HVAC Rebate Guidance

HVAC Rebates in the Tri-Cities and Southwest Virginia

Rebate money for heating and cooling equipment is real, and most of it in this region comes from one place: TVA EnergyRight, paid through your local power company.

Who sends your electric bill?

In a three-city market, the answer is not the same in all three cities. That single fact decides which rebates you can claim, and it is the first thing we check.

Start With

Your most recent electric bill

Bring us your address and your last electric bill and we will tell you exactly which programs apply to your home.

Start Here

Find Your Power Company

TVA does not sell electricity directly to homes. It sells wholesale power to more than 150 local power companies, and TVA EnergyRight rebates reach you through whichever one serves your address. If your utility is not a TVA distributor, these rebates do not apply to you no matter what equipment you install.

TVA territory — Energy Right rebates available

BrightRidge — Johnson City and much of Washington, Sullivan, Carter and Unicoi counties
Bristol Tennessee Essential Services (BTES) — Bristol, Tennessee
Holston Electric Cooperative — Rogersville and Hawkins County
Elizabethton Electric — Elizabethton and Carter County
Appalachian Electric Cooperative — portions of Greene, Jefferson and Hamblen counties
BVU Authority — Bristol, Virginia

Not TVA territory — different rules entirely

Kingsport is the exception, and it surprises people. Kingsport and Mount Carmel are served by Kingsport Power Company, doing business as AEP Appalachian Power. AEP is an investor-owned utility, not a TVA local power company. TVA EnergyRight rebates are not available to AEP customers, regardless of what you install or who installs it.

The same is true across most of our Virginia service area. Smyth County, Washington County and the Abingdon and Chilhowie area are largely Appalachian Power territory, with electric cooperatives serving some outlying areas.

If you are on AEP, skip to the Appalachian Power section below.

TVA EnergyRight

TVA EnergyRight Rebates

If a TVA local power company serves your home, this is the primary rebate program available to you.

$500 to $800

Ducted air-source heat pump

Depending on efficiency tier

Up to $800

Ductless mini split heat pump

For qualifying ductless equipment

Up to $1,500

Geothermal heat pump

For qualifying geothermal equipment

How the heat pump tier is confirmed

Where a ducted system lands in that range depends on its rated efficiency. Higher-efficiency equipment earns the higher tier. We confirm the exact tier for the system we are quoting before you commit to anything, because the difference between tiers is often smaller than the difference in equipment cost.

Other qualifying improvements

TVA EnergyRight also offers rebates on duct sealing, duct insulation, air sealing, attic and wall insulation, windows, and HVAC tune-ups. Combined household rebates across measures can reach roughly $1,500. These are worth considering alongside equipment, because a leaky duct system undermines whatever you install.

Important Rules

Two Rules That Disqualify More Projects Than Anything Else

1. The installer has to be in the Quality Contractor Network

TVA requires that rebate-eligible work be performed by a member of its Quality Contractor Network. This is not a preference. A homeowner who installs qualifying equipment through a non-member contractor does not receive the rebate, and there is no appeal. Which means the rebate is not something you qualify for on your own. It is something your contractor qualifies for on your behalf. Ask about it before you sign anything, with us or with anyone else.

2. TVA heat pump rebates replace electric heat, not gas heat

The heat pump rebate is designed to upgrade existing electric heating — electric furnaces, strip heat, baseboard, or an older heat pump. Converting a gas or propane furnace to a heat pump generally does not qualify. This catches people who have read national articles about electrification incentives. Those articles are describing federal programs, not TVA's. If you are heating with gas or propane today, we will tell you honestly where you stand before you plan around money you will not receive.

Program Details

Financing, AEP, Federal Credits, and Tennessee Programs

TVA Financing and Home Uplift

On-bill financing. Many TVA local power companies offer financing for qualifying energy improvements, repaid on your monthly electric bill rather than through a separate lender. Availability varies by power company — not every distributor participates.

Home Uplift. For income-qualified households, TVA and participating local power companies fund energy improvements at no cost to the homeowner, frequently including HVAC work. Eligibility and enrollment run through your local power company, and there are usually waiting lists. If you think you may qualify, it is worth asking early rather than after your system fails.

Appalachian Power Customers

If AEP Appalachian Power serves your home — Kingsport, Mount Carmel, and much of our Virginia service area — your rebate picture is different. AEP’s residential efficiency program offerings vary by state and change from year to year, and Tennessee and Virginia are regulated separately with different approved programs.

We check current AEP program availability for your address as part of the estimate. What we will not do is quote you a rebate that does not exist in your territory.

Federal Tax Credits: What Changed

The federal 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit, which covered qualifying heat pumps and other equipment, expired December 31, 2025. Equipment installed in 2026 does not qualify.

A great many HVAC websites still advertise this credit as though it runs through 2032, because that was the original schedule before the law changed. If a contractor includes it in a proposal, that proposal is wrong, and you should ask what else in it is out of date.

Tennessee HEAR and HOMES Rebates

You may have read about Tennessee rebates of up to $8,000 for a heat pump, or up to $14,000 for whole-home electrification, funded through the federal Home Energy Rebates programs.

These have not launched. The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation has stated that funding for the state’s Home Energy Rebate programs is not yet available.

Three things follow from that:

There are no retroactive rebates. Installing now and applying after a future launch is not a strategy.
Income limits are planned. The largest amounts are targeted at households below 80% of area median income, with reduced amounts between 80% and 150%.
Nobody has a confirmed launch date, including us.

We would rather tell you this plainly than let you delay a failing system waiting for money with no date attached to it.

Paperwork

How We Handle the Paperwork

Rebate applications get rejected on technicalities: a missing AHRI certificate, an equipment combination that does not match what was submitted, a form filed outside the window. We handle the documentation as part of the job.

Step 1

Confirm

Confirm which power company serves your address before quoting anything.

Step 2

Verify

Verify the specific indoor and outdoor equipment combination qualifies, using AHRI matched-system data.

Step 3

Compare

Tell you which rebate tier your system falls into, and what a different tier would cost and return.

Step 4

Submit

Prepare and submit the documentation, and keep copies.

What we need from you

Your most recent electric bill, so we can confirm your utility, and access to the equipment during the estimate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I stack rebates from more than one program?

Sometimes. TVA EnergyRight measures can often be combined across equipment, insulation and air sealing within program limits. Combining TVA rebates with other programs depends on the rules of each, and we check that case by case.

Do I get the money off the price, or as a check?

TVA EnergyRight rebates are processed through your local power company after installation and documentation. Ask us how it works with your specific utility, because the mechanics differ.

Does a repair qualify?

Generally no. Rebates apply to qualifying equipment installations and specific efficiency improvements. HVAC tune-ups are a separate rebate category with their own requirements.

What if my equipment fails before I can plan for this?

Call us anyway. Emergency replacements can still qualify if the equipment and installer meet program requirements. What you lose in an emergency is the time to compare tiers, not the eligibility.

Are rebate amounts guaranteed?

No. Program amounts, efficiency requirements and availability are set by TVA and your local power company and are subject to change. Every figure on this page should be confirmed for your address and your equipment at the time of your estimate, which is exactly what we do.

Complete Comfort

Find Out What You Qualify For

Complete Comfort has been family owned and operated since 2011, serving Southwest Virginia from Chilhowie and now expanding into the Tri-Cities. We are Trane Comfort Specialists, licensed in both Virginia and Tennessee, and we install and service all major brands.

Bring us your address and your last electric bill and we will tell you exactly which programs apply to your home — including when the answer is that none do.

Call (276) 690-9222 or request an estimate online.

Rebate programs, amounts and eligibility requirements are set by TVA, your local power company, and applicable government agencies, and are subject to change without notice. Information on this page is current as of August 2026 and is provided for general guidance. We confirm current program details for your specific address and equipment before you make any purchase decision.