A lot of Marin County homeowners have done their homework on heat pump rebates and come away with a list of programs that no longer exist. Electrify Marin, the federal tax credit, California’s HEEHRA rebates: these names circulate on contractor websites and neighborhood forums, but most of them closed or expired before 2026 began. If you’re planning a heat pump installation in Novato or anywhere else in Marin and you’re counting on programs you read about six months ago, it’s worth getting current before you sign anything.

The good news is that meaningful incentives are still available. Just different ones, accessed through different channels, with deadlines that matter. This post lays out what closed, what’s still active, and how to make sure the equipment you install actually qualifies.

At Gene Burch Plumbing Heating & Air, we’re a locally owned, family-operated team based in Marin County. We work with homeowners through the full installation process, including helping them understand which rebate programs apply to their project before the work begins.

Programs That Have Closed or Expired

Three major programs that drove heat pump adoption in Marin County are no longer available to new applicants. Don’t count on any of them for a 2026 project.

• Electrify Marin Rebate Program: This county-level program distributed over $1.4 million in rebates across nearly six years. It’s now closed and won’t accept new applications.
• IRA Section 25C federal tax credit: This credit covered 30% of heat pump installation costs, capped at $2,000, and applied to equipment placed in service through December 31, 2025. It was terminated by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025. Heat pumps installed in 2026 don’t qualify, regardless of when they were purchased.
• California HEEHRA single-family rebates: The High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Act offered up to $8,000 for low-income households and $4,000 for moderate-income households. As of February 24, 2026, all statewide funding is fully reserved. The program is on a waitlist and isn’t accepting new income verification applications.

Several competing contractor pages in the area still reference these programs as active options. They aren’t. Most rebate programs explicitly don’t reimburse work already completed, so confirming program status before installation isn’t a paperwork formality. It’s how you avoid paying out of pocket for a rebate that no longer exists.

Rebates & Incentives Still Active for Marin County Homeowners

The programs below are currently accepting applications or delivering rebates through participating contractors. Availability and funding levels can change, so confirm eligibility before scheduling installation.

MCE Residential Flex Market

Marin Clean Energy (MCE), the community choice energy provider serving most of Marin County, offers incentives for heat pump HVAC systems and heat pump water heaters through its Residential Flex Market program. These are contractor-delivered rebates, meaning you don’t apply directly. You work with a contractor who is enrolled in the MCE program, and they handle the rebate application on your behalf. That distinction matters: if your contractor isn’t enrolled, you can’t access these incentives through them. MCE’s Contractor Finder at mcecleanenergy.org lets you verify participation before you commit.

Clean HEET

Clean HEET awards $3,000 to $6,500 for homeowners who replace a wood-burning stove, pellet stove, fireplace insert, or open-hearth fireplace with an electric heat pump. Applications are accepted online, and the current deadline is July 14, 2026 at 5:00 PM PDT. The program doesn’t reimburse equipment or installation already completed, so the application must be submitted before work begins. For homeowners with a wood-burning appliance they’ve been meaning to replace, this is one of the highest-value active incentives available in Marin County right now.

Golden State Rebates

Golden State Rebates provides an instant rebate of $400 to $700 for replacing a natural gas storage tank water heater with a qualifying heat pump water heater. The rebate requires fuel substitution. You need to be switching from gas to electric, not replacing one heat pump water heater with another. It’s applied at the point of installation, which simplifies the process compared to programs that require post-installation paperwork.

How to Find Out Which Programs Apply to Your Home

Incentive eligibility depends on your zip code, household income, equipment type, and in some cases which contractor you use. The Switch Is On, available at switchison.org, is the state-endorsed tool for searching current programs by zip code and equipment category. It aggregates federal, state, and local programs and reflects current availability more reliably than most contractor pages. For programs tied to MCE participation, the MCE Incentive Finder and Contractor Finder tools identify both the available rebates and the contractors who can deliver them. Both are free and take about five minutes.

The most important thing to confirm before scheduling installation is whether the equipment you’re planning to install meets the program’s efficiency requirements. Air-source heat pumps and ductless mini-splits must meet minimum SEER2 and HSPF2 ratings to qualify. SEER2 measures seasonal cooling efficiency; HSPF2 measures heating efficiency under a revised testing standard. A contractor enrolled in an active program can confirm whether the equipment they’re proposing meets certification requirements before anything is purchased.

What Can Be Combined on a Single Project

The rebate landscape has narrowed, but some combinations are still possible. MCE contractor-delivered rebates and BayREN (Bay Area Regional Energy Network) incentives can potentially be applied to the same installation. BayREN supports energy efficiency and electrification projects across the nine-county Bay Area and has historically coordinated with MCE on overlapping service areas. Whether stacking applies depends on the specific equipment, the programs active at the time of installation, and income eligibility. Confirm this before installation, not after.

For income-qualified households earning under 150% of the Area Median Income, the HEEHRA waitlist is still worth joining even though current funding is exhausted. If additional federal funding becomes available, waitlisted applicants may be served before new applicants. Signing up costs nothing and preserves your place in line. One thing that can’t be stacked: the Section 25C federal tax credit. That credit is gone for 2026 installations.

How Gene Burch Plumbing Heating & Air Helps You Navigate the Process

Heat pump rebate programs are designed around contractor participation, which means the contractor you choose directly affects which incentives you can access. We’re a locally owned, family-operated business in Marin County, and we work with homeowners through the full scope of a heat pump project. Because we operate under the Marin H2O umbrella, we can handle connected needs (including plumbing and related work) without sending you to a separate company. We offer a 1-year labor warranty on our work and financing options for homeowners who need to bridge the gap between installation costs and incoming rebate funds, a practical consideration when Clean HEET requires pre-approval before work starts or when you’re waiting on program confirmation from MCE.

The most common mistake we see is homeowners scheduling an installation based on a rebate they’ve read about, only to find out it closed or the equipment doesn’t qualify. Talking through your project before work begins is the straightforward way to avoid that. If you want a direct conversation about what your specific project qualifies for, reach out to Gene Burch Plumbing Heating & Air at (415) 769-3139.