CleanPowerSF customers: check cleanpowersf.org for current heat pump rebates.
California's heat pump money changed shape in late 2025, and the 2026 map only makes sense read against that event. TECH Clean California, the state program that carried the single-family heat pump rebates for PG&E territory, has been fully reserved and closed to new single-family reservations since November 14, 2025. California single-family rebates have been fully reserved statewide since February 24, 2026, with a waitlist. Source: https://www.energy.ca.gov/programs-and-topics/programs/inflation-reduction-act-residential-energy-rebate-programs, fetched 2026-10-07. This guide walks the map as it actually stands.
The 2026 Map in One Table
| Program | 2026 status | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| TECH Clean California | Closed to new single-family reservations since 11/14/2025 | Nothing to reserve |
| PG&E heat pump rebate | Ran through TECH; ended with it | None today |
| Golden State Rebates | Ended July 31, 2026; never covered space-heating heat pumps | None |
What the TECH Closure Actually Means
TECH was midstream money: reserved by the contractor, applied to the invoice, invisible to the household except as a lower price. Its closure has a practical consequence beyond the missing dollars: any 2026 quote that carries a "state heat pump rebate" or a "TECH incentive" as live money is describing a program that stopped accepting new single-family reservations on November 14, 2025. The same goes for a "PG&E heat pump rebate," which ran through TECH and ended with it. This is the market's sharpest staleness test, and it costs nothing to run: ask the bidder which program funds the discount, and listen for a program that still exists, per our contractor guide.
CleanPowerSF: The City's Live Line
It is downstream money, claimed after installation and arriving on the bill rather than off the invoice, which makes the filing process a quotable term. The full working guide, including the questions that put it in writing, lives in our CleanPowerSF guide.
BayREN Home+, the Regional Layer
The honest 2026 caveat: some BayREN heat pump measures migrated toward TECH over the years, so current Home+ HVAC availability should be confirmed before a quote leans on it. That confirmation doubles as a vetting question, because a contractor who submits regional paperwork regularly knows the answer without looking it up.
The Community Energy Corners of the Carve
The carve's edges are served by community choice programs with their own live money. The rule that sorts all of it is the same as everywhere: the program follows the electricity account, so the generation line on the bill answers which of these applies, and only one will. On an Oakland or Berkeley meter, confirm what the account's current programs offer rather than assuming a neighbor's number travels across a boundary.
Income-Qualified Paths, Asked First
The equity tiers are where California's remaining money concentrates, and the pattern repeats across programs: enhanced income-qualified amounts go under-claimed because households assume ineligibility without checking. TECH's equity path paid more than double its market rate while it was open, and the live community energy programs carry their own income adders. The check costs minutes, and any household for whom the project budget is a stretch should run it before pricing anything, per our installation cost guide. A contractor who raises the income question unprompted is demonstrating program currency.
The Rebate Is the Last Line, Not the First
The project has to clear on its own arithmetic, and in this market it usually does, because the dominant conversions start from gas wall and gravity furnaces and electric resistance heat, cases the fuel math wins on its own, per our fuel comparison. Choose the machine for the City's mild marine winter and the microclimates, then let the credits trim the invoice, never the reverse.
The Stale-Quote Test, California Edition
Program facts convert into contractor tests, and California's 2026 set is unusually sharp. One quoting TECH or a PG&E heat pump rebate as reservable today has failed on the state's own calendar: closed since November 14, 2025. One citing Golden State Rebates for a heat pump has failed twice, because the program ended July 31, 2026 and never covered space-heating heat pumps at all. The bidder who names CleanPowerSF, the amount, and the bill-credit mechanics in one unprompted paragraph has read their market this year.
The Order of Operations
Protect the money with sequence. Read the electricity bill's generation line to identify the program that serves the account. Ask the income-qualified question before pricing anything. Get a room-by-room load calculation on the actual house. Have the contractor name the live program, the amount, and the filing process in writing on the quote. Then compare bids net of the credits, not on sticker. Five steps, none requiring expertise, all requiring the contractor to demonstrate theirs.
The Short Version
Read the bill, ask the income question, and make every bidder name a program that still exists.
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