If you've shopped for a mini-split or heat pump in New York City, you've seen rebate numbers thrown around — some current, some years stale, some pure fiction. Here's the honest version from a shop that files this paperwork weekly: there are three separate buckets of money, they work in completely different ways, and the amounts change often enough that any specific dollar figure on a website (including ours) should be treated as a snapshot, not a promise.
The three buckets: a Con Edison utility rebate that comes off your invoice, a federal tax credit that shows up at tax time if you qualify, and financing — which we'll address honestly at the bottom.
Bucket 1: the Con Edison NYS Clean Heat rebate
NYS Clean Heat is the statewide program that pays utilities to move homes onto cold-climate heat pumps. Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Manhattan are all Con Edison electric territory, so the same program covers all three boroughs we serve on the New York side.
The part most homeowners don't know: you never apply for this rebate yourself. The program pays through participating contractors. We file the paperwork, the rebate comes off your invoice as a line item, and the price you approve is the net price. If a contractor tells you to 'apply for the rebate after,' that's not how the program works — or they're not a participating contractor.
The rebate scales with how much heating the system takes over. A single-zone unit for one hot bedroom earns a modest rebate — typically several hundred dollars. A whole-home conversion that displaces an oil boiler or electric baseboard earns the serious money — typically several thousand. The equipment must be on the program's qualified cold-climate list, which is one more reason we install the Mitsubishi hyper-heat models we do.
What typically qualifies — and what doesn't
Program rules shift year to year, but the pattern holds:
- Qualifies: cold-climate ducted and ductless heat pumps on the program's eligible equipment list
- Qualifies: existing homes in Con Edison electric territory — Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Manhattan included
- Qualifies: installation by a participating contractor, sized to program rules (another reason load calculations matter)
- Doesn't: window units, portable units, and DIY equipment
- Doesn't: equipment that isn't on the qualified product list, however good the sale price was
- Worth knowing: the program pays for heating displacement. A system pitched purely as air conditioning earns less than one designed to carry your winter.
Bucket 2: the federal 25C tax credit — the honest version
The federal Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit (section 25C) has, in recent years, covered 30% of a qualifying heat pump installation up to $2,000 in a tax year. It's a credit against taxes you owe, claimed on your return — not a check and not an invoice discount.
Here's the part we refuse to gloss over: Congress has rewritten federal energy credit rules more than once in the last few years, and eligibility windows and end dates have moved. Whether a credit applies to your project depends on the rules in force for the year your system goes into service. We provide the manufacturer certificates and the itemized invoice your tax preparer needs — and we tell every customer the same thing: confirm it with your tax preparer before you count the money. Any contractor who guarantees you a federal credit is selling past their knowledge.
Brooklyn & Manhattan: same rebate, more paperwork
Because all three boroughs are Con Edison electric territory, the Clean Heat rebate works the same in a Bay Ridge rowhouse or a Manhattan co-op as it does in a Westerleigh colonial. What changes is the building layer on top: co-ops and condos need board approval before any work starts — alteration agreements, certificates of insurance, sometimes an engineer's letter.
We prepare that package as part of the job. The rebate itself doesn't care whether you own a detached house or co-op shares; it cares that the equipment qualifies and a participating contractor installs it.
Bucket 3: financing — where it honestly stands
We're finalizing a financing partner so qualified homeowners can spread a new system over monthly payments. It is not live yet, and we'd rather say that plainly than dress this page up with terms we can't honor. Our financing page tracks the current status. In the meantime, the rebate structure above is the real lever — and planning a spring install instead of an emergency January replacement is the quiet second one.
What this looks like on a real job
Our process, start to finish: we do the load calculation and design, confirm the current Clean Heat rebate for that exact configuration, and hand you a written quote where the rebate is a visible line item and the bottom number is what you pay. After the install, we file the rebate, register the warranty, and give you the documentation package for tax season. You never chase a rebate check.
As an illustration — not a quote — a recent three-zone colonial conversion ran in the mid-teens gross. The Clean Heat rebate took a four-figure bite off the invoice, and the homeowner's tax preparer confirmed a federal credit on top for that tax year. The right way to get your version of those numbers is a free quote, because the program amounts move.
Jobs like yours, recently
Real scopes from recent installs — the neighborhood, the home, the system, and what it fixed. No names, no stars, just the work.
Westerleigh, Staten Island · 1930s detached colonial
4-zone Mitsubishi hyper-heat multi-split — one head on the open first floor, three bedroom heads upstairs; gas boiler kept as cold-snap backup
The problem: Three window units every May, radiators with no cooling at all, and a second floor that never dropped below 80°F on July nights.
What changed: Window units retired for good, each bedroom on its own thermostat, and the boiler now fires only on the coldest nights. Line sets run down the rear wall in painted line-hide — nothing visible from the street.
Midland Beach, Staten Island · flood-zone cape cod with a finished attic
Single-zone 12,000 BTU cold-climate mini-split; condenser on an elevated bracket above flood grade, coastal-coated coil and stainless hardware
The problem: A finished attic office no duct had ever reached — unusable after noon from June to September, and a block where salt air and the 2012 flood line rule the equipment choices.
What changed: The attic now holds its own temperature year-round, the condenser sits above the flood line on a wall bracket, and the coastal spec means the coil isn't on an eight-year corrosion clock.
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn · brick rowhouse
2-zone Mitsubishi multi-split for the top floor — two bedroom heads fed from a rear-yard condenser, line sets chased down the rear facade
The problem: A top floor under a flat black roof running 12–15 degrees hotter than the parlor level, in a house with plaster walls nobody wanted opened.
What changed: Both top-floor bedrooms hold their set temperature through heat waves. All penetrations came through the rear brick — no plaster was cut, and the street-facing facade is untouched.
Hudson Heights, Manhattan · pre-war co-op apartment
Single-zone ductless system with board-approved placement; condensate pumped to an approved drain line rather than dripped to the setback
The problem: Radiator heat with no cooling, a co-op board with a real alteration agreement, and a building engineer with opinions about where condensate goes.
What changed: We prepared the alteration package and insurance certificates the board required, placed the equipment per the building's rules, and the apartment got quiet cooling without a window unit blocking the fire escape.
Con Edison Rebates & Tax Credits Guide: quick answers
How much is the Con Edison mini-split rebate right now?
It changes — that's the honest answer. Recent single-zone rebates have run several hundred dollars; whole-home cold-climate conversions have earned several thousand. We confirm the current amount for your exact configuration at quote time and show your price net of it.
Do I apply for the rebate myself?
No. NYS Clean Heat pays through participating contractors. We file the paperwork and the rebate comes off your invoice as a line item. If someone tells you to apply on your own afterward, something's off.
Do the rebates apply in Brooklyn and Manhattan too?
Yes. Staten Island, Brooklyn, and Manhattan are all Con Edison electric territory, so the same Clean Heat program covers all three. Co-op and condo buildings add board approval steps, which we prepare as part of the job.
Does my co-op apartment qualify?
Generally yes, with board approval. The rebate cares about qualifying equipment and a participating installer, not your form of ownership. We handle the alteration-agreement and insurance paperwork boards ask for.
Can I stack the Con Edison rebate with the federal tax credit?
In recent tax years, yes — the utility rebate came off the invoice and the 25C credit applied at tax time. Federal rules have shifted, so confirm the current year's eligibility with your tax preparer. We supply the certificates and itemized invoice either way.
Is financing available?
Not yet — we're finalizing a partner and won't publish terms we can't honor. Our financing page has the current status, and rebates plus a planned (rather than emergency) install remain the best ways to lower the real cost today.