Texas runs no statewide heat pump program; the incentive world is entirely utility-driven, and the utility that matters for a Greater Houston address is CenterPoint Energy, whose Standard Offer Program pays up to $500 per unit for a qualifying heat pump. The catch that organizes this whole page: the money is midstream. It flows through a participating contractor rather than a homeowner application, which means the rebate conversation and the contractor-selection conversation are the same conversation. The federal 25C and 25D credits ended December 31, 2025, and no state program replaced them, so the utility line, modest by the standards of the project, is the entire incentive stack from The Heights to Katy. This guide explains how the CenterPoint channel works, what the rest of the Texas map looks like from a distance, and why the project math in this climate never depended on any of it.
The Map in One Table
| Program | 2026 amount | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| CenterPoint Energy Standard Offer | Up to $500 per unit | CenterPoint Texas delivery territory; qualifying heat pump; paid through a participating contractor |
| Oncor Home Energy Efficiency | Up to $600 per unit | Oncor delivery territory, elsewhere in Texas; SEER2 16+; via participating contractor |
| Austin Energy Power Saver | Around $3,000 whole-home | Austin Energy customers, elsewhere in Texas; confirm current amount and cap |
| CPS Energy STEP | $100 to $275 per ton, up to about $1,375 | CPS Energy customers, elsewhere in Texas; 2026 cycle Feb 2026 to Jan 2027 |
| Federal 25C/25D | Ended December 31, 2025 | Everywhere |
How Midstream Money Actually Moves
Houston's electricity market splits the wires from the sale: CenterPoint delivers power across Greater Houston regardless of which retail provider sends the bill, and the efficiency program follows the wires. The Standard Offer Program pays incentives through participating contractors and aggregators, not through a homeowner rebate portal, which changes the practical questions completely. You do not file anything. Instead, the questions are: is this contractor enrolled in the program, is the proposed machine on a qualifying tier, and does the quote show the incentive as a named line reducing the price? A contractor who is not participating cannot deliver the money at all, and one who is should say so in the first conversation, per our contractor guide. The mechanics get their own page in our CenterPoint guide.
Five Hundred Dollars, Positioned Honestly
Against project bands that run from a few thousand dollars for single-zone ductless to the deep five figures for whole-home conversions, per our installation cost guide, $500 is real but not decisive, and it should never behave like a decision. The correct position is last: price the project to stand on its own numbers, confirm the qualifying tier and the participating status in writing, then let the incentive reduce the total as a named line. A household letting a per-unit rebate pick the machine, or rushing a July emergency purchase to chase it, has traded fifteen years of comfort for a fraction of one summer's cooling bill.
The Rest of the Texas Map, From a Distance
The canon behind this page covers a state where every utility writes its own rules, and the numbers elsewhere are useful mostly as context for how good or modest the local line is. Oncor's delivery territory pays up to $600 per unit at SEER2 16+ through the same midstream structure. Austin Energy's Power Saver runs around $3,000 whole-home for its own customers. CPS Energy pays $100 to $275 per ton by SEER2 tier, up to about $1,375 for a 5-ton system, on a cycle running February 2026 to January 2027 with a 30-day application window. El Paso Electric and Entergy Texas run programs whose current heat pump amounts must be confirmed directly, and AEP Texas carries no confirmed residential heat pump rebate as of 2026. None of this money reaches a Greater Houston meter; the program follows the delivery territory, always.
Why the Project Clears Without the Rebate
Greater Houston asks a heating system for a short mild winter and a cooling system for the longest, wettest summer in this guide's family, running from April past October. Design nights sit around the low thirties, an exam any quality variable-speed machine passes without a premium, and the machine spends its actual life being the air conditioner, which was already the biggest line on the household's energy year. Against electric resistance heat and propane, the operating arithmetic clears in four figures over the machine's life without a dollar of subsidy, per our fuel comparison. Against the gas furnaces that heat most of the metro, the case is the air conditioner's calendar: the cooling equipment dies on schedule, and its replacement dollar buys a machine that heats too.
The Housing Stock Angle
The program reads the same while the projects differ. The inner loop's older stock, The Heights, Montrose, and the bungalow streets around the Museum District, carries the routing-heavy conversions and the scattered electric resistance that makes the strongest operating case. The postwar rings, Bellaire, Meyerland, West University, and Garden Oaks, carry ducted stock where the common project is a changeout triggered by a compressor death in July. The master-planned rings, Katy, Sugar Land, Pearland, Cypress TX, and The Woodlands, carry builder-grade ducts whose static pressure deserves a measurement before any sizing. In every case the machine that collects the rebate is the machine the load calculation produced, not the one the incentive sheet flattered.
The Stale Quote Test
The short map still filters contractors. A 2026 Houston quote citing the federal tax credit as live money is stale on its face, since those credits ended December 31, 2025. A quote promising Oncor or Austin Energy money on a CenterPoint meter has misread the delivery map. A quote carrying the CenterPoint incentive without participating-contractor status has promised money it cannot deliver. The bidder who states the channel correctly, up to $500 per unit, qualifying tier confirmed, delivered through participation, named on the quote, has passed an honesty test before any equipment is discussed.
Renters and Landlords
The metro's rental stock carries much of its most expensive cooling and heating: window units and strip heat in subdivided older houses, tired equipment in apartment stock across Sharpstown, Alief, and Third Ward. The incentive follows the owner who buys the equipment through a participating contractor, but the operating case reads identically for both parties: a large cooling improvement through the region's longest season, cheaper heat in the short winter, and a property that rents better for both. A tenant's cheapest move is forwarding this page to whoever holds the deed.
Collecting Cleanly
The checklist is short and channel-first. Confirm CenterPoint delivers your power, which is true across nearly all of Greater Houston regardless of your retail provider. Ask each bidder directly: are you a participating contractor in the CenterPoint Standard Offer Program, and will the incentive appear as a named line on my quote? Confirm the proposed machine's qualifying tier in writing. Then file nothing, because the channel does the filing, and keep the quote and invoice as the paper trail. The whole procedure costs one question per bidder and sorts the field faster than any review site.
The Short Version
Texas heat pump money is utility money, and Greater Houston's line is CenterPoint's Standard Offer: up to $500 per unit, paid through participating contractors, which makes contractor selection and rebate collection the same act. Elsewhere in Texas the numbers run from $600 per unit to around $3,000 whole-home, and none of it crosses delivery-territory lines. No state program, and the federal credits ended December 31, 2025. The project clears on the cooling math regardless, which is where this climate settles every question. Confirm participation, name the line, and spend your real attention on the sizing.
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