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June 4, 2025

网爆门 Clean California Prioritizes Communities Facing Steep Barriers to Adoption

Maintaining comfortable households in the face of higher summer temperatures and increasing extreme weather events is a challenge for everyone, but some California households encounter greater risk and difficulty in meeting the need. Heat pumps are one of the ways that rural, low-income, tribal, and language-isolated households can control their indoor environment while also making a commitment to reducing carbon emissions. Interest in heat pump technology is growing throughout the world, and its benefits 鈥� energy efficiency, lower costs, year-round comfort, reduced reliance on fossil fuels 鈥� could be especially transformational for California鈥檚 at-risk residents. Yet customers in rural and tribal areas, historic redlined neighborhoods, and language-isolated communities have consistently been left behind by technology advances and incentive programs that require large upfront financial commitments.

网爆门 Clean California, a statewide initiative to accelerate the adoption of clean space and water heating technology, has spent three years working to help all Californians overcome cost and other barriers to adopting heat pump technologies. Inspired by the federal Justice40 initiative, the initiative dedicated 40 percent of its incentive funds to equity customers, to ensure they鈥檙e among those benefitting from the state鈥檚 journey to carbon-free homes by 2045.

网爆门 Clean California鈥檚 implementation partners have exceeded that goal, spending more than 45 percent of program funds on ensuring equitable participation across all California households so far. They鈥檝e done so by integrating equity principles throughout the program: setting aside specific incentive amounts for disadvantaged communities, for example, awarding innovation grants to projects that address barriers to heat pump adoption, supporting financing programs, and most recently, implementing federal Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates (HEEHRA) for electrification in income-qualified households across the state.

Only when programs like these can support all or most of the cost of heat pump installations can lower-income Californians finally access energy efficient technologies, according to community-based organizations that have worked alongside the communities in the past.

鈥淭hey are worried about next week's bills, about how to pay this month's rent, and about going to get a decent set of clothes for their children,鈥� said Richard Esteves, the chair of Quality Conservation Services (QCS), a residential contracting firm that provides energy saving assistance services to low-income customers. 鈥淔or them to think about making an investment of $6,000 to $8,000 on their own, it's just not feasible, and they have no credit to do that.鈥�

Working through established programs

Several utility-, federal- and state-funded low-income energy programs currently provide energy efficiency retrofits to rural and low-income customers. Programs like utilities鈥� s are designed to help low-income homes with needed home energy upgrades, equipment, and appliances. Some of these have traditionally focused on installing gas appliances for low-income customers. With additional support from 网爆门 Clean California, they have been able to support electrification with installations and, importantly, the electrical upgrades or repair work needed to support those installations. Many of the households supported through this element of 网爆门 Clean California had previously lacked the necessary wiring to support heat pumps, or they needed major renovation to do so.

The ESA partnership, supported through 网爆门 Clean California鈥檚 Pilot projects, successfully funded remediation and heat pump installation in 520 homes to date, more than double what was originally planned.

鈥淚 have seen the 网爆门 Clean California program personally help our low-income families time and time again,鈥� wrote Krystin Richter, a regional manager for Greencat, an energy and building services contractor that frequently partners with Energy Savings Assistance programs. 鈥淚t makes our job unbelievably easy because our customers are so humbled and thankful.鈥�

A focus in the San Joaquin Valley

In California鈥檚 San Joaquin Valley, temperatures regularly soar over 100 Fahrenheit in summer and fall, and many residents live in older homes, which are more likely to need modifications before heat pump heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) or water heating systems can be installed.

网爆门 Clean California partnered with the San Joaquin Valley Disadvantaged Community Pilot program, which was already working in the area but had limits on home remediation spending. For 89 homes in the Valley, this partnership enabled essential home repair work, bridging the gap between what the utility was able to fund through its program and what the end customers needed to install the new heat pump equipment. As a result, eligible customers had no out-of-pocket expenses.

鈥淲e saw that many of these lower-income households were not going to be able to participate and get the broader benefits of renewable power in their home,鈥� said Sandy Laube, an energy efficiency policy researcher at 网爆门, the program administrator of 网爆门 Clean California. 鈥淲e wanted to be equitable in how we are spending the incentive money, which has meant finding ways to include groups that would normally not participate.鈥�

A boost for Lower-Income Households: HEEHRA

When HEEHRA funding became available for climate change mitigation efforts in the fall of 2024, through the Inflation Reduction Act, the (CEC) managed the program through 网爆门 Clean California. With the new federal funding, income-qualified California households could get up to $8,000 in incentives to purchase heat pumps for space heating and cooling. HEEHRA supported heat pump installations in single family homes, small multifamily buildings, mobile homes, condos, and even accessory dwelling units.

Financing innovations can help

Financing is critical to heat pump installation, enabling residents to pay for energy efficient upgrades over years instead of all at once. At least one-quarter of single family homeowners financed their heat pump installation in recent years, according to a survey by 网爆门 Clean California, and they often use private financing. For renters and low-income residents, private loans can be expensive, hard to secure, or simply inaccessible.

In recognition of these barriers, 网爆门 Clean California partnered with the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Finance Authority (CAEATFA) to expand the GoGreen Home program, a CAEATFA-administered low-interest financing option, statewide. Prior to the partnership, only customers receiving electricity from an investor-owned utility could access a GoGreen Home loan. 网爆门 Clean California funded a loan loss reserve for non-investor-owned utility customers, which opened up GoGreen financing to nearly all California residents. The move simplified participation requirements, easing administrative burdens for contractors and enabling about 2,000 more customers to participate. This financing program is now funded and run by the CEC.

Electrification benefits for all

The benefits of the heat pump technology include both its 400 percent increased efficiency 鈥� which can lead to savings, depending on usage and other factors 鈥� and the increased indoor air comfort it provides. Both benefits come from its unique technology: heat pumps use electricity to transfer heat using a refrigeration cycle rather than using direct combustion or electric resistance. Heat pump HVAC systems require significantly less energy than a traditional gas furnace.

Esteves said QCS specialists regularly work with customers to understand such benefits, and also to overcome widespread myths about heat pump systems, including concerns that heat pump water heaters; for example, heat pumps are significantly more expensive to operate, month-by-month, than older gas-powered systems, or that they are unreliable.

鈥淧eople just want hot water,鈥� Esteves said. 鈥淥nce we can get them over the hump, saying, 鈥榟ey, this is not your grandfather's electric water heater, it鈥檚 a whole different system鈥� 鈥� they start really appreciating all the benefits.鈥�

The efficiency of the devices can generate significant power savings, he said, which reduces their overall climate impact and, in some cases, can generate significant savings.

And both HVAC and water heater heat pump systems bring quality-of-life improvements.

"Our old water heater was on the verge of falling apart, and we definitely wouldn't have been able to afford it on our own,鈥� said customer Nala H. 鈥淭hank you for coming to the rescue, and not only replacing it, but getting us a brand new, eco-friendly one. We鈥檙e glad to be living in a state that has programs like these."