As the sunsets creep earlier and earlier, it’s only a matter of time until winter cold sets in. Alaskans know well that you don’t wait for the cold to arrive to figure out how you’re heating your home.
A pair of Alaska based organizations are encouraging residents who warm their homes with oil, propane or wood to take advantage of their heat-pump rebate program.
There’s still plenty of time for folks that have either woodstoves or oil furnaces to reach out and get their assessment and paperwork in order to qualify for the incentive program.
Robert Venables is the executive director of Southeast Conference, a long running community and economic development organization. The conference received a $39 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency in 2024 for their program transitioning Alaskans to cleaner energy.
To date, 185 heat pumps have been installed across all eligible communities with several hundred more households already approved for funding. [Local only: Of those 14 Wrangell homeowners have taken advantage of the rebate.] The program has funding for up to 6,000 households, so there’s still room for new applicants.
The amount granted depends on the applicant’s income, but there is no income cap to qualify for a rebate. Households making 80% or under the median income for their community are eligible for the maximum grant of $8,500. [web: There is some variation for household size and the rebate amount decreases for higher incomes.]
The maximum rebate amount was set to fully cover the installation of a simple single-head heat pump when the program was first designed, but it may not be enough to cover all expenses in some communities today.
With inflation, that’s definitely changed and gone up since the grant was written and conceived of a few years ago.
Hannah Wilson is the Alaska program manager for Alaska Heat Smart, the clean energy nonprofit responsible for program implementation.
Homeowners who are not approved for a grant that covers the entire installation cost are responsible for the remainder of the bill .
To help bridge the funding gap , they have teamed up with True North Federal Credit Union to offer low-interest loans to cover any leftover expenses from a rebate-funded installation.
[web: Low-income households also have the option to use an Alaska Heat Smart-approved contractor. If so, Heat Smart will pay the contractor directly, so that the homeowner does not have to spend any money up front. The caveat is that not all communities have approved contractors in their area.]
Residents are not required to remove their old heating system to participate in the program.
Venables, from Southeast Conference, said that there is plenty of funding to go around.
We’ve got lots of money, so it’s just a matter of folks following through once they get their green light on the assessment and then you choose a contractor and off to the races.
To learn more about the program and how to apply, visit akheatsmart.org/aces
