Heat pump rebates in North Carolina (2026)

Run by the NC Department of Environmental Quality’s State Energy Office. In February 2026 the state announced it was “now available in all 100 North Carolina counties”.

• Up to $8,000 — “for an ENERGY STAR-certified electric heat pump” for space heating and cooling
• $14,000 maximum per dwelling under HEAR (or $16,000 under the HOMES route)
• Also covers electrical wiring and panel upgrades

Income rules: below 80% AMI, “up to 100% of project costs covered”; between 80% and 150% AMI, “up to 50% of project costs”; above 150% AMI, explicitly “Not Eligible”.

Timing and traps: DEQ expects the programme “to run until 2031 or until funds are depleted” and notes it “operates on a first come first serve basis”. Three rules that catch people out:

• “HEAR retroactive rebates aren’t available” — apply before, not after
• “self-installation projects do not qualify”
• Your contractor “must perform a Manual J load calculation to properly size the heat pump”

One inconsistency we will not paper over: the electrical wiring allowance is listed as “up to $2,500” in the programme FAQ but “$2,000” in DEQ’s rebate table. Confirm that figure directly if it matters to your project.

Open to any Duke Energy electric customer using a participating contractor. Amounts below are for projects completed after 1 August 2025.

Conversions pay considerably more: air-source heat pump to dual fuel $2,000–$2,500; to a cold climate heat pump or ducted mini/multi split $2,100–$2,400; electric furnace, baseboard or radiant to an air-source heat pump $1,500.

Two conditions from Duke’s page: “Program-specific duct sealing is required with these HVAC replacements”, and applications “must be successfully submitted and approved within 60 days of date of service”.

DEQ states: “households can receive both home energy rebates and utility incentives for the same product, however, the combined rebates cannot exceed the purchase-price of the product.”

Duke’s website is location-gated and defaults to Florida for visitors it cannot geolocate. The Florida programme has different amounts entirely. Several rebate aggregators have published Florida figures as if they were North Carolina’s. If a page quotes you a Duke rebate for NC that does not appear in the table above, that is very likely where it came from.

North Carolina has around 26 independent electric cooperatives, each publishing its own rebates, and we have not worked through them. Dominion Energy’s North Carolina arm is a gas utility — we found a heat pump water heater rebate of up to $400 there but no space-heating heat pump rebate. If your power comes from a co-op, check its own site.

• NC DEQ — Energy Saver North Carolina
• Energy Saver NC — Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates (HEAR)
• NC DEQ press release, 10 February 2026 — all 100 counties
• Duke Energy — Smart $aver HVAC Install rebates, North Carolina

Programmes change without notice. If a figure here is out of date, tell us — we fix it and change the date at the top.