Status checked September 1, 2026 · Program rules can change quickly
The short answer
The 2026 Massachusetts program is open and pays up to $8,500 for a whole-home air-source heat pump, covering installations between January 1 and December 31, 2026, with paperwork due February 28, 2027 (Mass Save program terms).
Getting the full amount is conditional. The rebate is paid per ton of capacity, at three different rates depending on whether the heat pump becomes the whole heating system, and whether your house passes a weatherization test.
None of this tells you whether a heat pump is a good investment for your house. Incentives lower what you pay for equipment. Whether the project pays back depends separately on your electricity and gas rates and on what you would otherwise have installed.
The rate election is worth more than most equipment upgrades
Start with the fuels, compared on the same basis: what it costs to deliver one kilowatt-hour of heat into the house.
Massachusetts residential gas averaged $25.77 per thousand cubic feet in January 2026, the heart of the heating season (EIA natural gas prices). That is roughly $2.49 per therm — among the highest in the country. A therm holds about 29.3 kilowatt-hours of heat and a 92% furnace delivers about 27 of them, so gas heat costs around 9.2 cents per kilowatt-hour.
Electricity averaged 29.61 cents per kilowatt-hour in June 2026 (EIA Electric Power Monthly). A heat pump at a seasonal coefficient of performance of 3.0 delivers heat at about 9.9 cents. Against gas that is a near-tie — the closest of any state we cover, and close enough that a rate change decides it.
Which is what happened. Since November 1, 2025, the state's three investor-owned electric utilities offer seasonal heat-pump rates that cut winter delivery charges sharply. Eversource's heat-pump distribution rate is 2.052 cents per kilowatt-hour against 6.264 cents on the standard residential rate, and its heat-pump transmission rate is 1.492 cents against 4.545 cents (Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER)). That is about 7.3 cents per kilowatt-hour off every unit of electricity the household uses from November 1 through April 30.
| Heating source | Fuel price | Cost per kWh of heat |
|---|---|---|
| Heat pump, COP 3.0, seasonal heat-pump rate | 22.3¢ / kWh | 7.4¢ |
| Gas furnace, 92% efficient | $2.49 / therm | 9.2¢ |
| Heat pump, COP 3.0, standard rate | 29.61¢ / kWh | 9.9¢ |
| Heating oil, 85% efficient | $5.07 / gallon | 14.7¢ |
| Propane, 90% efficient | $3.57 / gallon | 14.8¢ |
Scroll the table sideways to see the cost-per-kilowatt-hour column.
Oil and propane prices are the state's own August 10, 2026 dealer survey (Massachusetts home heating fuel prices).
Put a household behind it. A home burning 700 therms a year on space heating spends about $1,740 on gas. The same heat from a heat pump at a coefficient of performance of 3.0 takes roughly 6,290 kilowatt-hours.
Annual gas heating: 700 therms × $2.49 = $1,740
Heat pump on standard rate: 6,290 kWh × 29.61¢ = $1,862
Heat pump on seasonal rate: 6,290 kWh × 22.3¢ = $1,405
Same house, same equipment, same winter. On the default rate the heat pump costs about $122 a year more to run than the furnace. On the seasonal heat-pump rate it costs about $335 a year less. The rate election is worth roughly $457 a year — and it is the difference between a project that saves money and one that does not.
Two things follow. Massachusetts is one of the few places where a gas-to-heat-pump conversion can be defended on operating cost alone, which means the rebate goes toward the installed-price difference rather than being consumed offsetting higher bills. And the rate paperwork deserves the same attention as the equipment selection.
Three caveats. The electricity figure is an annual average that spreads fixed charges across all usage; winter supply rates in New England typically run above it, which narrows the advantage. Enrollment is not always automatic — customers who took the smallest rebate tier have to apply (National Grid heat pump rate). And a heat pump replaces the air conditioner too, a credit this table does not include.
The rebate measures your house, not your equipment
Massachusetts pays per ton of installed capacity, and the rate per ton depends on what the heat pump is replacing and how leaky the building is.
A whole-home system that becomes the primary heat earns $2,650 per ton, capped at $8,500. A partial-home system earns $1,125 per ton, also capped at $8,500. A system that displaces neither fossil fuel nor electric resistance heat earns $250 per ton (rebate schedule).
Whole-home status is gated on weatherization. The house qualifies if it was built in 2000 or later, if an energy assessment recommends less than $1,000 of weatherization work, or if recommendations issued since 2013 have been completed. Miss that test and the same three-ton system drops two tiers.
What the weatherization test is worth on a three-ton system
Partial-home projects can recover some ground: $500 for completing weatherization and $500 for correct sizing bring a three-ton system to $4,375.
Zero-interest financing is available alongside the rebate, which matters more than it sounds — an interest-free loan changes the cash-flow question even when it does not change the total.
Income-qualified path
Households below defined income thresholds can receive up to $16,000, or a no-cost turnkey installation. For a four-person household in the 2025–26 program year the moderate-income band runs from $99,574 to $132,764 (income-based offers).
There is a significant restriction: the enhanced offer applies to homes leaving oil, propane or electric resistance heat — not natural gas (enhanced rebate terms). Weatherization must be completed first.
Look back at the fuel table and the restriction reads as deliberate rather than arbitrary. On paper, oil and propane deliver heat at roughly 14.7 and 14.8 cents per kilowatt-hour against a heat pump's 7.4 cents on the seasonal rate — a running-cost gap of about half. In practice the gap is usually wider, because older oil and propane furnaces rarely operate anywhere near their nameplate efficiency.
Those fuels are also the most carbon-intensive in common residential use, at 163 and 139 pounds of carbon dioxide per million Btu against natural gas's 117 (EIA emissions coefficients). And Massachusetts has an unusually large installed base of them: about one in four households here still heat with petroleum products, mainly oil, a regional characteristic that has largely disappeared from other cold-climate states (EIA state profile). Pointing the largest incentives at those homes concentrates the money where a heat pump produces unambiguous savings.
The program is working, and its budget was trimmed anyway
Massachusetts installed heat pumps in 133,753 households between 2020 and 2025 against a 100,000-household goal, and the next target is at least 500,000 by 2030 (2025 climate report card).
In February 2025 regulators reduced the 2025–2027 efficiency plan by $500 million, cutting the residential gas budget about 25% and residential electric about 15% (Department of Public Utilities (DPU)). Program spending is recovered through utility bills, so incentive levels and bill affordability pull against each other.
Separately, federal rebate money allocated to Massachusetts has not been confirmed as reaching customers (state funding status). Do not price it into a 2026 project.
What Massachusetts homeowners should do next
Book the home energy assessment before getting equipment quotes. It determines your weatherization classification, which sets the rebate tier, which is worth up to $4,575 on a typical system.
Ask your electric utility to confirm in writing that you will be enrolled on the seasonal heat-pump rate, and when. Then price the project on that rate.
If you heat with oil or propane, check the income-qualified path first — the running-cost case is far stronger and the incentives are aimed at you. If you heat with gas and National Grid serves you, the case rests on the seasonal heat-pump rate discussed above — which the utility puts at $70 to $141 a month from November through April for a standard residential customer at average usage, roughly $420 to $850 a year, or on the order of $6,000 across a ten-year horizon (National Grid heat pump rate). Verify your enrollment before committing.
Where to check the current rules
- Air-source heat-pump rebatesCurrent per-ton amounts, tiers and weatherization test.
- Seasonal heat-pump electric ratesPublished rates by utility and eligibility.
- Income-based offersThresholds, enhanced amounts and fuel restrictions.
- Home heating fuel pricesState survey of oil and propane dealer prices.
- Federal funding statusWhether federal rebate money is customer-facing.
- EIA residential electricity pricesCurrent state-level electricity rates.