Heat pump rebates in California (2026)

Statewide programmes closed / waitlisted Utility money still open

Last verified: July 28, 2026 — checked against the programme administrator’s own pages.

Quick answer, and it will surprise people: for a market-rate household in July 2026, no statewide California heat pump incentive is accepting new applications. TECH Clean California stopped taking reservations on 14 November 2025. HEEHRA — California’s version of HEAR — became fully reserved statewide on 24 February 2026 and is waitlist-only. HOMES and HEEHRA Phase II are not yet available. What is still live is utility-specific: SMUD in Sacramento, LADWP in Los Angeles, and a $500 water heater coupon.

Read this before you budget: California has a reputation for generous electrification incentives, and until recently it deserved it. That reputation is now ahead of the facts. Several rebate calculators will still quote you $8,000 statewide. The programme pages say otherwise.

1. TECH Clean California — closed

TECH was the flagship statewide programme. Its own site now states: “TECH Clean California is no longer accepting heat pump HVAC or heat pump water heater incentive reservations”, and more precisely: “As of November 14, 2025, TECH Clean California single-family heat pump water and heat pump HVAC incentives are fully reserved and not accepting new reservations.”

For reference, when it was open the rates were: heat pump HVAC $1,000–$1,500 market rate and $3,500–$4,000 equity rate; heat pump water heaters $1,100–$4,300 market rate. We list these only so you can recognise them — they are not currently reservable.

Multifamily is the exception: TECH stated in April 2025 that multifamily HEEHRA pre-applications were still being processed with funding available in all regions.

2. HEEHRA — fully reserved, waitlist only

HEEHRA is administered by the California Energy Commission. The CEC’s position is unambiguous: “As of February 24, 2026, HEEHRA rebates for single-family home retrofits are fully reserved statewide. All reservation requests that have not been approved have been put on a waitlist in case budget becomes available again. No new income verification requests are being accepted at this time.”

The amounts, for when you see them quoted: up to $8,000 for households below 80% AMI, up to $4,000 for households between 80% and 150% AMI. Multifamily reaches up to $14,000 per unit.

Phase II exists but is not open. The CEC lists “HEEHRA Phase II: $152 million in rebates” with the note “Phase II of the HEEHRA Program is not yet available” and that availability “will be announced at a later date”. That is the thing worth watching if you can wait.

3. HOMES and the rest — not yet live

The CEC states plainly that “HOMES rebates are not yet available”, and the same for the Equitable Building Decarbonization programme and CA-TREC grants. Funding is allocated; consumer applications are not open.

SGIP heat pump water heaters also appear to be finished as a category. The current SGIP budget tracker (data as of 14 July 2026) lists no heat pump water heater budget at all, and the CPUC page now redirects people looking for HPWH rebates to Switch Is On instead. We could not find a CPUC page that says “closed” in those words, so we are describing what the budget tracker shows rather than asserting a formal closure.

4. What is actually open — and it depends on your utility

SMUD (Sacramento only). Increased its rebates in February 2026: “Up to $4,000 for gas-to-electric heat pump water heater conversions. Up to $3,000 for gas-to-electric heat pump HVAC system conversions. $1,000 for electric-to-electric heat pump water heater and heat pump HVAC upgrades.” No income test. Notably, SMUD itself acknowledges the reason it stepped up — that “state incentive programs have run out of funding”.

LADWP (Los Angeles only). “Heat Pump Water Heaters are eligible for up to $2,500 per unit and Heat Pump HVAC systems are eligible for up to $2,500 per ton” for equipment purchased and installed on or after 1 November 2025. No income test, but note the caveat on their own page: “Funding is limited and rebates are not guaranteed.”

Golden State Rebates (PG&E, SCE, SDG&E, SoCalGas) — a small instant coupon: “Heat pump water heater (replacing an electric water heater) $500”.

We could not verify a current PG&E, SCE or SDG&E branded rebate figure for heat pump HVAC — all three route customers to TECH or Switch Is On, which is precisely where the money has run out. If you find one published on their own site, send it to us.

The honest advice

If you are in SMUD or LADWP territory, act on that — it is real and open. If you are anywhere else in California and not income-qualified, the current answer is that you are waiting for HEEHRA Phase II. That is not what anyone wants to read, but it is what the programme pages say, and finding out after you have signed a contract is worse.

Sources

Programmes change without notice. If a figure here is out of date, tell us — we fix it and change the date at the top.

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Last verified July 28, 2026. Confirm current terms with the programme administrator before committing to an installation. Informational only, not tax or financial advice.