CleanPowerSF is the City's community choice electricity program, and in 2026 it holds the distinction of being the live heat pump money on a San Francisco meter: a $1,200 bill credit for qualifying heat pump HVAC, with a separate $1,200 credit for a heat pump water heater and $150 for induction cooking, credits by measure rather than one pot. That distinction matters because the programs around it went dark: TECH Clean California closed to new single-family reservations on November 14, 2025, taking the PG&E heat pump pathway with it, and the federal credits ended December 31, 2025. This page is the working guide to the program that remains: how the bill credit works, who qualifies, what to verify, and the questions that put all of it in writing before a contract is signed.
The 2026 Terms in One Table
| Line | 2026 amount | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Heat pump HVAC | $1,200 bill credit | Qualifying equipment |
| Heat pump water heater | $1,200 bill credit | Separate measure |
| Induction cooking | $150 bill credit | Separate measure |
| Channel | Downstream, on-bill | Claimed after installation |
| Eligibility | CleanPowerSF customers | City and County of San Francisco |
| TECH Clean California | Closed to new single-family reservations 11/14/2025 | Nothing to reserve |
| Federal 25C/25D | Ended December 31, 2025 | Past tense only |
Who Is Actually a CleanPowerSF Customer
More households than realize it. CleanPowerSF is the community choice program serving the City and County of San Francisco, and most San Francisco electric accounts are enrolled in it, with the generation line of the electric bill stating the enrollment in one glance. That makes the eligibility check the easiest in the state: read the bill. An account served by CleanPowerSF claims this program; the community energy programs serving other corners of the Bay Area, and the regional BayREN layer, belong to their own territories and their own pages, per our rebates guide. The meter and its generation line decide, not the neighborhood.
A Bill Credit Is Not an Invoice Discount
The mechanics deserve one clear paragraph, because they shape expectations. CleanPowerSF's rebate arrives as a credit on the electricity bill after the installation is complete and the paperwork is filed, not as $1,200 off the contractor's invoice on signing day. The household pays the project price, then the credit lands on the bill. Two consequences follow. First, the project budget must clear at the invoice number, with the credit as a trailing offset. Second, the filing is a real task with a real owner, and the quote should state who owns it: who submits, what documentation the household receives, and roughly when the credit should appear. Vague answers on process predict vague answers everywhere else.
By Measure Means the Credits Add Up Correctly
The credits run by measure, which cuts both ways. One heat pump HVAC system earns one $1,200 credit, not a negotiation. But a household electrifying more broadly stacks measures legitimately: heat pump HVAC at $1,200 plus a heat pump water heater at $1,200 is $2,400 across two measures, with induction adding $150 more, each claimed on its own terms. For the City's older gas-piped stock, the Victorians of the Mission and Bernal Heights, the Sunset's wall-heated rows, the whole-house electrification math is often stronger than any single measure alone, and the project sequencing belongs in the first conversation, per our installation cost guide.
Qualifying Equipment, Verified in Minutes
The credit applies to qualifying heat pump HVAC, and the current equipment requirements should be confirmed with the program before a quote leans on them. The verification is mechanical: the quoted model either meets the program's efficiency criteria or it does not, and the spec sheet settles it in minutes. In this climate the requirement and the right engineering answer point the same direction anyway: the machine worth buying for a marine winter is variable-speed equipment chosen for turndown and steady low-load runtime, per our cold-weather guide, and that machine clears efficiency bars comfortably. The credit never moves the tonnage, which belongs to the load calculation alone.
What the Credit Sits On Top Of
Twelve hundred dollars trims a project; it does not carry one. The project has to clear on its own arithmetic, and in the City it usually does, because the dominant conversions start from electric resistance, wall and floor heaters, and gravity furnaces, cases the operating math and the comfort delta win without subsidy. The credit is the last line of a project scoped right: load calculation on the actual house, ductless or hybrid where the Victorians demand it, panel priced at the site visit, R-454B equipment on the quote. Get the project right and the credit is a pleasant trailing edge; get the project wrong and no credit fixes it.
The Stale-Quote Test on a City Meter
Program facts convert into contractor tests, and San Francisco's 2026 set is sharp. A bidder carrying the federal credits that ended December 31, 2025 as live money has failed on page one. One offering to reserve TECH or a PG&E heat pump rebate has failed on the state's calendar: closed to new single-family reservations since November 14, 2025. One who has never heard of the CleanPowerSF credit on a City project is telling you when they last read their own market. The bidder who names the program, the $1,200 figure, the bill-credit mechanics, and the filing owner in one unprompted paragraph has demonstrated the currency the rest of the project depends on, per our contractor guide.
Five Questions That Put It on Paper
Is my account served by CleanPowerSF, confirmed from the generation line of the bill? Does the exact model on this quote qualify, and where is the spec that shows it? Is the $1,200 credit named on the quote, with any additional measures listed separately? Who files, what documentation do I receive, and when should the credit appear on my bill? And is every one of those answers written into the quote? A fluent contractor answers all five without reaching for a phone, and the fifth question converts the other four from conversation into contract.
The Short Version
On a San Francisco meter, the 2026 heat pump money is CleanPowerSF's $1,200 bill credit, with $1,200 more for a heat pump water heater and $150 for induction as separate measures, claimed downstream and arriving on the bill. TECH closed to new single-family reservations on November 14, 2025, the PG&E pathway ended with it, and the federal credits ended December 31, 2025. Read the generation line, verify the model, name the credit on the quote, and give the filing a written owner.
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