Is the 30% federal solar tax credit still available in 2026?

No. The Residential Clean Energy Credit (Section 25D) is not allowed for expenditures made after 31 December 2025. An expenditure counts as made when the original installation is completed, so a system paid for in 2025 but installed in 2026 does not qualify.

Can I still claim a federal tax credit for a heat pump?

Not for a 2026 installation. The Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit (Section 25C) is not allowed for property placed in service after 31 December 2025. State and utility incentives are separate and many are still running.

What incentives are left?

State and utility programs, which run independently of the federal credits, plus state-administered Home Energy Rebates in the states that have launched them. For many homeowners these are now the largest incentive available. Check DSIRE and your utility for your address.

Incentive status tracker

Home energy incentives are the most misreported subject we cover, and the amounts involved run to thousands of dollars. This page tracks what's actually available, quoted from primary sources, with the date we last checked.

Last checked August 16, 2026

Start here

Which states are actually paying rebates →

The federally funded rebates are written about as though the money were available nationwide. Only a handful of states can take an application today, one has paused, and one says 2027 at the earliest. Grouped by what you can actually do right now.

Federal tax credits

Residential Clean Energy Credit (Section 25D)

Solar panels, home batteries, geothermal, small wind

Ended

Ended. No credit for expenditures made after 31 December 2025.

The date that counts is when installation was completed, not when you paid. Paying a deposit — or the full price — in 2025 for a system installed in 2026 does not qualify. This is the point most people get wrong.

“The credit will not be allowed for any expenditures made after December 31, 2025.”

IRS — FAQs on the modification of sections 25C, 25D and others under OBBB

Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit (Section 25C)

Heat pumps, insulation, windows, doors, electrical panel upgrades

Ended

Ended. No credit for property placed in service after 31 December 2025.

The test here is when the equipment was placed in service — installed and operational — rather than ordered or paid for. This is the credit that historically covered 30% of qualifying costs up to $2,000 a year for an air-source heat pump.

“The credit will not be allowed for any property placed in service after December 31, 2025.”

IRS — FAQs on the modification of sections 25C, 25D and others under OBBB

Both federal residential credits ended for property installed after 2025. If your system was installed and operational on or before 31 December 2025, you may still be able to claim on the relevant tax year's return — ask a tax professional, not us.

State, utility and manufacturer

Home Energy Rebates (HEAR and HOMES)

Heat pumps, electrical upgrades, whole-home efficiency retrofits

Varies by state

Running in some states. Federally funded, but administered state by state.

The Department of Energy describes these as available in select states, with each state or territory running its own program, eligibility rules and application process. Income limits usually apply, funds are finite, and most programs require approval before installation begins. Your state energy office is the authority on whether yours is open.

U.S. Department of Energy — Home Energy Rebates Program

Fuel switching under the electrification rebates (HEAR)

Replacing a gas furnace, boiler, water heater or stove with electric

Ended

Being withdrawn. DOE guidance requires states to stop funding gas-to-electric conversions under HEAR.

If your plan was to use the electrification rebate to replace gas heating with a heat pump, check your state before you commit — this is the change most likely to invalidate a project budget written earlier this year. DOE Program Notice 26-2, issued 29 May 2026, removes fuel switching from the programme and requires launched programmes to comply within three months. What remains eligible is upgrading from existing electric equipment to better electric equipment, with narrow exceptions for new construction and for heat pumps that keep a fossil-fuel system as backup. Replacing electric-resistance heat with a heat pump is therefore still in; replacing a gas furnace is not. The separate whole-home efficiency track is unaffected. States are implementing on their own timetables — Georgia stopped accepting fuel-switching projects on 10 August 2026 and Arizona urged applicants to file by 1 August — so check your own state's programme office rather than assuming another state's date applies to you.

“Removing program allowances for upgrades for fuel-switching (i.e. replacement of non-electric appliances) and instead allowing rebates for upgrading HVAC and appliances only from existing electric equipment to more efficient electric equipment.”

U.S. Department of Energy — Program Notice 26-2 (29 May 2026)

State and utility programs

Everything — varies enormously by address

Varies by state

Unaffected by the federal changes, and often the largest remaining incentive.

State tax credits, utility rebates for high-efficiency equipment, and storage programs like California's SGIP run independently of the federal credits and are still the best money on the table for many homeowners. They change on their own schedules and are frequently first-come, first-served.

DSIRE — Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency

Manufacturer and installer promotions

Batteries, heat pumps, thermostats

Varies by state

Seasonal, and worth asking about explicitly.

Manufacturers run periodic per-unit rebates, and utilities sometimes discount specific thermostat models or give them away through demand-response programs. These stack with state and utility incentives but expire without notice — confirm availability before you order, in writing.

ENERGY STAR — Rebate Finder

By state

With the federal credits gone, state and utility programs are where the remaining money is. Each page also carries that state's residential electricity and gas prices from the EIA, and what its price ratio means for running a heat pump against a gas furnace.

Figure shown is residential electricity, cents per kWh, EIA 2025 annual average.

Where to check for your address

DSIRE — The most complete database of state, local and utility programs. Search by ZIP.
ENERGY STAR Rebate Finder — Rebates on qualifying equipment, searchable by ZIP code.
Your state energy office — The authority on whether your state's Home Energy Rebates program is open and what it covers.
Your utility's website — Utility rebates are often the largest remaining incentive and are rarely listed anywhere central.
The IRS — The only authority on federal credits. A tax professional is the only authority on your return.

Changelog

August 16, 2026Replaced our secondhand citation for the fuel-switching withdrawal with DOE's own Program Notice 26-2 of 29 May 2026, and corrected the scope: what survives is upgrading from existing electric equipment to more efficient electric equipment, with narrow exceptions for new construction and for heat pumps keeping a fossil-fuel backup. We had cited Georgia's programme page because it was the first administrator to name the notice; the notice itself is the better source.
August 16, 2026Recorded a verified rebate status for 36 states and published it at /incentives/status/. The picture is worse than the coverage elsewhere suggests: only Wisconsin, Indiana, North Carolina and Arizona are broadly open, and two large states have closed. California's single-family electrification rebates have been fully reserved statewide since February 2026 with new requests going on a waitlist, and Colorado closed its single-family electrification programme in both regions, stating that applications submitted after 1 August 2026 will be denied. New Jersey is deliberately left without a status: its live programme page could not be verified from a primary source.
August 16, 2026Added fuel switching under HEAR as a separate entry, marked ended. DOE Program Notice 26-2 (29 May 2026) requires states to stop funding gas-to-electric conversions under the electrification rebates by 31 August 2026. Georgia's program — one of the furthest along nationally — stopped accepting fuel-switching projects on 10 August and paused HEAR applications entirely at 1pm on 14 August. Because implementation dates are set state by state, we have not generalised Georgia's dates to other states.
August 16, 2026Tracker created. Confirmed with the IRS that both the Residential Clean Energy Credit (25D) and the Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit (25C) ended for 2026 — 25D on expenditures made after 31 December 2025, 25C on property placed in service after the same date. Our earlier guides described this as contested; the IRS FAQ settles it.

Not tax advice

This page summarizes published guidance; it is not tax advice and cannot account for your return, your income, or your state. Rules change, budgets run out, and most non-federal programs require approval before work begins. Confirm anything you plan to budget around with the IRS, your state energy office, your utility and a licensed tax professional before you commit money — including the federal position above, which we quote from the IRS but do not speak for. If you find something here out of date, tell us and we'll fix it and note it in the changelog.

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