Amanda Stevens, Eversource
Many Northeast states, including New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, and Vermont, have set aggressive climate goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80-85% below 1990 levels by 2050. Decarbonizing heating systems will be essential to meeting these goals. This challenge is particularly acute in the Northeast, where many homes are heated with delivered fossil fuels. In Vermont, for example, approximately 60% of homes are heating with petroleum products. Similarly, 44% of homes in Connecticut and 28% of homes in Massachusetts heat with oil or propane.
New England utilities are committed to supporting the region’s decarbonization efforts and are advancing next-generation programs that will help customers transition to lower-carbon heating solutions. As one example, Eversource, along with Avangrid, launched a Connecticut Residential Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) Pilot in 2019. This pilot created the first rebate in the state to incentivize customers with oil- and propane-heated single-family homes to upgrade to energy efficient air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) as their primary heating system. Because ASHPs provide both heating and cooling without producing direct emissions, these systems represent a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions when powered with low-carbon electricity.
At Eversource, we saw important lessons emerge from the pilot work that have since been echoed in other utility heat pump programs. These lessons include the importance of incentives, the need to design program participation paths that meet customers where they are, and the criticality of engaging and training installation contractors.
Incentives Drive Interest
Currently, the cost of installing heat pumps is notably higher than incumbent technologies, and programs are finding success with incentives that bring the customer cost closer to alternatives. In Connecticut’s initial ASHP Pilot, the $1,000 per home incentive was too low to ignite interest. When the incentive was boosted to $1,000 per ton (averaging $4,500 per home), interest began to grow. In the pilot’s participant survey, 96% of respondents said the incentive offered by the pilot was important in their decision to install a heat pump.
In Massachusetts, incentive activity increased when a $10,000 whole-home incentive was introduced for full replacement of a fossil fuel system with a heat pump. California’s heat pump market transformation TECH program has an explicit goal to create price parity with incumbent technologies and found incentives to be an important motivator for customers.
Simplify and Meet Customers Where They Are
For many homeowners, breaking out large retrofits into smaller phases can help make the significant dollar investments more manageable. Some customers will start their journey with a home energy assessment, while others are seeking specific heat pump advice. When the Connecticut pilot was simplified by removing the requirement that customers first receive an energy assessment, we saw participation rapidly expand. Efficiency Maine’s award-winning heat pump program has taken a similar approach by cross-marketing both weatherization and heat pumps instead of requiring both to be completed.
Training and Engagement of Contractors is Vital
The Connecticut pilot found that home weatherization vendors with years of experience in tightening up homes and adding insulation did not quickly pivot to promoting ASHPs. However, we found direct engagement and relationship building with HVAC contractors was crucial to spurring pilot participation. A recent study of the longest-running national heat pump programs found contractor education and training has consistently been an important goal and developing a strong contractor network is a key to success.
Heat Pumps and Weatherization, What’s Next?
Utilities in the Northeast continue to encourage the installation of heat pumps. The Connecticut pilot has transitioned to a downstream rebate for certain applications and allows for an instant incentive with participating distributors. Eversource has launched a Heat Pump Installer Network to actively engage and support contractors and help customers identify HVAC installers who are knowledgeable in heat pump installation.
In addition to individualized heat pump consultations that customers can easily schedule online, we are deploying additional training for existing program contractors to further cross-promote weatherization and electrification during home energy assessments. In Massachusetts, customers can receive a bonus incentive if they complete weatherization and install an ASHP, an approach that’s also been proposed in Connecticut.
In the next article of this series, my colleague Kevin Boughan will discuss decarbonization strategies for the transportation sector.
More articles in this series:
Battery storage — A new lens on energy for consumers
How utility customer data can help deliver on a just energy transition
Electrifying new homes benefits customers and the climate
Leveraging absolute energy use targets in utility net zero energy efficiency programs
About the Author
Amanda Stevens is a Supervisor with Eversource’s Energy Efficiency team where she is focused on residential single family retrofit programs in Connecticut. She’s been developing energy programs and policies for over 15 years and has held positions with Avangrid Networks, Southern California Edison, Pasadena Water and Power, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
