Two States Now Warn That Rebate Offers Are Probably Scams. Here's Why.

Two state governments have now put warnings on their own websites telling residents that people offering them home energy rebates are probably criminals. That's an unusual thing for a state agency to publish, and it is worth understanding why they felt they had to.

What the states actually say#

North Dakota's Department of Commerce is the blunter of the two:

Any offers in North Dakota at this time related to these programs are likely scams or fraudulent.

It adds a test you can apply immediately, which is the most useful sentence either state has written:

No one from Commerce or its contractors will attempt to contact you directly regarding this program.

Minnesota's Department of Commerce says much the same:

Be cautious if you receive unexpected contact about this program through phone calls, emails, texts, online ads, or door-to-door visits, as these are likely scams.

Both states advise waiting for official updates before responding to any offer or submitting anything.

Why this is happening now#

The reason is structural, and once you see it the whole pattern makes sense.

The federal Home Energy Rebates were announced loudly, funded generously, and covered widely. Millions of people know the money exists. What almost nobody knows is that in most states it is not available, and never has been.

Of the states we have checked against their own administrators, only 13 out of 49 can take an application from a household today. Most have never launched. Several launched and have since paused — California's single-family electrification rebates have been fully reserved since February, Colorado closed its program in both regions, and Georgia paused its electrification track at one o'clock on a Friday afternoon in August with essentially no notice.

That gap between what people have heard about and what they can actually get is the whole opportunity. A scammer doesn't have to invent a program — they can name a real one, describe it accurately, and be the first person who ever offered it to you. The lie is only that they can enroll you.

The tell that works in every state#

Real rebate programs do not call you.

They publish a page, they open a portal, and they wait for you to find them. Some run through contractors you approach yourself. None of them cold-call, door-knock, or text.

So the rule is simple, and it survives every variation of the pitch:

If they contacted you first about a government energy rebate, the answer is no.

Not "let me think about it." Not "send me the details." The details are the hook — a convincing document is cheap to produce, and once you're evaluating their paperwork you're inside their frame.

What they're actually collecting#

This is the part that makes rebate scams worse than an ordinary rip-off.

A genuine rebate application legitimately asks for your name, address, utility account number, household income and sometimes a Social Security number for income verification. That is a normal, boring request in context — which is exactly why the pretext works so well. Handing that package to a stranger is enough for identity theft, and unlike a bad HVAC contract you can't cancel it.

Some versions don't even bother with an application. They ask for a small "processing fee" or "reservation deposit" to hold your place in a program with limited funds. No real rebate program charges you to apply.

The FTC's rules, which apply to all of it#

The Federal Trade Commission's guidance on clean energy scams covers the same ground from the enforcement side. Its clearest lines:

"Free" or "no cost" solar panel offers are scams. The federal government does not install solar systems in homes for free.

Anyone who pressures you into a contract or demands up-front or immediate payment is a scammer.

The FTC also names the payment methods that signal fraud outright — cash, gift cards, wire transfers, payment apps and cryptocurrency. A legitimate business does not ask to be paid that way. An impostor does.

And it names the tactics worth recognising: impersonating government officials or your utility, promising huge rebates or tax credits, and claiming your utility company has already signed you up. That last one is effective because it removes your sense of having a decision to make.

How to check for yourself, in about two minutes#

1. Type your state energy office's address into the browser yourself. Don't follow a link you were sent, and don't search and click the first result — the top results for state rebate terms are dense with lookalike sites and lead-generation pages.
2. Look for a status statement, not a description. A page explaining what the rebates are is not evidence they're running. Several states publish glossy descriptions of programs that have never opened. What you want is a sentence saying applications are open, or a working application portal.
3. Check ours if it helps — we track which states can actually take an application, with each entry read off the administrator's own site and dated. The eligibility checker goes one step further and tells you whether your particular project still qualifies, which since May 2026 depends on what you are replacing rather than what you are installing. But confirm on the state's page before you act on anything. Program status has changed within days.
4. If a contractor is involved, verify enrollment with the program, not with the contractor. In several states the incentive only exists if your installer is registered with that specific program. "We're approved" is a claim, not a fact.

A note on the honest contractors#

Not everyone who mentions a rebate is running a scam, and it's worth saying so. Plenty of installers genuinely believe the programs are live, because the coverage said so and the guidance has changed repeatedly. Federal rules shifted again in May 2026 when the Department of Energy withdrew fuel switching from the electrification track, and a fair number of contractors have not caught up.

The practical consequence is the same either way. A quote that assumes a rebate which doesn't exist, or no longer covers your project, is a quote with an invented number in it. Putting competing bids side by side makes that visible quickly, because the one built on a phantom rebate is the one that can't explain its own total. Ask any bidder to show you the program page that says it's open, and to confirm their own registration with the administrator. An honest contractor will not mind. A dishonest one will apply pressure, which is the answer you needed.

If you've already given something away#

Move quickly rather than waiting to be sure.

• Financial details — contact your bank or card issuer now and ask them to watch the account.
• Social Security number or full application data — consider a credit freeze with all three bureaus. It's free and it's reversible.
• Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and tell your state energy office too. Several are actively tracking impersonation of their programs, and your report is how the warnings on their pages get updated.

Embarrassment is the reason most of these go unreported, and it shouldn't be. The pretext works precisely because the underlying program is real, the money is real, and the request looks exactly like the genuine article. Falling for a well-built lie about a real government program is not a failure of intelligence. It's what the lie was engineered to do.