The headline is blunt: the federal residential energy tax credits are gone. Public Law 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025, terminated all of them years earlier than the Inflation Reduction Act had scheduled:
- §25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit — not allowed for property placed in service after December 31, 2025. That covers heat pumps, insulation, windows, doors, panel upgrades and energy audits.
- §25D Residential Clean Energy Credit — not allowed for expenditures made after December 31, 2025. An expenditure counts as made when the installation is completed, so a solar or battery system finished in 2026 gets nothing, no matter when you signed.
- §30C Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property Credit (the home EV charger credit) — not allowed for property placed in service after June 30, 2026. This one ran the longest, but it has now passed too.
See the IRS FAQs on Public Law 119-21 and Home Energy Tax Credits.
Two groups of readers still need the details below. If your work was placed in service (or, for §25D, completed) inside the applicable window and you have not filed for that year yet, you can still claim the credit on that year's return. And if you're pricing a project now, you need to know what the numbers used to be so you recognize a quote that still has an old credit baked into it. What remains for a 2026 project is state and utility programs — those are real, but they vary enormously by where you live.
Federal Tax Credits vs. Rebates: What's the Difference?
Before we dive in, let's clear up a common point of confusion. Tax credits reduce the amount of federal income tax you owe — dollar for dollar. A $2,000 tax credit means $2,000 less on your tax bill. Rebates, on the other hand, are upfront discounts or cash back at the point of sale, often administered through state energy offices.
That distinction matters more now than it used to. The federal tax credits — §25C, §25D and §30C — have all been terminated. The Home Energy Rebate Programs (often called HOMES and HEAR) are a separate animal: they are funded federally but designed and run by each state's energy office, so whether anything is open to you today depends entirely on your state.
What the Federal Credits Were Worth (through their end dates)
None of the credit amounts below can be claimed for a 2026 project. They are here so you can check a past project against them, and so you can spot a contractor quote that still nets one out.
| Upgrade Type | Federal Tax Credit | Status for a 2026 project | Typical Project Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rooftop solar panels | 30%, no cap (§25D) | None — expenditures after Dec 31, 2025 | $15,000–$30,000 |
| Air-source heat pump | 30%, up to $2,000/year (§25C) | None — placed in service after Dec 31, 2025 | $4,000–$12,000 |
| Heat pump water heater | 30%, up to $2,000/year (§25C) | None — placed in service after Dec 31, 2025 | $2,000–$4,500 |
| Insulation & air sealing | 30%, up to $1,200/year (§25C) | None — placed in service after Dec 31, 2025 | $1,500–$5,000 |
| ENERGY STAR windows | 30%, up to $600/year (§25C) | None — placed in service after Dec 31, 2025 | $300–$1,000 per window |
| Electrical panel upgrade | 30%, up to $600/year (§25C) | None — placed in service after Dec 31, 2025 | $2,000–$5,000 |
| Battery storage (3+ kWh) | 30%, no cap (§25D) | None — expenditures after Dec 31, 2025 | $10,000–$18,000 |
| Biomass stove/boiler | 30%, up to $2,000/year (§25C) | None — placed in service after Dec 31, 2025 | $2,000–$6,000 |
| Level 2 home EV charger | 30%, up to $1,000 (§30C) | None — placed in service after Jun 30, 2026 | $1,000–$3,000 |
How the §25C caps worked: the credit had an annual cap of $3,200 — $1,200 for most improvements plus a separate $2,000 for heat pumps and heat pump water heaters — and it reset each tax year. That reset is why spreading a project across two years used to pay. It no longer does: for property placed in service after December 31, 2025 there is no credit to spread, so sequence your upgrades by payback period instead.
Home Energy Rebates (HOMES and HEAR): Check Your State
These are rebates, not tax credits, and Public Law 119-21's termination of §25C, §25D and §30C does not by itself say anything about them. Because each state designs, funds the administration of and launches its own version, the honest answer to "can I get one?" is that it depends on your state and on when you ask — states have opened, paused and revised these programs on their own timelines.
Broadly, the two programs work like this:
- Home Efficiency Rebates (HOMES) pay based on how much energy a whole-home retrofit actually saves — measured or modeled — with larger amounts for deeper savings and for lower-income households.
- Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates (HEAR) are point-of-sale rebates on specific electric equipment — heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, electric cooking, wiring, panels, insulation and air sealing — and are income-targeted, with the largest amounts reserved for lower-income households.
We are not going to quote you a dollar figure here, because the amounts and eligibility rules are set state by state and change. Go to your state energy office's website (search your state's name plus "home energy rebates") and confirm what is open, what it pays and whether it requires pre-approval or an approved contractor before you spend anything. Your utility is worth checking at the same time — utility rebates are a separate, generally more stable source of money.
State-Specific Programs Worth Checking
With the federal credits gone, state and utility programs are what's left. These are among the better-known ones — confirm current terms directly with the administrator, since they change on their own schedules:
- California: SGIP (Self-Generation Incentive Program) for battery storage, plus TECH Clean California for heat pump incentives
- New York: NYSERDA offers additional rebates for heat pumps, insulation, and whole-home electrification
- Massachusetts: Mass Save provides generous rebates — often $10,000+ for whole-home heat pump conversions
- Colorado: Xcel Energy and state programs offer stacked incentives for solar and electrification
Check the DSIRE database (Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency) for the most current list of programs in your state.
Claiming a Credit for Work You Already Did
If your project fell inside the window — §25C property placed in service by December 31, 2025, a §25D installation completed by December 31, 2025, or an EV charger placed in service by June 30, 2026 — and you have not filed for that tax year yet, the credit is still yours to claim on that year's return. File IRS Form 5695 for the §25C and §25D credits, or Form 8911 for the EV charger credit. Keep every receipt, contractor invoice and Manufacturer's Certification Statement; the certification is what proves the specific model qualified.
For state rebates, the process varies by state. Some run online portals where you apply before purchasing (pre-approval), others apply the discount at checkout through participating contractors. Read your state's rules before you sign anything, because a missed pre-approval step usually cannot be fixed afterward.
Pro Tips Now That the Credits Are Gone
- Get a professional home energy audit first ($200–$500) — many utilities offer them free or discounted, and it tells you where to invest for the biggest return
- Re-run any payback math you did before mid-2025. A calculation that subtracted 30% off the top is now too optimistic by exactly that much
- Compare a heat pump vs. traditional furnace to see if switching makes financial sense for your climate on operating cost alone
- Stack whatever state, utility and manufacturer programs you can find — with the federal credits gone, those are the entire incentive picture
Bottom line: the federal tax credits that used to carry these projects are finished — §25C and §25D after 2025, the EV charger credit after June 30, 2026. What's left is state and utility money, and lower energy bills, which is a smaller but still real case for the work. Price every 2026 quote at its gross installed cost, check your state energy office before you commit, and treat any contractor who is still quoting you "30% back from the IRS" as someone working from an out-of-date script.