News · New York

Upstate New York cut standard heat pump rebates on September 1; NYSEG and RG&E still show “up to $10,000”

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

Published October 10, 2026. Facts read on the official source on October 10, 2026.

Manual v3 cut the standard single-family rate to $4,000 at Central Hudson, NYSEG and RG&E and added a weatherized tier; two utility pages still show August’s numbers.

On September 1, 2026, version 3 of the NYS Clean Heat Statewide Program Manual took effect, and with it a change that no utility announced on its customer pages: the standard incentive for a full-load cold-climate air-source heat pump in a single-family home fell at every Upstate utility. Central Hudson went from $5,000 to $4,000, and from $8,000 to $7,000 when the old heating system is decommissioned; NYSEG and RG&E went from $6,000 to $4,000 and from $10,000 to $7,000. Geothermal retrofits fell from $18,000 to $15,000 at Central Hudson and from $17,000 to $15,000 at NYSEG and RG&E. Above each standard cell the manual placed a new Weatherized Tier — $8,000, $12,000 and $20,000 — for homes built after 2010, homes that completed an approved insulation program, or homes with a documented low heating load. We read both versions of the manual and the three utilities’ pages in full on October 10.

Central Hudson’s page has been updated and matches the manual. NYSEG’s and RG&E’s Clean Heat pages have not: both still say “up to $10,000” for an air-source heat pump and “up to $18,000” for geothermal, the decommissioned and Disadvantaged Community cells of the expired version. A Central Hudson contractor sell sheet hosted on the state’s own Clean Heat Connect site still lists $5,000, $8,000 and $18,000 and describes itself as based on manual version 11, a 2024 document. A homeowner who signs on the strength of those figures and does not qualify as weatherized will see $1,000 to $3,000 less on the quote.

The manual also sets Central Hudson apart: its incentives may cover 85% of project cost at any address, a ceiling the other utilities reserve for Disadvantaged Communities. Three new pages — Central Hudson, NYSEG and RG&E — carry every cell with the manual’s table numbers, the water heater paths, the insulation programs that open the weatherized tier and the differences between the two Avangrid territories.

What this means for you

If a quote in NYSEG, RG&E or Central Hudson territory says “up to $10,000” or “$5,000,” ask the contractor which cell of the September 2026 manual it is. Without weatherization the standard single-family rate is $4,000, or $7,000 with the old system removed; weatherized, it is $8,000 or $12,000. The cut is real; the higher tier is real too, and insulation first is now the way to the bigger number.