News · Maryland
BGE publishes no heat pump rebate amount, still offers a $3,000 MEA geothermal grant closed in January
Published . Facts read on the official source on .
Fourteen BGE pages read Oct. 6: no heat pump amount published (it sits in the contract price); water heater $1,600; income tiers to $15,000; MEA geothermal grant closed.
On October 6, 2026 we read in full fourteen residential pages of BGE Smart Energy Savers, the EmPOWER Maryland programs ICF operates for Baltimore Gas and Electric, and published a BGE page. The Heating and Cooling page is the only program page without a dollar figure: “Check with a participating HVAC contractor,” with the rebate “reflected in the contract price”; the amounts sit on a contractor-only midstream portal. The public figures are 75% of home preparation up to $3,000 for a heat pump replacing fossil-fuel heating, up to $1,600 on a heat pump water heater, $100 per smart thermostat up to three, Home Performance rebates averaging $3,000 after a $100 audit, and a moderate-income program whose tiers reach $5,000, $12,500 and $15,000 — the source of the “$10,000 to $15,000” usually credited to the state.
The same page tells customers they can “access grants up to $3,000 for installing new geothermal systems” from the Maryland Energy Administration. MEA’s Geothermal Rebate Program page, read the same day, says the FY26 program — its final year — closed to new applications on January 6, 2026; the grants page BGE links to is the FY25 program, closed since November 30, 2024. That is now an official-source correction in our log, beside a market one: the AI answer above search results for “bge rebates” lists Connected Rewards at $10 a month, while BGE pays $50 prepaid cards, up to $100 in the first year.
Two dates came out of the reading: recycling pickups scheduled October 1 to 31, 2026 must be collected by November 28, 2026, and BGE’s household limits run through December 31, 2026, the end of the EmPOWER 2024–2026 cycle; no other BGE rebate page publishes an end date. Our Maryland page now links to the new page.
What this means for you
If you are a BGE customer pricing a heat pump, there is no published number to check a quote against: get two participating contractors to show BGE’s share as its own line, ask for the $3,000 home-preparation incentive if you are leaving gas, oil or propane, and check the moderate-income table first — Tier 3 is worth up to $15,000 for about $750. Do not plan on the $3,000 geothermal grant BGE mentions; MEA closed it in January.