How to Fill Out the Efficiency Maine Heat Pump Rebate Claim Form

To claim your rebate, download the Efficiency Maine heat pump rebate claim form from the Efficiency Maine website, complete both pages with your installer, attach an itemized invoice, and email or mail the package within six months of your project completion date. The form is a two-page PDF: page one collects homeowner and vendor information, and page two is a sizing worksheet you must complete for the claim to be approved.

Before You Start the Form

A claim form filled out perfectly still gets denied if the underlying project does not qualify. Confirm each of these before you sit down with the PDF.

Your installer must be an Efficiency Maine Residential Registered Vendor. Work performed by a non-registered contractor will not qualify for any rebate amount, so verify registration before you sign a contract, not after the work is done.¹

The property must be a single-family house, two-unit duplex, condominium, or mixed-use building with no more than two housing units and no commercial electrical meter. The home cannot have had a natural gas utility account before the upgrade. Low-income and moderate-income applicants must install the system in their principal residence.²

The heat pump must serve as your primary heating system throughout the heating season. Any existing fossil-fuel furnace or boiler must be reserved strictly for emergency backup by turning its thermostat off or all the way down, turning off and covering the power switch, or connecting it only to a generator.²

Your new and previously installed heat pumps must be sized to cover at least 80% of the home’s peak heating load, and together with any supplemental sources (wood stoves, electric baseboards) must cover 100% of the peak load. Fossil-fuel emergency backup does not count toward that 100%.²

If you are claiming a low-income or moderate-income rebate, verify your income through Efficiency Maine’s online eligibility tool first. You qualify as low-income if a household member participates in MaineCare, HEAP, SNAP, or TANF. Moderate-income applies if your federal adjusted gross income is $70,000 or less (single or head of household) or $100,000 or less (joint).³ The base rebate at any income level does not require verification.

Page One: Homeowner and Project Information

Homeowner Section

Enter your full name, installation address, mailing address if different, email, and phone number. The name on the form must match the name on the project invoice; mismatches cause verification delays. Select your pre-upgrade primary heating fuel from the options provided, including oil, kerosene, propane, wood, or electric baseboard, or indicate new construction if there was no prior system.⁴

Project and Equipment Details

Record the project completion date and the total project cost, which covers all heat pumps, labor, and materials, including both rebated and non-rebated units. Enter the number of outdoor and indoor units installed. Choose who receives the rebate check, either you or your registered vendor, in the rebate recipient field.⁴

Homeowner and Vendor Checklists

The form has rows of requirements that must each be checked or initialed. The homeowner section asks you to confirm, among other items, that the heat pump will be used as the primary heating system throughout the heating season. The vendor section covers certifications that the system was installed and configured correctly, that the customer was informed about the primary-heating requirement, and that documentation of customer contact information and total project cost is attached. Every row needs a mark. Skip one and the form comes back.⁴

Signatures

Both you and the registered vendor technician must sign. The signatures certify that all information is correct, that all work is completed, and that both parties agree to cooperate if Efficiency Maine conducts a post-installation inspection.⁴

Page Two: The Sizing Worksheet

Page two is where most applicants slow down and where many claims run into problems. The worksheet proves that your system meets the 80%-of-peak-load requirement.

Start by selecting a design temperature. The form provides three preset options based on region: Portland at 0°F, Bangor at -7°F, or Caribou at -14°F. If you live outside those areas, enter a custom temperature of 0°F or colder. Your installer should know which temperature applies to your location.⁴

Then choose the method for estimating your home’s heat load:

Approved software works best for super-insulated or poorly insulated homes without heating fuel use history.
The Efficiency Maine Heat Load Estimator is the most accurate option when past fuel bills are available. It does not work for homes already heated with heat pumps or other electric heat.
The square footage method uses a rate of 20 or more BTU per hour per square foot of heated area and suits homes with typical insulation and air sealing.

List each heat pump unit with its manufacturer, outdoor unit model number, indoor unit model number, and heating capacity at your selected design temperature. Only dry-bulb temperature capacities are acceptable. The model numbers appear on the equipment nameplate or in the installer’s documentation. The worksheet calculates total heating capacity as a percentage of the estimated heat load. If the total is under 100%, identify the supplemental heating source that covers the remainder, such as a wood or pellet stove or electric resistance heat.⁴

What to Attach

The completed claim form alone is not enough. Include documentation showing customer contact information and total project cost. An itemized invoice from your vendor covers this, provided it clearly shows the total project cost, the equipment installed, and the vendor’s contact information. If the home is owned by a business and the business is the rebate recipient, attach a W-9 as a one-time requirement.⁴ Keep a copy of everything you submit.

How to Submit and When

Email the completed, signed form and all attachments to hesp@efficiencymaine.com. Email is the faster route and gives you a timestamped sent-mail record. You can also mail the package to:

Efficiency Maine
PO Box 219
Brunswick, ME 04011-0219⁴

The claim must be emailed or postmarked within six months of the project completion date.² Miss that window and the rebate is forfeited even if the equipment and installation otherwise qualify.

How Much You Can Expect

Rebate amounts depend on household income tier and system type. For ducted whole-home systems, low-income households receive up to $9,000, moderate-income households up to $6,000, and any-income households up to $3,000. For ductless and other whole-home systems, the amount is calculated per rebate-eligible outdoor unit: $3,000 (low-income), $2,000 (moderate-income), or $1,000 (any-income). These are lifetime rebate limits, not annual ones.⁵

Through December 31, 2026, Efficiency Maine is offering an extra $500 per housing unit on eligible whole-home upgrades. Both the installation and the rebate claim must be completed and emailed or postmarked between March 1 and December 31, 2026.⁵

After You Submit

Allow six weeks for processing. Incomplete information may delay the rebate or disqualify the claim altogether.⁴ Efficiency Maine reserves the right to verify the installation and perform an on-site inspection, which is why both signatures on the form commit to cooperating with that process. Only one rebate is paid for a given upgrade, so submitting duplicate claims will not speed up or increase payment.²

1
Efficiency Maine. How to Find a Residential Registered Vendor
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Efficiency Maine. Residential Heat Pump Rebates
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Efficiency Maine. Income-Based Eligibility Verification
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Efficiency Maine. Residential Heat Pump Rebate Claim Form
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Efficiency Maine. Whole-Home Heat Pump Rebates