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Texas AC Guide

HVAC rebates and credits in Texas

There is no statewide HVAC rebate. What you can claim depends entirely on which utility serves you, and Texas has three genuinely different utility models. This is the part almost every national guide gets wrong about Texas.

Three models, three answers

Municipal utilities: San Antonio and Austin

CPS Energy and Austin Energy are owned by their cities. You deal with one entity for power and for incentives, and you claim rebates directly from the utility. These programs tend to be the most generous in the state and the most straightforward to actually collect.

Deregulated market: Dallas and Houston

You buy electricity from a retail provider you chose, but Oncor and CenterPoint own the wires and run the efficiency programs. The practical consequence is that incentives are usually delivered through a participating contractor rather than claimed by you afterwards. Whether your contractor is enrolled in the program decides whether the money exists at all, so ask before you sign rather than after the equipment is in.

Regulated utility: El Paso

El Paso Electric is vertically integrated and rate regulated, with no retail choice. El Paso also sits in the Western Interconnection rather than ERCOT, so it is not on the Texas grid at all. Incentive structures, rates and program rules here differ from the rest of the state.

Federal tax credits

Federal incentives for residential HVAC equipment have changed significantly through recent legislation, and a great deal of published guidance has not caught up. Because a wrong number here costs a homeowner real money at tax time, we publish the current federal position only once we have confirmed it against IRS guidance directly, with the date of that check shown. If you are reading an article that confidently states a credit amount without a date on it, treat it with suspicion.

By city

Rebate programs change every year and funding sometimes runs out mid-season. Confirm current terms with your utility before counting on an amount.