If you have been reading about heat pumps in Massachusetts for a while, the number stuck in your head is probably $10,000. That figure is out of date. The whole-home cap came down for 2026, the rates are now quoted per ton, and two bonuses were added that most homeowners never claim because nobody told them the order to do things in.
Here is what Mass Save actually pays this year, and what has to happen — and in which sequence — for the money to arrive.
The 2026 rebate tiers
Rebates are calculated per ton of installed capacity, where a ton is the AHRI cooling capacity divided by 12,000 BTU. Which tier you land in depends on how much of the home the heat pump actually serves.
| Tier | Rate | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Whole-home | $2,650 per ton | $8,500 |
| Partial-home | $1,125 per ton | $8,500 |
| Basic | $250 per ton | $2,500 |
| Income-based enhanced | — | Up to $16,000, or no cost through Turnkey Services |
A four-ton whole-home system therefore reaches the $8,500 ceiling, while the same four tons installed as a partial-home project earns $4,500. The tier, not the equipment, is where most of the money is won or lost.
Two bonuses worth $1,000 together
Partial-home projects can add two bonuses of $500 each. The first goes to systems sized to cover 90 to 120 percent of the home’s total heating load — in other words, to installers who ran the load calculation instead of matching the tonnage of whatever is being torn out. The second goes to homeowners who complete a Home Energy Assessment and then install the weatherization it recommends.
Both reward the same underlying thing, which is doing the building math before buying the machine. That work also happens to be what keeps a system from short-cycling and leaving a house cool and clammy in July, so it pays twice.
The sequence that decides whether you get paid
This is where claims are lost. The steps are not difficult, but several of them cannot be done retroactively.
- Book the no-cost Mass Save Home Energy Assessment. It is also what establishes the weatherization picture the whole-home tier depends on.
- Get pre-approval before the equipment is installed. An installed system cannot be pre-approved after the fact.
- Choose equipment on the ENERGY STAR Cold Climate qualified products list. Cold-climate rating is a condition, not a recommendation.
- Use a contractor participating in the Mass Save Heat Pump Installer Network.
- Have the system installed between January 1 and December 31, 2026.
- Get the rebate form and supporting documents in by February 28, 2027.
Step two is the one that costs people thousands. A dying compressor in August creates pressure to replace the system this week, and a same-week replacement skips pre-approval. If your equipment is close to the end, start the paperwork while it still limps.
Whole-home versus partial-home: weatherization is the gate
The whole-home tier requires the home to be sufficiently weatherized, demonstrated through the age of the house, an energy assessment, or work already completed. For a lot of Boston housing stock — balloon-framed, plaster-walled, with an attic that was never meant to be a thermal boundary — that means insulation and air sealing come first and the heat pump comes second.
It is worth sequencing it that way regardless of the rebate. A tighter envelope shrinks the heating load, a smaller load means fewer tons, and fewer tons means a smaller and cheaper system doing less work for the next fifteen years.
What changed outside the state program
Several federal tax credits authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act, including the one for heat pumps, expired at the end of 2025. Massachusetts programs are now doing the work that federal credits used to share.
The other piece of the state offer is financing rather than a rebate: the Mass Save HEAT Loan provides 0% financing of up to $25,000 toward qualified improvements. Between the rebate and the loan, the out-of-pocket figure on a properly sequenced project often looks very different from the sticker price on the proposal.
If the air conditioner is what is failing
A cooling-only replacement collects nothing from any of this. A heat pump occupies the same outdoor pad, connects to the same ductwork or the same wall heads, and cools the house the same way in summer — it simply also runs in reverse in winter. That is why the rebate question and the equipment question are really one question, and why it is worth asking before the emergency rather than during it.
If you are still deciding between ducted and ductless, our comparison of central AC and ductless mini-splits in Boston homes covers that half of the decision.
What we handle
On a heat pump installation we run the load calculation, spec equipment from the qualified products list, prepare the pre-approval package, and pull the permits. The estimate visit is free and covers our whole Greater Boston service area. Call (617) 404-9944 and ask what your address and your current system put you in line for.
Rebate amounts, deadlines, and eligibility rules in this article are the 2026 residential figures published by Mass Save, checked in September 2026. Program terms change between plan years — confirm current figures before you sign anything.
