 in a year.
If the unit starts running in 2026, that credit is not yours to subtract.
IRS: Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit
Separately, the Department of Energy still funds two state-run rebate programs from the Inflation Reduction Act. Home Owner Managing Energy Savings (HOMES) can pay up to $8,000 on a whole-home upgrade that models at least 20% energy savings.
High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebates (HEEHR, still called HEAR on a lot of ENERGY STAR pages) can pay up to $14,000 across appliances, a heat pump, a panel, and wiring for income-qualified households.
Those dollars only exist where your state energy office has launched. DOE’s own page says they are available in select states and tells you to call that office.
DOE: Home Energy Rebates Program
If household income is tight, there is a fourth door: the Weatherization Assistance Program. DOE treats households at or below 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, or that receive Supplemental Security Income, as eligible under its rules, and some states also use LIHEAP’s 60% of state-median-income test.
You apply through a local provider, then you wait. It is not a same-week coupon.
DOE: How to apply for weatherization assistance
Start with the name on the bill
Start with the name on your bill, not with Google. You need the utility, whether the account is residential, and whether you buy electricity and gas from the same company.
A municipal electric that is not on the Mass Save electric-sponsor list will not pay a Mass Save basic heat-pump rebate even if your neighbor’s National Grid account will.
Then use two national search tools, because they catch different programs.
DSIRE
Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency, run by the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center at NC State, is the national catalog of state, utility, local, and federal incentives. Search by ZIP or state, then filter to financial incentives, residential customers, and the technology you are actually buying.
DSIRE tracks investor-owned utilities and generally only co-ops and munis with more than 30,000 customers, so a small town utility can be missing. Analysts typically refresh each listing at least once a year, which is slower than a program that closed last Tuesday.
ENERGY STAR Rebate Finder
The ZIP-code tool for partner rebates on certified products. Use it when you already know the appliance (heat pump, heat-pump water heater, insulation) and you want the offer that is tied to that ENERGY STAR model list. It will not replace DSIRE for a state tax credit or a whole-home performance rebate.
EnergySage, looking at DSIRE in May 2026, counted heat-pump incentives in 49 states plus Washington, D.C., with Alaska the only state that had no heat-pump listing in DSIRE at that snapshot. That is a catalog count, not a promise that your ZIP still has money.
EnergySage: heat pump incentives
After the two search tools, open the rebate page on your utility’s site while you are logged into the account. Instant discounts often only print for participating contractors. If the public page says $750 per heating ton and the contractor portal says the 2026 measure expired, believe the portal.
Up to $8,000 if your state opened HEEHR
ENERGY STAR publishes the federal HEEHR/HEAR caps the statute allows. A heat pump for space heating and cooling can get up to $8,000. A heat-pump water heater can get up to $1,750.
Insulation, air sealing, and ventilation can get up to $1,600. An electric load center (the panel) can get up to $4,000, and wiring up to $2,500.
The combined household ceiling is $14,000. Households under 80% of area median income can be covered up to 100% of cost. 80% to 150% of AMI is capped at 50% of cost. Above 150% AMI you are out of this program.
The rebate is supposed to show up as a point-of-sale discount through an approved contractor, not as a form you mail after the fact.
ENERGY STAR: Home Electrification and Appliances Rebate Program
HOMES is the other federal pot. DOE describes it as a whole-home rebate, all income levels, up to $8,000 on modeled savings of at least 20%, covering insulation, air sealing, heating and cooling, water heaters, ducts, appliances, and lighting. It is not “buy this condenser, get $8,000.”
DOE: Home Energy Rebates Program
EnergySage, citing NASEO’s Residential Energy Efficiency Task Force, listed twelve jurisdictions with the appliance rebates active as of May 6, 2026: Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Washington, D.C., with New Mexico and Rhode Island only partly open.
DOE’s public page is less specific: select states, more details coming, call your energy office. Treat any national “open in these states” table as stale the day after you read it, and confirm on the state site the week you sign.
NASEO: Residential Energy Efficiency Task Force
EnergySage: heat pump incentives
Low-income households under 80% AMI may see the full $8,000 heat-pump cap; moderate-income households between 80% and 150% AMI may see $4,000. EnergySage is explicit that you cannot claim this yourself the way you claimed 25C on Form 5695.
Mass Save publishes 2026 numbers
Massachusetts is useful because Mass Save publishes 2026 numbers instead of “up to $10,000” with no year. Whole-home air-source heat pumps (the heat pump is the only heat) pay $2,650 per ton, capped at $8,500. Partial-home (you keep the boiler or furnace) pays $1,125 per ton, same $8,500 cap.
Basic (you are not displacing oil, propane, gas, or electric resistance: replacing an existing heat pump, conditioning an addition, a summer house) pays $250 per ton, capped at $2,500.
Income-based enhanced incentives go up to $16,000, or to no cost through their turnkey path. Equipment has to be installed in calendar 2026 by a contractor on the Heat Pump Installer Network.
Mass Save: air source heat pumps
Whole-home also wants weatherization proof: built in 2000 or later, a home-energy-assessment report with under $1,000 of weatherization left, or the recommendations from an assessment in 2013 or later already done. Miss that, and they may drop you to the partial-home rate.
Partial-home adds a $500 weatherization bonus if you finish recommended air sealing and insulation in the window they name, and a $500 sizing bonus if the heat pumps are sized to meet the home’s total heating needs.
Their cost example uses a $22,000 average whole-home install from 2022 program data, then $8,500 standard or $16,000 enhanced, which is how they get to a $13,500 or $6,000 net. That $22,000 is their old program average, not your attic.
They also offer a 0% HEAT Loan up to $25,000 toward qualified work. A loan is not a rebate. Put both on the bid as separate lines.
If you don’t live in Massachusetts, steal the shape, not the dollars: program year, installer network, qualified-product list, weatherization gate, per-ton math, application deadline after install, and whether replacing an existing heat pump knocks you into a cheaper tier.
EnergySage’s $15,393 before incentives
EnergySage’s 2026 marketplace average for a heat pump install is $15,393 before incentives. Split by type, that is about $14,529 ducted, $25,957 whole-home ductless, and $14,353 hybrid (heat pump plus furnace).
After the state and local incentives in their tables, those drop to about $13,527, $23,157, and $10,695. The federal 25C credit is not in those 2026 “after incentives” columns.
EnergySage: heat pump incentives
Use those figures to sanity-check a bid, not to pick a brand. A panel upgrade, new ducts, or a long line set will move your number more than the logo.
The 200-amp panel guide is the electrical surprise. The Manual J explainer is how you know the tonnage the rebate is paying for is the tonnage the house needs.
Fake 25C, Mass Save named, or HEAR that has not launched
$12,900 after “incentives”
Line items: 3-ton 18 SEER2 changeout, existing ducts, “$2,000 federal tax credit included,” “utility rebate TBD.” The unit will be placed in service in October 2026.
The $2,000 is last year’s 25C. TBD is not a program name. Add the credit back and you are looking at $14,900 for a catalog page. Send it back.
$17,400 before rebate, Mass Save whole-home named
Load attached. Contractor is on the Heat Pump Installer Network. Model numbers are on the 2026 qualified-product list. Weatherization verification form is in the packet because the house is 1988 and they already did the attic.
Rebate line: $2,650 per ton on 3.2 tons, capped at $8,500, filed by the contractor, equipment installed in calendar 2026. Net they are asking you to plan for is $8,900 if Mass Save pays, $17,400 if the inspection fails. You can argue with this bid because the assumptions are written down.
$16,800, “HEAR $8,000, we handle it”
Your tax return last year was well above 150% of AMI for the county, and your state energy office page still says the federal appliance rebates have not launched. The $8,000 is a ceiling from an ENERGY STAR table, not a reservation in a portal.
Price the job without it. If the state opens later, you can ask whether the program allows work already installed. Don’t sign a net that only works if a closed program pays.
You cannot compare A to B until A names the program.
What’s the program’s real name?
What’s the program’s real name, not “utility rebate” or “IRA”? Mass Save whole-home, Duke Energy residential heat pump, Focus on Energy, Energy Saver NC, your co-op’s 2026 HVAC form.
Who is eligible, in your mouth: residential account at this address, this fuel being replaced, this income band if it is income-based, owner-occupied vs rental.
What’s on the eligible equipment list? AHRI number, ENERGY STAR or the state’s list, cold-climate spec if they require it. A model that is merely “high efficiency” on the invoice can be ineligible.
Who files, and when? The contractor at point of sale, you after inspection, or a reservation before the outdoor unit is ordered. “We’ll handle it” without a date is how the deadline passes while the unit is on a truck.
Does the contractor take the rebate (it should lower what you pay them) or do you file (you pay full freight and wait)? Those are different cash-flow problems.
Can you stack this with other programs? Mass Save will not combine two of its own incentives on the same equipment. Don’t add every ceiling on the internet.
What if the rebate dies? Funds run out. Waitlists happen. Inspections fail. The bid should still be a job you would buy at the gross number.
If the heat-pump water heater is a separate appliance, it is a separate form. The heat-pump water heater guide is that machine. Don’t let one “electrification rebate” line cover both boxes.
Commercial listing, the wrong utility, guessed income
The listing is commercial
DSIRE’s default dump for a ZIP mixes residential, commercial, nonprofit, and government. Filter to residential or you will quote a custom commercial program to yourself.
The utility on the bill is not the sponsor
Gas from one company, electric from a muni, community choice aggregation on the supply side. The rebate follows the sponsor named in the terms, not the logo on the truck.
Income was guessed
AMI is county-specific and household-size-specific. HUD publishes the tables. A contractor saying “you probably qualify” is not a determination.
Weatherization was skipped
Whole-home rates often require the attic first. Doing the condenser now and the cellulose in March can knock you into a cheaper tier, or into no rebate. Put envelope work on the same calendar as the equipment if the program says so.
The federal credit is still in the PDF
Anything placed in service after December 31, 2025 does not get 25C. If you did install in 2025 and have not filed, that is Form 5695 on the 2025 return, which is a tax problem, not a 2026 bid problem.
Pre-approval never happened
Some programs want a reservation in a portal before purchase. Installing first, then asking, is how you donate a condenser to a waitlist.
The small utility never made the database
DSIRE’s FAQ is blunt about co-ops and munis under 30,000 customers. Call the number on the bill.
Who is the utility on the bill?
Pull last month’s electric and gas bills. Who is the utility, what kind of account is it, and do you own the house?
Search DSIRE by ZIP, filter to residential financial incentives for the equipment you are actually buying, and save the program pages as PDFs, because they change.
Run the same ZIP through ENERGY STAR Rebate Finder for the certified product you want.
Open your utility’s rebate portal (logged in) and your state energy office’s HOMES / HEEHR page. Is the program launched, waitlist, or not yet?
If income might be under 200% of poverty or 150% of AMI, start the WAP and state-rebate income screens in parallel, because those queues are slow.
Put the surviving program names, dollar caps, who files, and the application deadline on every heat-pump bid, and add the credit back if anyone still subtracted 25C for a 2026 install.