Arizona runs no state heat pump program, and the federal 25C and 25D credits ended December 31, 2025, which leaves the incentive conversation entirely to the utilities, and 2026 redrew that map. SRP's Cool Cash program pays per ton, staged by compressor technology: $75 per ton for single-stage, $150 for multi-stage, and $225 for variable-speed, up to $1,125 on a five-ton variable-speed system. APS, the state's largest electric utility, discontinued its residential heat pump rebates on January 1, 2026, which means an APS meter collects nothing from APS this year, a fact this guide states plainly because plenty of stale quotes will not. In Tucson, TEP's Efficient Home Program takes up to $720 straight off the purchase price through participating contractors, with an income-eligible pathway reaching $14,000. This guide maps all of it, then explains why a Valley project clears without any of it.
The Map in One Table
| Program | 2026 amount | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| SRP Cool Cash, single-stage | $75 per ton | SRP electric customers; one rebate per system |
| SRP Cool Cash, multi-stage | $150 per ton | Tiers are alternatives by compressor stage |
| SRP Cool Cash, variable-speed | $225 per ton; up to $1,125 at 5 tons | Highest-efficiency variable-capacity units |
| APS | $0 | Residential heat pump rebates ended January 1, 2026 |
| TEP Efficient Home Program | Up to $720 instant | Participating contractor; retire an older unit |
| Federal 25C/25D | Ended December 31, 2025 | Everywhere |
SRP's Per-Ton Ladder, the Valley's Real Money
Cool Cash is built the way an engineer would build a rebate: it pays per ton, so it scales with the load the house actually carries, and it pays three times as much for variable-speed as for single-stage, so it points at exactly the technology the desert rewards. A four-ton variable-speed system collects $900; a five-ton collects the $1,125 top figure; and the same tonnage in single-stage equipment collects a third of that. The staging turns the rebate into a nudge toward the right machine: variable-speed compressors are what hold comfort and efficiency through the Valley's long shoulder seasons and brutal afternoons, per our cold-weather guide. One rebate per system, SRP electric customers only, and the tonnage should come from a load calculation rather than rebate ambition.
The APS Line Is Zero, and That Is the Story
APS discontinued its residential efficiency heat pump rebates on January 1, 2026. There is nothing to claim from APS itself this year, and a correct 2026 quote on an APS meter prices only what the address can actually get. This page states that without spin because the alternative is worse: a bidder carrying last year's APS rebate as live money is quoting money that does not exist, and the error is diagnostic. Utility service in the Valley splits street by street between SRP and APS, so the first question of any project is which utility bills the meter, and the second, on an APS answer, is whether the quote in your hand has caught up to January.
Tucson Reads TEP
The statewide carve runs well past the Valley, and Tucson's map is its own: TEP's Efficient Home Program pays up to $720 as an instant rebate, taken off the purchase price through a participating contractor, on a high-efficiency heat pump that retires an older unit, working or not. A heat pump water heater adds $400 as a separate measure, and the income-eligible Efficiency Arizona pathway reaches $14,000, a separate track worth checking before any quote is signed. The midstream design folds the rebate into contractor selection: an unenrolled contractor cannot deliver the money, which makes participation the first vetting question on a TEP meter, per our contractor guide.
Why the Project Clears Without Any of It
The Valley of the Sun asks a heating system for a token winter, design nights in the upper thirties, and a cooling system for the longest, hardest cooling season in the country. The machine is the air conditioner; the air conditioner was already the biggest line on the electric bill by a wide margin; and the replacement dollar was being spent at the next compressor failure, which in this climate arrives on schedule and in summer. Against the strip heat wired into parts of the older stock, the operating arithmetic clears in four figures over the machine's life with no subsidy at all, per our fuel comparison. SRP's $1,125 is a welcome trim on a five-figure project; it is never the reason the project happens.
The High Country Reads Differently
Arizona's map is not all desert. Flagstaff, Show Low, Pinetop, and the Prescott country run real winters at elevation, where the heating half of the specification stops being a footnote and the machine must be chosen for genuine cold-night capacity rather than Valley assumptions. The rebate map up there follows whichever utility serves the address, confirmed at quote time, and the sizing conversation belongs to the mountain climate, not this page's Valley framing. The one constant statewide is procedural: the program follows the bill, and the bill decides which table applies.
The Housing Stock Angle
The programs split by meter while the projects split by decade. The midcentury core, Arcadia, the older blocks of Tempe, Glendale AZ, and central Mesa, carries ducted stock where the common project is a changeout triggered by a summer failure, and where attic ducts baked by decades of desert sun deserve measurement before sizing. The boom rings, Chandler, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Surprise, Peoria, and San Tan Valley, carry builder-grade two-stories whose equipment ages by the subdivision, natural territory for the variable-speed upgrade the SRP ladder points at. Costs by project type sit in our installation cost guide.
The Stale Quote Test
The 2026 map filters contractors efficiently. A quote citing the federal tax credit as live money is stale on its face, since those credits ended December 31, 2025. A quote promising an APS rebate is running on last year's map, since that program ended January 1, 2026. A quote promising SRP money on an APS meter, or TEP's instant rebate through a non-participating contractor, has misread the mechanics. The bidder who states the map as this page states it, including the zero, has passed an honesty test before any equipment is discussed.
Renters and Landlords
The Valley's most expensive cooling disproportionately serves tenants: tired package units and window units on the older rental stock, strip heat in conversions. The rebate follows the owner who buys the equipment, but the operating case reads identically for both parties: a large cooling improvement through the longest season in the country, cheap heat in the token winter, and a property that rents better. A tenant's cheapest move is forwarding this page to whoever holds the deed.
Collecting Cleanly
The checklist is meter-first. Confirm SRP or APS in the Valley, TEP in Tucson, or the local utility elsewhere in the state. On SRP, get the compressor stage and tonnage stated, because they set the per-ton rate, and get the total as a named line. On TEP, confirm the contractor participates and the old unit's retirement is documented, and check the income-eligible track before signing anything. On APS, expect zero from APS and treat any other claim as a red flag. Everywhere, ask who files, and keep the invoice with the confirmation as the paper trail.
The Short Version
SRP pays $75, $150, or $225 per ton by compressor stage, topping out at $1,125 for a five-ton variable-speed system. APS pays nothing, its program having ended January 1, 2026. TEP takes up to $720 off the price instantly in Tucson through participating contractors, with an income-eligible pathway to $14,000. No state program, and the federal credits ended December 31, 2025. Read the bill first, name the line or the zero, and spend the real attention on sizing for the hottest design day of the year.
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