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Heat pump water heater rebates 2026: no federal credit, and what each utility pays instead

By Ionel Glogoveanu, editor. Every figure on this page was checked against the official source on the date shown.

There is no federal tax credit for a heat pump water heater installed in 2026: the 25C credit (30%, up to $2,000) ended for property placed in service after December 31, 2025. The federal HEEHR rebate pays up to $1,750, only where a state has launched it. What pays everywhere else is your utility: Con Edison $1,500 through November 30, 2026, BGE up to $1,600, NorthWestern Energy up to $3,000, Puget Sound Energy $1,000, Snohomish PUD $1,000 at retail, Georgia Power $800 — each with its own channel, tank limit and clock. Every row below was read on the utility’s own page.

What a heat pump water heater earns in 2026, utility by utility

Chelan County PUD and Tacoma Power are not in this table because we have not yet read their water heater pages in full; they will be added when we have. Every other state: the state-by-state registry says which rows are verified.

Is there a federal tax credit for a heat pump water heater in 2026? No

The 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit paid 30% of the cost of an ENERGY STAR heat pump water heater, up to $2,000 a year shared with heat pumps and biomass stoves. The IRS page says the credit applies only to property placed in service through December 31, 2025. A unit installed in 2026 earns nothing on your 2026 return; a unit installed and working by the end of 2025 can still be claimed on the 2025 return with Form 5695 and the manufacturer’s QMID. The separate 25D Residential Clean Energy Credit, which covered geothermal heat pumps, ended on the same date: the IRS page, last reviewed July 4, 2026, says it “is not available for any property placed in service after December 31, 2025.” ENERGY STAR’s own heat pump water heater credit page still shows “30% of project cost, $2,000 maximum” in large type, but its date line reads “January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2025.” Read the date, not the headline.

The federal rebate: HEEHR pays up to $1,750 — where a state has launched it

The Inflation Reduction Act’s Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates program (now called HEEHR by DOE) caps a heat pump water heater at $1,750, within a $14,000 household total: 100% of cost for households below 80% of Area Median Income and 50% between 80% and 150%. The money is administered state by state, and the map is uneven. Georgia’s HEAR has been paused since August 14, 2026, with a limited October reopening announced for wiring and panels only; Colorado’s single-family HEAR is closed with $0 remaining; Washington runs its own state HEAR under the Climate Commitment Act while the federal version is not launched. New York’s EmPower+ Sustainable Futures adder pays up to $5,000 for a water heater on top of the program caps. The statute bars combining HEEHR with another federal rebate on the same unit; a utility rebate is not federal. Check your state in the registry before you count on federal money, and ask who administers it — it is never the retailer.

Con Edison: $1,500 through November 30, then $1,300

Con Edison’s water heater page, read October 5, 2026, pays a $1,500 instant rebate on an ENERGY STAR heat pump water heater with up to 120 gallons of storage, for equipment purchased between September 1 and November 30, 2026; before or after that window the instant rebate is $1,300. There are two ways in: buy in person at a participating Lowe’s or Home Depot in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, Westchester or Long Island, presenting a coupon code you obtain first at VerifyConEdRebates.com with an active electric account; or have your contractor buy from a participating distributor on Con Edison’s list, which applies the rebate on the invoice. Online sales are not eligible, and the page is explicit that reimbursement is not available after the purchase — the coupon must exist before you pay. Put November 30 in your calendar: our deadline entry has the .ics file, and our Con Edison page has the heat pump, geothermal and thermostat incentives read the same day.

BGE: up to $1,600, plus $1,500 toward home preparation when you leave gas

Baltimore Gas and Electric’s EmPOWER program, run on bgesmartenergy.com and read October 5, 2026, pays up to $1,600 on select ENERGY STAR heat pump water heaters, and adds up to 75% of home-preparation costs, capped at $1,500, when the new unit replaces natural gas, oil or propane. Four channels: bundle unit and installation through BGE’s Product Advisor; buy the unit and have a participating contractor install it (both routes open the extra electrification rebates); buy from any retailer and apply online or by mail afterwards; or take an instant rebate online at getbgerebate.com or in-store at Lowe’s and Home Depot. The fine print: one rebate per customer address for units bought after January 2, 2024, never more than the purchase price, and no mail-in rebate on a unit that already carried the instant one. Pepco, Delmarva and SMECO customers are in the same EmPOWER program with their own pages; our Maryland page tracks them.

NorthWestern Energy: up to $3,000 — electric tank only, contractor only

The largest single-utility amount on this page comes with the narrowest door. NorthWestern Energy’s Montana program page, read October 5, 2026, offers “for a limited time” an instant incentive of up to $3,000 toward materials and installation, applied by a participating contractor from the utility’s list. The home must already heat water with an electric resistance tank — the page states that NorthWestern does not allow fuel switching, so a gas water heater does not qualify. Also excluded: new construction (the home must be at least twelve months old), commercial property, rentals and self-installed units. One incentive per residence, funding limited and first-come, first-served, with no end date published. City of Bozeman water customers can stack the city’s own $500 rebate (plus $75 for a satisfaction survey) on the same installation, using NEEA’s qualified product list; that row is from the city page we read on September 27. Montana’s federal rebates are paused, so for most households this is the whole stack.

Puget Sound Energy: $1,000 — and three numbers in PSE’s own materials

PSE’s heat pump water heater page, read in full October 5, 2026, pays $1,000 on a Tier 3 or Tier 4 unit from its qualified product list (updated May 19, 2026) and $1,100 for income-qualified customers through Efficiency Boost. Three channels: a coupon requested at pse.com/coupon and used at the register of a participating Lowe’s or Home Depot, an installer who applies the rebate on the agreement, or an online claim after purchase with the paid invoice and model number. The rules: apply within 30 days of installation, one rebate per single-family home, equipment installed on or after January 1, 2026, the rebate applied after tax and never above the post-tax price, and the unit must run on PSE electricity. The page’s own meta description still says “$500,” and the rebate form dated February 18, 2026 lists $750 and $850; we publish what the page body shows a customer. If a store or form offers less than $1,000, ask PSE at 1-800-562-1482 before you accept it.

Snohomish PUD and Seattle: $1,000 at retail, $2,500 by Trade Ally, $750 in the city

Snohomish County PUD publishes two amounts on two official pages, both read October 4, 2026. Its heat pump water heater page pays up to $1,000 on a qualifying unit that replaces an existing water heater, claimed by the customer in the PUD Rebate Center or MySnoPUD within 90 days of the invoice, one per account every five years, never above the purchase price. Its heating page says “save up to $2,500 on a water heater” through a Registered Trade Ally. Neither page explains the gap; the likely reading is two channels, but the PUD does not say so and we will not say it for them — ask which amount applies to your purchase, in writing, before you buy. Seattle City Light pays $750 on a heat pump water heater, a row we verified on October 2 for our Washington page. Washington’s state HEAR, funded by the Climate Commitment Act, adds income-qualified money through forty local administrators; amounts vary by county.

Georgia Power and Colorado: $800 in sixty days, and a $250 credit you see as $83

Georgia Power’s Home Energy Improvement Program, whose 2026 requirements document we re-read on October 4, pays up to $800 for a heat pump water heater installed by a plumber, a program installer or yourself, under a $2,500 per customer per year cap across the program; the application is due within 60 days of the paid invoice, online, with your meter number, and the terms run through December 31, 2028 unless Georgia Power changes them. In Colorado, Xcel Energy does not print its water heater amount: participating contractors report up to $2,250, so we show it as a contractor figure, not a published rate. The certain Colorado money is the state heat pump tax credit, which pays a registered contractor $250 for a heat pump water heater and requires at least a third — $83 — to appear on your invoice as a “State of Colorado Heat Pump Discount,” at any income. Colorado’s single-family HEAR is closed, so the stack there is Xcel plus the state credit.

What others get wrong about heat pump water heater rebates in 2026

On October 5, 2026, Google’s AI Overview for “heat pump water heater rebate” opened with “qualify for a federal tax credit of 30% of project costs up to $2,000,” citing ENERGY STAR — the page whose date line ends the credit on December 31, 2025. A related answer said the 25D geothermal credit “remains active through 2033”; the IRS page itself still carries a leftover sentence about the credit phasing out in 2033, two paragraphs under the one that ends it in 2025. Search engines also cached Con Edison’s page at $1,000, the amount it paid before the September 1 window; the live page says $1,500 and $1,300. PSE’s own meta description says $500. The pattern is the same every time: the headline figure survives, the date line changes. We read the live page, in full, and we date every figure — the corrections log records each case.

Before you buy: what to confirm in writing

• The purchase window — Con Edison’s $1,500 needs a receipt dated September 1 to November 30, 2026; NorthWestern’s $3,000 ends when funds do.
• The channel — coupon before checkout (Con Edison, PSE, BGE in-store) or claim after (PSE, BGE, Snohomish, Georgia Power); a coupon program will not reimburse you later.
• The fuel you are replacing — NorthWestern pays only for an electric tank; BGE pays extra when you leave gas, oil or propane.
• The tank size and tier — under 120 gallons at Con Edison; Tier 3 or 4 on PSE’s list; ENERGY STAR everywhere.
• The days to apply — 30 at PSE, 60 at Georgia Power, 90 at Snohomish PUD, counted from the invoice or installation date the page names.
• Whether the contractor is on the list — NorthWestern and Con Edison’s distributor route pay only through participants; Colorado’s $83 only from a state-registered contractor.

Sources and method

Every fact on this page was checked on October 5, 2026 against primary sources: the IRS Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit and Residential Clean Energy Credit pages (both credits end December 31, 2025), ENERGY STAR’s heat pump water heater credit page (the 2023–2025 date line), and the live rebate pages of Con Edison, BGE Smart Energy, NorthWestern Energy and Puget Sound Energy, each read in full that day. Snohomish County PUD, Georgia Power, Seattle City Light, Xcel Energy, the City of Bozeman, the Colorado credit and New York’s EmPower+ rows come from our individually verified utility and state pages, each dated. Where a published guide, a cached search result or an AI answer contradicts these sources, we follow the official text and say so. This is general information, not tax advice.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a federal rebate or tax credit for heat pump water heaters in 2026?

No tax credit. The 25C credit (30%, up to $2,000) covers only heat pump water heaters placed in service by December 31, 2025, per the IRS. The federal rebate is HEEHR, up to $1,750 for a heat pump water heater for households at or below 150% of Area Median Income — but only in states that have launched it, and not combined with another federal rebate on the same unit.

Is the heat pump water heater tax credit still available in 2026?

Not for 2026 installations. Units installed and operating by December 31, 2025 can still be claimed on the 2025 return with Form 5695. The ENERGY STAR page still shows the 30% / $2,000 headline, but its own date line says January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2025.

How much is the Con Edison heat pump water heater rebate?

$1,500 as an instant discount for units bought between September 1 and November 30, 2026, and $1,300 outside that window — ENERGY STAR models under 120 gallons, bought in person at a participating Lowe’s or Home Depot or by your contractor from a participating distributor. Con Edison does not reimburse after the purchase (read October 5, 2026).

How much is the BGE heat pump water heater rebate?

Up to $1,600 on select ENERGY STAR models, plus up to 75% of home-preparation costs (up to $1,500) when you switch from natural gas, oil or propane. One rebate per address for units bought after January 2, 2024; the rebate cannot exceed the purchase price; instant in-store at Lowe’s or Home Depot, or apply online afterwards (read October 5, 2026).

How do I get a heat pump water heater for free or close to it?

Through income-qualified programs, where they exist: HEEHR pays 100% of cost up to $1,750 below 80% AMI in states that have launched it; New York’s EmPower+ Sustainable Futures adder reaches $5,000 for a water heater; PSE pays $1,100 with Efficiency Boost. No utility on this page advertises a free water heater; the income-qualified amount stacks on the standard rebate where the program allows it.

Can I combine a utility rebate with the federal HEEHR rebate?

Usually yes, up to the cost of the project — the federal law bars combining HEEHR with another federal grant or rebate, not with a utility rebate, and the IRS treats rebates as a purchase-price reduction. Each utility sets its own stacking rule: BGE, for instance, will not pay a mail-in rebate on a unit that already received its instant rebate.

Do I need a contractor to claim a heat pump water heater rebate?

It depends on the utility. NorthWestern Energy pays only through a participating contractor and excludes self-installed units. Con Edison, BGE, PSE and Snohomish PUD all pay on a retail purchase you install yourself, with a coupon at the register or a claim within 30 to 90 days of the invoice. Read the days-to-apply column before you buy.

Related guides

The same December 31, 2025 cut-off hit heat pumps for heating — read what replaced the heat pump tax credit. The utility pages behind this table — Puget Sound Energy, Snohomish County PUD, Xcel Energy Colorado — carry every residential program each utility runs, and the deadline calendar has the Con Edison window as an .ics file.