Contractor Support Center

TECH Program Updates

For a summary of the history of TECH program updates, please see the following table. For a full description of TECH program changes, please see at the bottom a comprehensive description of the above-noted changes.

Summarized Changes:

Comprehensive Description of Changes:

Hello Contractors,

Funding is exhausted for all single-family projects in Pacific Gas and Electric territory and HP HVAC projects in Southern California Gas territory. Please note that SDG&E incentives have also been suspended since late April - more information in the  SDG&E suspension article. In addition, due to the depletion of funds, we must end the contractor bonus incentives. Please note that separate BayREN and CCCE incentives were not effected by the TECH incentive suspension.

On May 6th, we created a reservation system (see this article for more context) and requested that program contractors create all sold jobs in the TECH online system for two purposes: 1) to reserve funds at the existing incentive levels for sold jobs and 2) to be able to run a budget spend prediction based on those sold jobs. You all did an amazing job creating all the jobs and we have reserved those funds. We had over $6 million in funds reserved in the past two days, $1 million reserved just this morning alone.   

Now that we know the full extent of reserved funds and sold jobs, we will be suspending single-family incentives as defined below:

• PG&E territory is out of funds for both HP HVAC and HPWH.  
• SoCal Gas territory is out of funds for HP HVAC, and there is $1,233,093 remaining for HPWH. 
• Southwest Gas territory still has funds for both HVAC and HPWH.  
• Any remaining jobs entered into the online system after the time of this email on May 12th, 5:22pm PDT, will be added to a waitlist, though at this time there are no guarantees that waitlisted projects will be funded.
  • (5/17/22 UPDATE): Projects created in the online system by 5 PM on Friday, May 13th are considered reserved and will be funded.
• Budget will continue to be updated at energy-solution.com/tech.

We will work with contractors to let them know exactly which projects have been reserved as soon as we can.  

Updated Status guide:
 

Submitted claims = funded, we're working on processing

*Created by May 13 = reserved

*Update: No further projects after May 13 will be funded. 

This article was formerly titled Program Updates for June 20. Please read on to understand why a May 13 date has been introduced and how to "reserve" HVAC incentives.

Hi Contractors,

We previously announced upcoming changes to the TECH Clean California incentive offering. Based on recent contractor feedback and the experience with SDG&E territory incentive suspension, we are making a few adjustments to our process that will help ensure contractors can count on funding being available for jobs that they have sold and help us to better track our remaining incentive funds available. Due to the rapid program uptake and without these modifications, there could be a risk that contractors sell jobs but funds are no longer available once they submit them into the system. Please note that these changes represent a shift from the previous application submittal deadline of June 20^th. 

1. Existing incentives levels will be “reserved” for customer contracts signed by May 13, 2022.   In order to “reserve” funds, the signed contract with an installation date needs to be uploaded into Iris (as a jpeg or pdf under the customer invoice photo field) and saved as a submitted or unsubmitted project by May 13. The reservations will be reflected in the TECH Budget table listed at https://go.frontierenergy.com/e/954613/tech-/v3ty/26731096?h=V7UGXh-huMMPIdv7KQ-p0uNKBRzn0_WTItv7l3NbMek. 
2. This May 13^th reservation deadline replaces the June 20^th submittal date. Projects need to be in the system by May 13^th to get the current incentive levels, but do not need to be submitted by June 20^thas we realize there are backlogs for HERS and supply chain issues impacting your projects. 
   • Any project created in Iris after May 13^th will receive the new reduced incentive amounts and follow those requirements. 
   • The program changes to thermostatic mixing valve incentives and DR statewide bonus incentives do not take effect until June 20^th.  
3. We are posting the total of all applications created in the system, including unsubmitted applications, on our program website at https://go.frontierenergy.com/e/954613/tech-/v3ty/26731096?h=V7UGXh-huMMPIdv7KQ-p0uNKBRzn0_WTItv7l3NbMek.   
   • Once the total of submitted and unsubmitted claims reaches zero we will no longer be accepting applications for that service territory (similar to SDG&E territory a flag will be added to all of these claims). 
4.  In order to “reserve” HVAC incentives at the $3,000 incentive rates, the following must happen:   
   • All projects must be created in Iris by Friday, May 13, 2022.  
   • Installation dates must be input into the job record by May 13, 2022.  
   • A signed customer contract must be uploaded to the record by May 13, 2022.   

The May 13^th deadline is the cutoff date for “reserving” incentives at the existing rate. These reservations are being offered only on existing signed contracts. We want to be able to reassure customers that their jobs sold will receive the original incentive amounts. 

Additional Updates: 

• Special note for Contractors serving border areas of lower Orange County served by SDG&E: The following zip codes are now formally designated as being in SDG&E territory and incentives are exhausted. No further applications for these zip codes will be accepted after May 13, 2022: 92008. 92014, 92024, 92055, 92121, 92173, 92624, 92629, 92649, 92651, 92653, 92654, 92656, 92672, 92673, 92674, 92675, 92676, 92677, 92679, 92688, 92690, 92691, 92692, 92694, 92697 
• We are reserving $1.5M (~10%) of SoCal Gas territory funding specifically for water heating. A major TECH goal is to gather heat pump project installation data for both space and water heating throughout the state to help inform future programs. While the PG&E territory has received relatively balanced uptake between space and water heating, the SoCal Gas territory is overwhelmingly HVAC at this time. Reserving a small portion of total SoCal Gas funding will ensure that TECH completes enough water heating projects to build the market and inform future programs. 

Program changes can be tracked live in the Program Changes section of the Contractor Support Center.  

The TECH team continues to explore additional funding opportunities and will provide updates when more information is available.  

Steps to confirm your project meets the deadline:  

1. Log in to the online system and submit a new claim, 
2. Choose the "TECH Clean California – Heat Pump Water Heating” or "TECH Clean California – Heat Pump HVAC” program, 
3. Enter the customer address and customer contact information, 
4. In the Project Information screen, enter an invoice number, date, and amount (this can be changed later), 
5. Enter the expected installation date (this can be changed later), 
6. In the Invoice Upload field, add your signed contract, 
7. Select “Save to Draft.”  

______________________________________________________________________________________

3. April 20, 2022 Original Announcement

TECH is succeeding beyond our expectations and we are seeing a much higher volume of applications than anticipated. Our latest budget spend trajectory indicates our funding is running out far ahead of schedule. In the interest of keeping the program running for longer, we will be reducing incentives on June 20, 2022. Without these changes, TECH will run out of funding by end of summer. Remaining budget amounts are posted online at https://energy-solution.com/tech/ and updated on a daily basis. We are also taking this time to simplify the incentives offered in enhanced regions to make it easier to participate.

Last week we announced the suspension of incentives in the SDG&E territory, and we are following up today to announce a few other changes to the program. The goal of these changes is to simplify some rules around TECH Clean California that will clear up questions and decrease application processing time, keep TECH incentives available to contractors for a longer period of time, and prepare the market for future programs in the heat pump space. All changes will go into effect on June 20, 2022, unless otherwise noted. 

Changes to Heat Pump Water Heater (HPWH) Incentives 

The CPUC released their SGIP HPWH Initiative Final Decision and the general rules for that upcoming program. In order to prime the market for this program, TECH will take several steps to help prepare contractors to participate in this program. 

• TECH will be offering flat incentives of $3,100 across the board for HPWHs, except PG&E territory where the flat incentive will be $2,100. PG&E areas served by SMUD, Comfortable Home Rebates and BayREN will be able to layer TECH's $2,100 incentive with the local program incentives. Final total is dependent on local program amounts. 
  • Panel upgrade incentives will no longer be available through TECH.  We are working with local program partners to provide this incentive.
  • This does not include SDG&E territory, where incentives have been sunset. 
• TECH will require a thermostatic mixing valve to be installed on all HPWHs. TECH will no longer be supporting the $200 thermostatic mixing valve incentive in the Bay Area.
• TECH will offer an additional $50 bonus to contractors when the customer also enrolls in an accompanying demand response (DR) program.
  • TECH will be rolling out training on these DR Programs to all contractors prior to June 20th. 

Changes to HP HVAC Incentives 

TECH will introduce the following changes to extend the initiative's incentive offering, simplify the application process, and promote quality installation.

• TECH incentives will be reduced to $1,000 (from $3,000) for a Title 24 compliant (to-code) system. 
• Quality Installation incentives will now be available statewide (excluding SDG&E territory). 
  • Raise your incentive offer by $1,000 to a total of $2,000 through Manual J, duct sealing/replacement, and system performance testing.
  • Proper Documentation must be provided to receive incentives for these measures.
  • Quality installation incentives will not be required to be passed through to customers. 
• TECH will offer the $1,000 incentive per HP HVAC installation across all eligible zip codes (excluding SDG&E territory where incentives have been suspended).
  • This means that participants in areas with enhanced incentives like SMUD, Comfortable Home Rebates, or BayREN will now see a consistent baseline and local programs layer on top of TECH baseline. 
  • There will no longer be additional TECH incentives available for higher SEER equipment, these higher SEER requirements will be incentivized through partner programs.
• Pictures of electric panels will no longer be required to help streamline application processing.
• Applications must be fully submitted, with HERS documentation by June 20th to retain the previous incentive amount. 

New and Existing TECH Partner Programs 

With the reduction for TECH incentives we are also working closely with different Program Administrators to maximize total funding available for heat pump technologies. As noted above, TECH's incentives will be flat and partner programs will be able to layer incentives on top of these lower TECH incentives. As a reminder, TECH incentives can be layered with all other programs as long as they are in a TECH-eligible zip code. Other contractor programs include:

For a complete list and more information, visit https://www.switchison.org/incentives.

We are looking for partners that want to continue the momentum of these existing offerings by layering additional incentives with TECH Clean California. TECH has over 1,000 contractors enrolled or soon to the be enrolled in the program and we have seen enthusiastic uptake of heat pump water heater incentives. 

Reminder: Suspension of incentives in SDG&E territory

Please see the attached email if you missed the announcement. Key points include:

• All HPWH and HP HVAC incentives will suspend in SDG&E territory on May 31, 2022, or when the incentive budget is exhausted.
• To prevent committing incentives that cannot be paid, we suggest all sales of TECH incentivized heat pump measures should immediately cease in SDG&E territory.  Remaining budget amounts are posted online at https://energy-solution.com/tech/ and updated on a daily basis.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):