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Compare state rebates, tax credits, and financing guidance, including eligibility dates, application records, contracts, and repayment questions.
Incentives are time-limited offers from different authorities: the IRS, state agencies, utilities,
and local governments. Each has its own eligibility, equipment, installation-date, and
documentation requirements — and its own expiration date.
An incentive does not waive permits, approvals, or equipment requirements, and eligibility terms
change. A rebate page that remains online can describe an expired program; the current program
terms and dates control. Financing products are contracts — read the disclosures before signing.
For most rebates, tax credits, and financing questions, start with the statewide rule, then check local permits and safety rules, utility requirements, governing documents, and the project contract. The property type and location determine which layer controls.
No, for new work: as of the official sources reviewed August 16, 2026, both federal home energy tax credits were terminated for property placed in service or expenditures made after December 31, 2025, by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21). Qualifying 2025 and earlier installations can still be claimed, and an unused Residential Clean Energy Credit (25D) carries forward to 2026 and later years.
For the federal residential clean energy credit (25D) and energy efficient home improvement credit (25C), the date the property is installed and placed in service is the key date — and, as amended in July 2025, both credits end for property placed in service (25C) or expenditures made (25D) after December 31, 2025. The federal state-run rebate programs (HOMES and HEEHRA) run on a longer clock: funds remain available through September 30, 2031. Dated records prove which side of the cutoff your project falls on.
PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing is repaid as an added assessment on your property tax bill, and the assessment is a lien on the home that usually passes to the next owner. Before signing, check the full cost and term, whether your mortgage allows the lien, and how the assessment would affect selling or refinancing; federal ability-to-repay rules under Regulation Z have applied to residential PACE transactions since March 1, 2026.
It depends on your state and local assessment rules. California, Florida, and Texas each have official rules that keep some or all of the value of qualifying renewable energy devices out of the property tax base, but the details — device definitions, deadlines, and how long the protection lasts — differ by state.
Keep the documentation that proves what you bought, what it cost, when it was installed, and that it meets the program's requirements: itemized receipts and invoices, the manufacturer's certification or qualified-manufacturer identification (QMID) where required, placed-in-service documentation, and the program paperwork for any rebate you receive. The IRS says to keep records as long as needed to prove the items on your tax return, and rebate programs run by states, territories, and Tribes set their own paperwork rules.
Check the contractor's license, get the full written proposal (equipment, price, financing, and performance assumptions), compare the terms against consumer-protection rules — including the FTC's three-day cooling-off rule for door-to-door sales and state licensing requirements — and verify the tax-credit eligibility and installation-date terms before signing.
Federal income-tax credits (sections 25C and 25D) reduce the tax you owe when you file, state and utility rebates cut the purchase price or pay cash back, and grants and financing change who pays and when — and each has different eligibility, administrators, and timing.
A rebate is current only if the official program page — the state agency, program administrator, or utility that runs it — currently says so. Program pages state the incentive amount, eligibility rules, and effective dates, so check those before you sign anything. DSIRE and the ENERGY STAR Rebate Finder help you find programs, but the program's own page is the controlling source.
Start free: call or email your building department, utility, and state attorney general's consumer office for questions and complaints. Hire a licensed electrician for any wiring, a licensed engineer when your building department requires sealed plans, a tax professional when claiming credits or reviewing financing, and an attorney when a dispute, lien, or fraud is involved.