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. When it was open, it applied $1,000 to $1,500 at market rate and $3,500 to $4,000 on the equity path directly to the invoice; today there is nothing there to reserve. The federal credits ended December 31, 2025, and the HEEHRA stack is dead. What remains live for the City and the East Bay is local: CleanPowerSF's $1,200 bill credit, BayREN Home+ up to $1,000 regionally, and the community energy programs that serve specific corners of the carve. This guide walks the map as it actually stands.
The 2026 Map in One Table
| Program | 2026 status | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| CleanPowerSF (the City) | Live, bill credit | $1,200 heat pump HVAC |
| BayREN Home+ (regional) | Confirm current availability | Up to $1,000 |
| Peninsula Clean Energy | Live | Up to $2,500 |
| MCE | Live | Up to $2,400 |
| 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 |
| Federal 25C/25D | Ended December 31, 2025 | Past tense only |
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
For addresses in the City itself, the working program is CleanPowerSF, the community choice program that serves most San Francisco electric accounts: a $1,200 bill credit for a qualifying heat pump HVAC system, with a separate $1,200 for a heat pump water heater and $150 for induction, credits by measure rather than a single pot. 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 Bay Area Regional Energy Network's Home+ program has historically paid up to $1,000 on qualifying heat pump HVAC across the nine-county region, stacking with utility and CCA offers. 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 files 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. Peninsula Clean Energy, whose territory includes Daly City, South San Francisco, Pacifica, and Colma, pays up to $2,500 on qualifying heat pump HVAC, combinable with other incentives. MCE serves a set of communities that includes parts of Contra Costa County, and pays up to $2,400. 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
A note of proportion the fog belt earns honestly: with TECH closed, the 2026 stack on a City meter is $1,200 and change, which trims a project but does not carry one. 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. A bidder carrying the federal credits that ended December 31, 2025 as live money has failed on page one. 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
The 2026 map after TECH: CleanPowerSF pays a $1,200 bill credit on a City meter; BayREN Home+ offers up to $1,000 regionally, confirmed before relying on it; Peninsula Clean Energy up to $2,500 and MCE up to $2,400 serve their corners of the carve; TECH itself closed to new single-family reservations on November 14, 2025, taking the PG&E pathway with it; and the federal credits ended December 31, 2025. Read the bill, ask the income question, and make every bidder name a program that still exists.
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