Heat Pump Financial Assistance for Lower to Modest Income Sitka Homeowners
Alaska Heat Smart’s Clean Heat Incentive Program is courtesy of Alaska’s Senator Lisa Murkowski. A $525,000 ‘congressionally-directed spending’ package, overseen by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), will fund up to 200 heat pump incentives in Juneau and Sitka. Alaska Heat Smart has received the go ahead from DOE to use 10% of this grant for a pilot Sitka heat pump incentive program. This homeowner assistance, available now, will enable lower to modest income family homeowners make the increasingly popular and money-saving switch from reliance on fossil fuel or resistance heating to local and super-efficient air source heat pump heating.
Our Clean Heat Incentive Program will do the following for qualified homeowners:
- Reduce dependence on and exposure to fossil fuels and carbon monoxide, and reduce the risk of fuel spills and contamination
- Improve and upgrade home heating and lower home heating costs
- Help finance the purchase and installation costs of adding an air source heat pump to your home
- Provide between $1,500 and $2,500 towards purchase and installation costs, in accordance with a sliding scale dependent upon overall household income
- Allow you to apply for a True North Federal Credit Union low interest heat pump loan in order to cover remaining project expenses
Our Heat Pump Incentive Program will not:
- Help finance the purchase of an electric vehicle. This is a home heating incentive program only.
- Prohibit you from receiving a heat pump tax credit of up to $2,000 on your 2023 federal tax return
Eligibility Requirements:
A successful applicant must:
- Own your Sitka, Alaska home and show documentation to verify ownership
- Complete a free Alaska Heat Smart home heat pump assessment AFTER you submit your CHIP application with the link at the bottom of this page
- Have a combined household income that does not exceed 125% of Sitka’s median area income (see table below)
- Provide all required application documentation (see ‘required supporting information’ below)
- Apply an incentive award to the first heat pump in the residence
- Install a heat pump that meets cold climate standards and is one of the following models: Daikin Aurora, Daikin Atmosphera, Mitsubishi ‘Hyper Heating’ M or P series, Fujitsu ‘LZAH’ or ‘RLX’ series, or other cold climate models
- Abide by the project requirements set forth by Alaska’s State Historical Preservation Office (SHPO). These include avoiding placement of a heat pump compressor or lineset on the front of the home, as well as ensuring that the compressor is ground mounted and not wall mounted. Both the homeowner and Alaska Heat Smart will need to address these issues with your contractor prior to installation. For homes built before 1978, or those where an installation may be unable to avoid a ‘front of the home’ placement or exterior wall mount, AHS may need to submit a special SHPO review allowing the SHPO office to determine if any potential impacts to historical values may be present.
| Family Size | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| 125% MAI Income | $94,688 | $108,204 | $121,720 | $135,236 | $146,096 | $156,878 |
Required Application Support Information:
Applying homeowner must supply:
- Please do not email personal income files to Alaska Heat Smart. You will be provided a secure portal link to share with us the following documents:
- Application form, fully completed, ‘signed’ by the homeowner or applicant
- Driver’s license or state identification card for household members 18 and over
- Birth certificate or legal ID for dependents 17 and under
- One (1) most recent checking/saving bank statement for each account held in the household by those 18 and over
- One (1) month of most recent paycheck stubs for all jobs held in the previous year (all wage earners 18 or over)
- Two (2) years of most recent federal tax returns, only if self employed
- Account balance statements from PERS, TRS, deferred compensation, 401k accounts, or other retirement holdings (if applicable)
- Current social security/disability award letter (if applicable)
- Current pension/annuity letters (if applicable)
- Proof of school registration, for children attending college who reside in the home when not at school (if applicable)
- Court-ordered child support statement (if applicable)
- Unemployment income (if applicable)
How the Incentive Program Works:
This is an incentive program, not a rebate program. This works to your advantage in that you do not need money on hand to cover your total project cost in order to proceed with adding a heat pump to your home. Once we have your CHIP application and all required documentation, we will use a federally-recognized process to verify your household income. This will determine if you qualify and for what level of incentive.
If you qualify, you’ll then be asked to fill out a short application for an Alaska Heat Smart home heat pump assessment. This assessment will help both AHS and you better understand what heat pump options will work best with your home and its existing heating system. It will provide you detailed information to assist in your process of seeking project quotes from contractors. When you decide upon a contractor and accept their quote, we will provide you with an ‘incentive certificate’. You’ll need to provide your contractor with any required down payment. When your project is complete, we have a completed W9 tax form from you, and AHS has received contractor confirmation that the work is done and your heat pump is up and running, we will provide you with your incentive award allowing you to complete final project payment to the contractor.
Federal Tax Implications & the Inflation Reduction Act:
CHIP incentive payments are subject to federal taxes. BUT, read on! The Inflation Reduction Act provides a heat pump tax credit of 30% of the cost of the installation, electrical work, and labor, up to a cap of $2,000. So, if you receive a $2,000 incentive from the AHS CHIP program, and you fall into a 22% tax bracket, you will need to count the incentive as income adding $440 to your tax liability. If your heat pump project total out of pocket expenses, after incentive, is $6,000, you can deduct $1,800 from your tax liability.
In summary, between the two programs, you receive $2,000, and save $1,800 on your taxes, for a net gain of $3,800. Your tax liability increased by $440 so all told, you are up a total of $3,360.
AHS will need a signed W9 tax form from you in order to to pay out your incentive reward. When your project is underway, we’ll send you your incentive certificate and a blank W9. We’ll include a secure file upload link for returning your W9. AHS is not responsible for late contractor payments due to tardy receipt of W9 forms. We will do our very best to process incentive payments within 3 business days from the time we receive your W9 and contractor confirmation of completed work.
Click here to read about how the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation has dealt with the issue of incentive or ‘rebate’ taxation.
Additional Financial Assistance:
The Tongass Federal Credit Union has kicked off a new low-interest heat pump loan with interest rates between 4.5% and 6.25%. With your AHS home heat pump assessment and a successful loan application, your after-incentive project balance can be covered by this loan. The low rates of this program ensure that you’ll be saving money with your heat pump right away – monthly payments will be less than your average monthly savings from the addition of your heat pump to your home!
The Clean Heat Incentive Program application is available online. If you are unable to use an online system you can call us at 907-500-5050 and we will help you over the phone complete an application.
You can use your personal secure portal link to send us application support materials or you can mail hard copies of your required documentation to:
Alaska Heat Smart – CHIP
P.O. Box 20912
Juneau, Alaska 99802