What the federal credits were
For years, two federal tax credits did much of the heavy lifting for home energy upgrades:
- Section 25C — the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit. Worth 30% of the cost of improvements such as insulation, air sealing, efficient windows and doors, and heat pumps, subject to annual caps ($1,200 overall, with a higher $2,000 cap for heat pumps and heat pump water heaters).
- Section 25D — the Residential Clean Energy Credit. Worth 30% of the cost of clean-energy installations such as rooftop solar, geothermal heat pumps, small wind and battery storage, with no dollar cap.
Both credits have ended
Under the tax law passed in 2025, both credits were terminated early: they apply only to property placed in service on or before December 31, 2025. For work done in 2026 or later, there is no federal 25C or 25D credit to claim — not a reduced one, and not one scheduled to return. If you had qualifying work completed and installed in 2025, it is generally claimed on the 2025 tax return; a tax professional can confirm your own position.
Why do so many websites still show them?
Because pages outlive the law they describe. Cost guides, installer sites and even some national publications wrote their prices around a 30% federal credit and have not updated them since the credits ended — some solar and window pages still subtract the credit from their headline prices today. When a quote or an article shows a federal energy tax credit for work being done now, treat every number on that page as stale, and ask for the figures without it.
What still exists: state and utility rebates
What replaced the federal credits is not a single program but a patchwork: state energy offices and utilities still run rebates for heat pumps, insulation, solar and more — in many states worth thousands of dollars, and in some cases more than the old credit was worth for the same job. The amounts, rules and funding windows are set state by state and change during the year, which is why every guide on this site lists only programs we verified against the administrator’s own terms. A few concrete examples from our October 2026 check:
- Mass Save Heat Pump Rebate (Massachusetts): $2,650 per ton, up to $8,500 for whole-home heat pumps at 2026 rates; enhanced income-based incentives reach up to $16,000. See all Massachusetts costs and rebates
- DCSEU Heat Pump Rebates (Washington DC): Up to $5,000 for ENERGY STAR heat pumps — $1,000-$1,500 replacing electric heat, $4,000-$5,000 when switching from gas. See all Washington DC costs and rebates
- Efficiency Maine Heat Pump Rebate (Maine): $1,000-$3,000 per outdoor unit depending on income tier, with lifetime caps per home. See all Maine costs and rebates
- NYS Clean Heat (New York): $7,000 flat for a whole-home air-source heat pump at the standard rate, up to $12,000 in the Weatherized Tier (amounts vary by utility). See all New York costs and rebates
- Efficiency Vermont Heat Pump Rebate (Vermont): Up to $2,200 for ducted heat pumps; up to $475 for ductless mini-splits. See all Vermont costs and rebates
- SMUD Heating & Cooling Rebate (California): Up to $3,000 for a gas-to-electric heat pump conversion ($1,000 for electric-to-electric). See all California costs and rebates
Finding your own state’s programs
Every state guide on this site carries a rebates section checked the same way, and each state has a single page gathering its project costs and its verified programs. Start from yours:
Alaska · Alabama · Arkansas · Arizona · California · Colorado · Connecticut · Delaware · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Iowa · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Massachusetts · Maryland · Maine · Michigan · Minnesota · Missouri · Mississippi · Montana · North Carolina · North Dakota · Nebraska · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · Nevada · New York · Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Rhode Island · South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas · Utah · Virginia · Vermont · Washington · Wisconsin · West Virginia · Wyoming · Washington DC
Two habits will protect you in 2026: confirm any rebate in writing before installation (several programs require exactly that), and re-price any quote that still shows a federal credit. The state and utility money is real — it just has to be claimed on its own terms now.