News · Colorado

Xcel’s Colorado heat pump bonus cut is in effect; the page now sets December 31, 2026 and September 30, 2027

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

Published October 2, 2026. Facts read on the official source on October 2, 2026.

Xcel’s Colorado page no longer mentions October 1 or a bonus multiplier. Read October 2, it sets invoices by December 31, 2026, applications through September 30, 2027.

Xcel Energy’s Colorado residential heat pump page, re-read on October 2, 2026, has changed since our September 25 reading. The sentence that announced a change to the gas-heating bonus “effective October 1, 2026” is gone, and so is any bonus multiplier. The page now says that rebate amounts vary by qualifying equipment and cannot exceed installation costs, that invoices and installations must be completed by December 31, 2026, and that rebate applications are accepted through September 30, 2027.

Those two dates were on our deadlines page since September 25 with a confirmation flag, because they came from a single participating contractor. They are now on Xcel’s page, so the flag is removed and the entry is sourced to Xcel. We logged the change in our corrections log as a correction to our own page.

What Xcel still does not publish is the rebate per ton. Before the cut, participating contractors reported $2,250 per heating ton for cold-climate heat pumps; the same contractors reported about $1,500 after October 1. Both figures remain contractor-reported, and the Colorado page now shows them with that attribution. The page also states who qualifies — residential electric and/or natural gas Xcel customers in Colorado — and that a mini-split may be installed by the customer and applied for online.

What this means for you

A heat pump installed in Colorado from October 1 earns a smaller Xcel bonus than one invoiced in September, but the state heat pump tax credit ($1,000 air-source, taken as an invoice discount) and Power Ahead Colorado’s $1,500 did not change on that date. Have the installation invoiced by December 31, 2026 and get the Xcel rebate amount in writing on the quote; Xcel does not print it on its page.