Heat Pump Rebates by State: Federal HEEHR and HOMES Status and the End of the 25C Tax Credit (2026)

Federal home energy rebate registry, 50 states and DC

Checked Checked once for this edition; to be rechecked monthly while DOE's Program Notice changes roll out. Last checked 2026-11-02. Entries are neutral records of public data; each links to its source record.

Heat pump rebates by state on November 2, 2026: 13 launched, 2 now closed, 36 never started

Thirteen jurisdictions have launched a federal Home Energy Rebates program. On the date we checked, 6 were taking applications, 5 were open only for some measures, areas or housing types, and California and Colorado had stopped taking new single-family heat pump applications.

HEEHR and HOMES: HEEHR (High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebates, called HEAR or HEEHRA until DOE renamed it in May 2026) is the income-limited point-of-sale rebate in sec. 50122 of the Inflation Reduction Act; it covers heat pumps up to $8,000. HOMES (sec. 50121) pays for modeled or measured whole-home energy savings at any income level. Both are run by state energy offices with DOE grants.

Launched: A state counts as launched when its energy office or program page says households can apply or receive rebates. An award from DOE, an approved plan, or a contractor registration drive is not a launch.

The launched list barely moved in nearly two years. DOE's January 17, 2025 dataset showed 12 launched jurisdictions; Indiana's Office of Energy Development added the Indiana Energy Saver Program on May 14, 2025, which is consistent with DOE's count of 13 states on February 6, 2026 and with the Building Performance Association's June 2026 count of twelve states plus DC.

Texas, Montana, Illinois and Hawaii each say on their own energy office pages that their programs are not yet open. For the other 32 not-launched states we found no launch notice on the state page opened, and those rows are marked interpretation needed.

For an HVAC owner, the registry answers one practical question: in 36 states there is no federal rebate a contractor can put on an invoice in November 2026.

Since the September 2026 deadline, a gas furnace swap no longer qualifies for HEEHR

DOE's Program Notice 26-2 removed fuel switching from HEEHR. Rebates now pay to replace existing electric equipment with more efficient electric equipment, or for new construction, and homes must be insulated and air sealed first unless they already meet a state-set level.

Program Notice 26-2 took effect May 29, 2026 and gave launched programs three months to comply. Existing approved reservations could still be paid; new reservations had to follow the new rules.

North Carolina's Energy Saver program states that from Sept. 1, 2026 its HEAR rebates no longer cover replacing gas or other fossil fuel appliances, while electric-to-electric upgrades are allowed and insulation or air sealing may be required with a heat pump project.

The same notice lets a home keep its existing fossil fuel HVAC system when a heat pump is added, even if the heat pump is not the primary heat source.

What it means for an HVAC company: the federal rebate now fits replacing electric resistance heat, an old heat pump or a straight air conditioner paired with electric heat, not a gas or oil furnace changeout.

The 25C heat pump tax credit ended for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025

Public Law 119-21, signed July 4, 2025, amended 26 U.S.C. 25C(h) so the credit does not apply to property placed in service after December 31, 2025. For 2023 to 2025 the credit was 30% of qualified cost, up to $2,000 a year for a qualifying heat pump plus $1,200 for other items.

The statute keys on the date property is placed in service, not the purchase or contract date. A heat pump installed and running in 2026 earns no 25C credit. Section 70506 of the same law ended the 25D residential clean energy credit for expenditures made after December 31, 2025.

25C was a nonrefundable tax credit claimed on the owner's return. HEEHR and HOMES are rebates taken off the price at the point of sale or paid to the contractor, and HEEHR is limited to households at or below 150% of area median income. The two were never interchangeable: the credit reached higher-income owners, the rebate is aimed at lower-income ones.

2,612,610 returns claimed the 25C credit for 2023, led by Maine and New Hampshire

IRS state data for tax year 2023, the first year of the expanded credit and the latest year published by state, show 2,612,610 returns claiming 25C for $2.32 billion, or 16.3 claims for every 1,000 individual returns.

Maine filers claimed 25C at 29.9 per 1,000 returns, New Hampshire and Vermont at 27.8, Connecticut at 25.3 and Massachusetts at 25.1. Hawaii was lowest at 5.1, followed by Oklahoma at 9.1. The Congressional Research Service reported the same pattern from preliminary data, with Maine at 3.0% of filers and Hawaii at 0.5%; our table adds all 51 jurisdictions and uses the IRS state file, which covers every return filed in calendar 2024.

The average credit per claiming return was $890 nationally. CRS found that central air conditioners were claimed by 21% of 25C recipients in 2023, one of the most common items after insulation and windows.

The 25D residential clean energy credit was claimed on 1,518,210 returns for $7.79 billion. Together the two credits reached $10.12 billion for 2023, 26.7% more than the combined residential energy credit of $7.98 billion for 2022. IRS stopped reporting the combined field in 2023, so return counts cannot be compared across the two years.

For an owner, the claim rate is a rough map of where homeowners were used to asking about tax-credit-eligible equipment; those are the markets where the loss of 25C is most likely to come up at the kitchen table in 2026.

Taxpayers in states that never launched a rebate claimed 64.6% of 2023 25C dollars

Grouping each state's 2023 25C claims by its rebate status on November 2, 2026 shows the 37 jurisdictions that never launched (36 awarded but not launched, plus South Dakota) accounted for 64.5% of claims and $1.50 billion of credits, 64.6% of the total.

Florida taxpayers claimed $151.1 million of 25C credits in 2023, Texas $144.9 million and Pennsylvania $129.7 million. None of the three had launched a federal home energy rebate on November 2, 2026.

Adding California and Colorado (closed) and West Virginia (pilot only) brings the share to 75.6% of 2023 25C dollars, or $1.76 billion, in places where a typical homeowner could not get a federal heat pump rebate on the day we checked.

The point for an HVAC business: in about two thirds of the 2023 credit market, the federal incentive simply disappeared at the end of 2025. Any pricing or financing plan built around a $2,000 credit needs to be rebuilt without one.

Launched programs had reached 17,482 households by February 2026

DOE's February 6, 2026 update counted 17,482 households served and about $100 million in rebates across 20 launched programs, against 2,612,610 returns that claimed 25C in a single tax year.

HEEHR programs had served 16,047 homes and HOMES programs 710. Rebates averaged about $5,720 per household served, by our division of DOE's rounded $100 million by 17,482 households.

That is about 149.4 25C claims in 2023 for every household that had received a federal rebate by early 2026. The comparison mixes one tax year with roughly two years of rebates and an income-limited program with an open credit, so read it as a scale check, not a substitution rate.

The $100 million paid was 1.17% of the $4.3 billion HOMES and $4.275 billion state HEEHR appropriations, which remain available through September 30, 2031.

Allocations run from $37 to $269 per household

The statute splits funds by the State Energy Program formula in effect on January 1, 2022, and small states end up with far more per household. Dividing each allocation by 2025 households gives $59.8 per household for the 50 states and DC, from $269 in Wyoming to $37 in Florida.

Set against 2023 credit claims, the 51 allocations total $8.02 billion, about 3.5 years of 2023 25C dollars. The ratio ranges from 24.3 years in Hawaii, where few filers claimed 25C, to 1.6 years in Massachusetts, where many did.

Allocations cover rebates and program administration, and the money is spread over several years, so per-household dollars are an upper bound on what any one year of rebates can deliver.

Two thirds of 25C dollars went to returns with AGI over $100,000

The IRS file splits 2023 25C claims by adjusted gross income. Returns with AGI of $100,000 or more received 63.4% of 25C dollars; returns under $50,000 received 8.8%.

CRS reached a similar split from preliminary data, finding that more than 62% of benefits went to filers with incomes of $100,000 or more. The rebate programs point the other way: HEEHR is limited to households at or below 150% of area median income and pays up to 100% of cost below 80% of area median income.

For an HVAC company, the customer who used the tax credit and the customer who qualifies for HEEHR are mostly different households. The credit's end hits the higher-income replacement market; the rebate, where open, reaches income-qualified homes through registered contractors.

What this registry can and cannot tell an HVAC owner

The registry records what official pages said on one date. Programs open, pause and reopen, and several states publish status only on pages that block automated reading.

• Equipment shipments and adoption trends are covered in our heat pump sales report; this report covers incentives only.
• A launched program can still exclude most homes: Maine limits HEEHR to mobile homes and new affordable multifamily buildings, and Georgia's single-family HEAR now covers only wiring and panels alongside a whole-home project.
• Utility and state-funded heat pump incentives (for example Colorado's state heat pump tax credit or New York's Clean Heat program) are outside this registry.
• The site's main guide for owners thinking about selling an HVAC company is on the home page.

Counts and distributions

Download the calculations (CSV)

Key findings

1. 11 of 51 jurisdictions were accepting at least some federal Home Energy Rebates applications on November 2, 2026.^{[18][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]}
2. DOE counted 13 states with launched programs and 20 launched programs on February 6, 2026.^[4]
3. The 13 launched jurisdictions match DOE's January 17, 2025 list of 12 (11 states and DC) plus Indiana, which launched on May 14, 2025.^[2][30]
4. California's HEEHRA Phase I rebates were fully reserved as of August 31, 2026, with Phase II not yet announced.^[19]
5. Under DOE Program Notice 26-2, effective May 29, 2026, HEEHR rebates cover only electric-to-electric HVAC upgrades in existing homes, plus new construction.^[5]
6. Public Law 119-21 sec. 70505 ended the 25C credit for property placed in service after December 31, 2025.^[8]
7. 2,612,610 individual returns claimed 25C for tax year 2023, totaling $2.32 billion (IRS SOI).^[11]
8. The US 25C claim rate in tax year 2023 was 16.3 per 1,000 returns; Maine had the highest rate at 29.9 and Hawaii the lowest at 5.1.^[11]
9. Four of the five states with the highest 2023 25C claim rates (New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts) had not launched a federal rebate program by November 2, 2026.^[11][2][4]
10. The 37 never-launched jurisdictions accounted for 64.5% of 2023 25C claims and 64.6% of 25C dollars ($1.50 billion).^[11][2]
11. DOE allocated $8.02 billion to the 50 states and DC, or $59.8 per 2025 household; Wyoming's allocation was $269 per household and Florida's $37.^[2][14]
12. Returns with AGI of $100,000 or more received 63.4% of 2023 25C dollars; returns under $50,000 received 8.8%.^[11]
13. Combined 25C and 25D residential energy credit dollars rose 26.7% from tax year 2022 to tax year 2023, to $10.12 billion.^[11][12]

Executive summary

• On November 2, 2026, 6 states had federal home energy rebate programs taking applications (Arizona, Indiana, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Wisconsin) and 5 more ran limited or partly paused programs (DC, Georgia, Maine, Michigan, Rhode Island).
• California's HEEHRA Phase I was fully reserved as of August 31, 2026, and Colorado closed its single-family HEAR program to applications after August 1, 2026.
• 36 states held DOE awards but had not launched; South Dakota never applied; West Virginia was running a HOMES pilot with a waitlist.
• Public Law 119-21, signed July 4, 2025, ended the 25C credit for property placed in service after December 31, 2025, so 2026 heat pump installs earn no federal tax credit.
• For tax year 2023, 2,612,610 returns claimed 25C for $2.32 billion, or 16.3 claims per 1,000 returns; Maine led at 29.9 and Hawaii trailed at 5.1.
• Taxpayers in the 37 never-launched states claimed 64.6% of 2023 25C dollars: those markets lost the tax credit with no federal rebate in its place.
• DOE counted 17,482 households served and about $100 million in rebates across launched programs by February 6, 2026, roughly 1.17% of the state HOMES and HEEHR appropriations.

Frequently asked questions

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Reproduce this analysis

Every figure comes from the files below. The scripts that pulled and computed them are kept with the report and can be re-run.

Data quality and exclusions

• Removed 5 territories (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands) from the DOE dataset's 56 rows; the registry covers 51 jurisdictions.
• Used the SOI US row (2,612,610 returns) for national totals and the sum of 51 state rows (2,611,940) for shares; the 670-return gap is filers in other areas.
• Dropped the TY2022 combined residential energy credit field from state comparisons because IRS replaced it in TY2023 with separate 25C and 25D fields; only the national dollar total is compared.
• 8 state energy office URLs in the DOE dataset returned errors or blocked automated access (Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina); those rows rely on DOE's dataset and counts and are marked interpretation needed.
• Official pages for Colorado, Michigan, New York and Rhode Island blocked automated reads; Internet Archive captures of the same official pages were used and dated.
• DOE's 'Funding amount applied for as of' date for Nevada reads 2035-01-03 in the source file, an apparent typo; the field is not used.

Methodology

Selection: the registry covers the 50 states and DC. Status starts from DOE's Home Energy Rebates state dataset dated January 17, 2025 (the last version DOE published before the tracker page was withdrawn; read from an Internet Archive copy), DOE's February 6, 2026 launched-program update, and the Building Performance Association's June 2026 factsheet. Each launched state's official program or energy office page was then read on 2026-11-02; where the official site blocked automated access, an Internet Archive copy of the same page is used and labelled with its capture date.

Inclusion: a state is launched when its official page says households can apply or receive rebates. Limited means the program is open only for certain measures, areas or housing types. Closed means the page says applications are closed or funds fully reserved. Rows without a state statement are coded from DOE's counts and marked interpretation needed; none was guessed as launched.

Conflicts: Illinois EPA's page says its HEAR application had not been processed by DOE, while DOE's January 2025 dataset lists Illinois as funded for both programs; we keep DOE's award status and code Illinois as not launched, which both sources support. DOE's February 2026 count of 13 states is read as 12 states plus DC, matching BPA's June 2026 wording.

Derived metrics: 25C claim rates use IRS SOI Historic Table 2 for tax year 2023 (N07265 divided by N1). The signature figure groups each state's 25C dollars (A07265) by its registry status. Allocation per household divides DOE's allocation by ACS 2025 households. Formulas and inputs are in derived_metrics.csv; scripts in scripts/ rebuild every number from raw/.

Limitations: SOI counts are returns, rounded to 10, and include a proxy for late filers. HOMES and HEEHR allocations cover administration and run to 2031. The registry is a snapshot on 2026-11-02.

Last updated 2026-11-02 by the HVAC Business Brokers Research Desk. Data and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0 with attribution to HVAC Business Brokers (sell-my-hvac-business.com). This is not tax or legal advice. Owners curious about what their own company is worth can use the free form at /#valuation.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, financial or investment advice.

Sources, ranked by quality

Tier 1: primary and official sources (33)

• [1] U.S. Department of Energy. Home Energy Rebates Program. Program page as of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [2] U.S. Department of Energy. Home Energy Rebates state progress dataset (public-data-for-state-programs_011725.xlsx) (Internet Archive copy of the official page). Status as of 2025-01-17. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [3] U.S. Department of Energy. Home Energy Rebates Progress Tracker, last updated 1-17-25 (Internet Archive copy of the official page). 2025-01-17. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [4] U.S. Department of Energy, Home Energy Rebates Program Manager. Home Energy Rebates Launched Program Progress to Date (NASEO Energy Policy Outlook Conference). As of 2026-02-06. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [5] U.S. Department of Energy. Home Energy Rebates Program Notice 26-2: HEEHR Program for States and Territories. Effective 2026-05-29. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [6] U.S. Department of Energy. Home Energy Rebates Program Notice 26-1: HOMES Program for States and Territories. Effective 2026-05-29. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [7] U.S. Department of Energy, State and Community Energy Programs. Energy Department Advances Affordability for Homeowners Under the Revamped Home Energy Rebates Program (bulletin). 2026-06-01. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [8] U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo). Public Law 119-21 (H.R. 1), sec. 70505 Termination of energy efficient home improvement credit. Enacted 2025-07-04. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [9] U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo). Public Law 117-169 (Inflation Reduction Act of 2022), secs. 50121 and 50122. Enacted 2022-08-16. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [10] Internal Revenue Service. Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit. Page updated 2026-04-28. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [11] Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income. SOI Tax Stats, Historic Table 2, state data tax year 2023 (23in55cmcsv.csv). Tax year 2023 (returns filed in calendar 2024); file dated 2026-08-21. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [12] Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income. SOI Tax Stats, Historic Table 2, state data tax year 2022 (22in55cmcsv.csv). Tax year 2022. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [13] Internal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income. Tax Year 2023 Historic Table 2 documentation guide (23incmdocguide.doc). Tax year 2023. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [14] U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey 2025 1-year, table B11001 Household Type (table-based summary file). 2025; file posted 2026-10-29. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [15] Congressional Research Service. Preliminary Data on the IRA Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit, IN12422 (updated April 13, 2026; EveryCRSReport copy of the CRS text). Preliminary tax year 2023 data. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [18] Arizona Governor's Office of Resiliency, State Energy Program. Efficiency Arizona. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [19] California Energy Commission. Inflation Reduction Act Residential Energy Rebate Programs in California. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [20] Colorado Energy Office. Colorado Home Energy Rebate Program FAQ (updated August 2026) (Internet Archive copy of the official page). Captured 2026-08-24. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [21] DC Department of Energy and Environment. Federal Home Energy Rebates and the Healthy Homes Act of 2024. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [22] Georgia Environmental Finance Authority. Georgia's Home Energy Rebates and HEAR Program Updates. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [23] Efficiency Maine Trust. IRA Home Energy Rebates. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [24] Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. Home Energy Rebate Programs (MiHER) (Internet Archive copy of the official page). Captured 2026-10-25. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [25] New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, ECMD. Heat Pump Incentives and HEAR program pages. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [26] NYSERDA. Inflation Reduction Act: Homeowners (Internet Archive copy of the official page). Captured 2026-06-09. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [27] NC Department of Environmental Quality, State Energy Office. Energy Saver North Carolina and Program Changes. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [28] Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources. Home Electrification and Appliance Rebate (HEAR) Program (Internet Archive copy of the official page). Captured 2026-05-21. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [29] Focus on Energy (Public Service Commission of Wisconsin program). IRA Home Energy Rebates. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [30] Indiana Office of Energy Development. Home Energy Rebates (Indiana Energy Saver Program). As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [31] West Virginia Office of Energy. Home Energy Rebate Programs. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [32] Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. State Energy Conservation Office. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [33] Montana Department of Environmental Quality. Energy Efficiency programs. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [34] Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Energy. Energy Rebates. As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [35] Hawaii State Energy Office. Energy efficiency programs, rebates and solar initiatives (eHale). As of 2026-11-02. Accessed 2026-11-02.

Tier 2: trade bodies, market research, company data (2)

• [16] Building Performance Association. State Home Energy Rebate Programs factsheet, June 2026. June 2026. Accessed 2026-11-02.
• [17] National Association of State Energy Officials. Home Energy Rebates FAQ, August 2026. 2026-08-31. Accessed 2026-11-02.