Almost everything written about California heat pump rebates before this year is now wrong, including what used to be on this page. Four separate funding sources closed or ran dry between April 2024 and February 2026, and the federal tax credit that anchored most of those articles expired at the end of 2025.
What follows is what a California homeowner can actually claim in 2026, and what has gone.
The short version
The federal 25C tax credit has expired, and equipment had to be placed in service on or before 31 December 2025 to have qualified. The two big statewide programs, TECH Clean California and HEEHRA, are both fully reserved.
Local utility rebates are what remain, and several of them are worth real money. A San Mateo homeowner can still claim $1,500 on a heat pump. A City of Santa Clara homeowner can claim up to $10,000. A homeowner three streets away on PG&E electricity can claim neither.
That last point is the one that matters: what you can claim depends on who supplies your electricity, not on your county and not on your city.
What has ended
Take these off your list. Any article or contractor still quoting them is working from an old page.
- Federal 25C, the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit. Terminated by the legislation signed in July 2025. Equipment had to be placed in service on or before 31 December 2025, so a system installed in 2026 does not qualify. If you installed in 2025 or earlier, speak to your CPA about claiming it for that tax year.
- Federal 25D, the Residential Clean Energy Credit. The 30% solar credit went the same way. The IRS states it “is not available for any property placed in service after December 31, 2025.”
- TECH Clean California. Fully reserved statewide. No new single family reservations since November 2025.
- HEEHRA. Fully reserved. Income verification for single family projects closed in February 2026. There is a waitlist, but no funding behind it today.
- BayREN Home+ heat pump and heat pump water heater rebates. Ended April 2024. BayREN still runs other measures, so it is worth checking what is currently funded rather than assuming.
- Electrify Marin. Closed permanently after roughly $1.4 million in rebates. Marin County says it “is now closed and will not accept new applications.”
The question that decides everything: who sends your electricity bill?
Most of California is now served by a community choice aggregator rather than by PG&E directly. The aggregator buys the power, PG&E still delivers it, and the aggregator runs its own rebate program with its own rules and its own budget.
Two neighbors in adjacent towns can therefore qualify for completely different amounts, which is why generic advice about California rebates is close to useless. Look at your bill first.
What is available in 2026, by supplier
MCE, most of Marin County
Serves twelve Marin communities including San Rafael, Novato, Mill Valley, Larkspur, San Anselmo, Sausalito and Tiburon.
- Up to $675 toward a heat pump water heater
- Up to $400 per 500 square feet of your home toward heat pump heating and cooling, so roughly $1,200 on a 1,500 square foot house
You have to own and have lived in a single family detached home for at least 12 months, and the work has to go through a licensed participating contractor.
The trap worth knowing about. If you already have solar, battery storage or EV charging, it must have been installed at least 12 months ago. And you cannot install any of those things for 12 months after the heat pump goes in. In Marin, where a great many homes already have solar and plenty of owners are planning a battery next, getting that sequence wrong is the most common way to lose the rebate.
Sonoma Clean Power, Sonoma and Mendocino counties
Serves Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Windsor, Cloverdale and others.
- $1,000 back on a heat pump for heating and cooling
- For CARE and FERA customers, an enhanced rebate covering 50% of the project cost remaining after all other rebates, up to $10,000
One rebate per equipment type per account, and applications must go in within 90 days of the project finishing. Tell your contractor at the quote stage if you intend to claim, because 90 days goes quickly once the work is done.
WestLight Energy, formerly Peninsula Clean Energy, San Mateo County
Note the name change. It serves San Mateo County and the City of Los Banos.
- $1,500 for a heat pump HVAC system replacing a gas furnace
- $3,500 for a heat pump water heater replacing a gas water heater, or $500 replacing an electric resistance one
- An extra $1,000 for CARE and FERA customers
Two heat pump HVAC and two water heater rebates per electric account. First come, first served while funds last. Terms last updated May 2026.
Silicon Valley Power, City of Santa Clara only
Santa Clara runs its own municipal utility, which is why its rebates are in a different league and why PG&E customers a few streets away cannot touch them. Check your bill rather than assuming, because the boundary is the city line.
- $3,000 per ton, up to $10,000, for a heat pump HVAC system replacing a gas furnace
- $1,000 per system replacing electric resistance heat
- $5,500 for a heat pump water heater converting from gas, or $500 replacing an electric resistance one
- Income qualified bonuses of $500 per system through FRAP or LIHEAP
First come, first served while funds last, and applications go in within 60 days of purchase. The program year runs from 1 July to 30 June, so the budget resets each summer and runs down through the year.
The rebate that decides whether the others are any use: your electrical panel
Almost every rebate roundup lists heat pump amounts and stops there. The thing that actually stalls Bay Area heat pump projects is the electrical panel. A heat pump, a heat pump water heater and an induction range together can ask more of a service than a 1960s 100 amp panel was built to give, and a job quoted as a heat pump becomes a heat pump plus a service upgrade.
Silicon Valley Power pays toward exactly that, and the amounts are not small. For City of Santa Clara homes on SVP electricity:
- Up to $4,000 toward a smart electric panel, with a further $1,000 for FRAP or LIHEAP customers
- $1,500 toward a main service panel upgrade as an add-on, plus $500 income qualified
- $500 per new pre-wired circuit, up to four circuits and $2,000
- $750 as an all-electric bonus if the gas meter comes out
Read the “up to” literally on the smart panel. SVP’s program rules cap the rebate at the actual cost of the upgrade, so it is not a flat $4,000 check. The panel has to be 100 to 200 amps with automatic load management, there is one per service address, and you are ineligible if you claimed a panel rebate in the previous five years or the project started before 1 July 2025.
SVP lists these as separate measures on its own rebate table rather than as alternatives to the heat pump rebates, but confirm the combination with SVP before you budget around it.
Outside the City of Santa Clara the picture is thinner, but it is not empty. Silicon Valley Clean Energy pays $1,000 toward an electrical infrastructure upgrade when it is paired with a qualifying appliance, plus $500 per circuit or device up to $2,000 for wiring, or $750 per circuit up to $3,000 if you are income qualified. Central Coast Community Energy pays $500 toward pre-wiring, or $750 income qualified, and note that 3CE halved that rebate on 1 October 2026, so an earlier figure you saw is the old one. Most other administrators pay nothing toward panel work at all, which is worth knowing before you assume a rebate covers the whole job.
Silicon Valley Clean Energy, most of Santa Clara County
Serves thirteen communities: Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Saratoga, Sunnyvale and unincorporated Santa Clara County. Not San Jose, not the City of Santa Clara and not Palo Alto, each of which has its own supplier.
- $2,500 for a heat pump water heater replacing gas, or $3,500 income qualified. Replacing electric resistance, $1,000 or $2,000
- $2,000 for a heat pump HVAC system replacing a gas furnace, or $3,000 income qualified. Replacing electric resistance, $500 or $1,500
- $500 for an induction cooktop or range replacing gas, or $750 income qualified
- $1,000 electrical infrastructure upgrade add-on, $500 for EV charging pre-wiring, $500 for gas meter removal, and up to $250 toward induction cookware
There is a limited-time bonus running right now. SVCE is adding $500 on gas to heat pump water heater conversions through October 2026, which takes that rebate to $3,000 at the standard tier. It is time limited by design, so check whether it is still open before you count on it.
Several cities stack their own money on top. Milpitas adds $850 on a water heater and $2,500 on HVAC. Mountain View adds $2,000 on a water heater replacing gas. Sunnyvale adds $1,000 on HVAC, or $1,500 income qualified. Los Altos used to add city funds and no longer does.
A note on an older number you may still find. Until recently SVCE published an “up to $8,750” project cap and an extra “$4,250” for income qualified households, and those figures are still quoted in plenty of places. SVCE’s current rebate page does not state either. It now publishes the per appliance amounts above and a headline of up to $13,000 across a whole electrification project, which is an illustrative total rather than a cap. Figures here read from SVCE’s own page, last updated 2 September 2026.
Central Coast Community Energy, Santa Cruz and Monterey
Serves Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito and San Luis Obispo counties. 3CE replaced this program design on 1 October 2026 and three of its five amounts moved, so the figures below are not the ones that were current earlier in the year.
- $1,000 for a heat pump water heater, or $1,250 if you are income qualified
- $2,000 for a heat pump HVAC system, or $3,000 if you are income qualified
- $400 for an induction cooktop or range, $500 for pre-wiring, and $150 for a portable heat pump space conditioner if you rent
- Income qualified, those last three run $500, $750 and $200
What changed on 1 October 2026. The income qualified water heater rebate fell from $1,500 to $1,250. Pre-wiring fell from a flat $1,000 at either tier to $500 standard and $750 income qualified. The induction cooktop rose from $300 to $400. Heat pump HVAC and the portable unit were untouched. Multifamily projects are capped at $100,000, or $150,000 income qualified, for the lifetime of the program.
The deadline that applies now. Applications for equipment installed between 1 August 2026 and 30 September 2027 must be submitted by 30 September 2027. 3CE assesses each application under the program design and terms in force on the day it is submitted, not the day the equipment went in. Applications for equipment installed before 1 August 2026 had to be submitted by 30 September 2026, and that date has passed. If you had a heat pump or a heat pump water heater fitted in August or September 2026 and have not claimed yet, you have not missed it: that installation sits inside the current window.
Limits run per fiscal year, one project per site for each measure, with heat pump HVAC covering up to two outdoor units and pre-wiring limited to one appliance. 3CE words the water heater and HVAC limits as one per electric account on its eligibility tab and as one per site on its rebate table, so ask 3CE which applies if that distinction matters at your address. Pre-wiring has to be claimed alongside one of the appliance rebates and cannot be paired with a portable unit. Income qualified means enrolled in CARE or FERA, which 3CE describes as a household income below 200% of the federal poverty level, or documented with tax paperwork showing household size and gross annual income against the thresholds 3CE publishes on its own eligibility tab.
Where these numbers come from, and why that is worth saying. 3CE does not print its rebate amounts as text anywhere. They exist only inside a graphic on its rebate tab, headed “Rebates effective October 1, 2026”, which means no search engine and no automated check can read them. We read that graphic on 1 October 2026. Worth knowing if you go looking yourself: the downloadable flyer 3CE still links from the same page has not been updated, so it still shows $1,500 for the income qualified water heater, $300 for the cooktop and $1,000 for pre-wiring. Those are the superseded figures. Where the flyer and the rebate table disagree, the table is the current one, and it is worth confirming with 3CE before you commit money either way.
Three things that catch people out
First come, first served is not a formality
Several of these programs run on an annual budget that genuinely runs out. TECH Clean California and HEEHRA are the cautionary tale. Both were generous, both are now fully reserved, and the waitlists have no money behind them. If a rebate matters to your budget, treat it as something to secure early rather than claim later.
Most programs require a participating or licensed contractor
MCE requires a licensed participating contractor. Silicon Valley Power only reimburses work performed by a licensed or qualified contractor. Confirm the requirement before work starts, not at the claim stage, because it is not something you can fix afterwards.
Published amounts go stale faster than anyone updates their website
While checking the figures on this page we have found two pages on the same utility’s own site contradicting each other about whether a program had ended, an administrator running three different headline totals at once before it tidied them up, and another that publishes its amounts only as a picture while leaving an out of date flyer linked beside it. If a rebate is load bearing in your decision, confirm it with the administrator directly on the day, and be suspicious of any page that does not say when it was last reviewed.
What about the federal credit coming back?
We have no information suggesting it will, and we are not going to speculate. The 25C credit as it existed applied to equipment placed in service on or before 31 December 2025, and nothing installed since qualifies. Plan your budget on the local rebate.
How Bellows helps
Customers apply for these rebates themselves in most cases. What we do is supply the paperwork the application needs, including permits, invoices and AHRI documentation, and pull the permit as part of the job. We will also tell you which program actually applies to your address before you commit to anything, and if the honest answer is that the rebate is smaller than you had hoped, you will hear that from us at the quote rather than afterwards.
We install heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, ductless mini splits and conventional systems across Marin, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. If you want to know what your address qualifies for, get in touch and we will look it up with you.
You may also want our rebates and financing overview, or the Marin specific breakdown at what is left after Electrify Marin.
Frequently asked questions
Is there still a federal tax credit for heat pumps in California?
No. The federal 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit expired for equipment placed in service after 31 December 2025. A system installed in 2026 does not qualify. If you installed in 2025 or earlier, ask your CPA about claiming it for that tax year.
What happened to TECH Clean California?
It is fully reserved statewide and has not accepted new single family reservations since November 2025. It has not been cancelled, but there is no funding available to new applicants.
Which California heat pump rebate is the largest?
Of the programs covered here, Silicon Valley Power’s is the largest at up to $10,000 for a heat pump HVAC system replacing a gas furnace, but it is only available to City of Santa Clara residents on SVP electricity. For most other homeowners the realistic range is between $1,000 and $3,500 depending on the supplier and the equipment.
Can I combine rebates?
Sometimes. Utility rebates and income qualified bonuses generally stack within the same program, and MCE explicitly mentions stacking with other incentives. In SVCE territory several cities add their own money on top of the SVCE rebate. What has changed is that the large state and federal layers people used to stack on top are gone, so the total is usually one utility rebate plus any income qualified uplift and any city adder.
Will I need to upgrade my electrical panel for a heat pump?
Often, and it is the most common reason a heat pump quote lands higher than expected. Whether you do depends on the size of your existing service, what is already drawing on it and how the new equipment is specified, so it is a question for the site visit rather than one any website can answer. If you are in the City of Santa Clara on SVP electricity there is real money toward it: up to $4,000 for a smart panel and $1,500 toward a main service upgrade. In SVCE territory there is $1,000 toward an electrical infrastructure upgrade when it is paired with a qualifying appliance. Everywhere else, budget for panel work as part of the project rather than assuming a rebate absorbs it.
Do I have to use a specific contractor?
Usually you need a licensed contractor, and some programs require a participating one from their own list. MCE requires a licensed participating contractor. Silicon Valley Power reimburses only work done by a licensed or qualified contractor. Check the requirement before work starts.
How do I find out who supplies my electricity?
Look at your PG&E bill. If a community choice aggregator serves your address, it will be named on the bill as your electricity generation provider, with PG&E still shown for delivery. That name is the one that determines your rebate.
Last reviewed 1 October 2026. Every figure above was taken from the administering utility’s own current published material on or before that date. The Central Coast Community Energy figures were read from a graphic rather than from text, for the reason explained in that section. These programs change without notice and several run until their funds are exhausted, so confirm current terms before relying on any amount here.
