In one of California's hottest regions, rural Kern County has become a surprisingly affordable success story for heat pump water heaters, with many homeowners paying little or even nothing to make the switch.
Chris Burmester, chief strategy officer of Energy Solutions and board chair of the California Efficiency + Demand Management Council, argued in a Capitol Weekly opinion piece that the county shows how quickly heat pump adoption can grow when support reaches both homeowners and contractors.
What's happening?
Figures from TECH Clean California show that 45 contractors in Kern County have completed more than 1,790 heat pump water heater installations.
After incentives, the median homeowner cost was only $130, and some households paid nothing. Per capita, Kern County's installation pace was about six times higher than Los Angeles County's.
Much of that growth came through TECH Clean California, a state program that helps residents pay for heat pump water heaters and gives contractors training, technical support, and access to equipment.
Burmester said those benefits for households and workers could be at risk without more state funding, warning that the program could otherwise shut down.
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Why does it matter?
Heat pump water heaters can bring down energy bills while improving home comfort.
Because summer temperatures in Kern County can rise above 110 degrees, cooling costs are especially important. Swapping out an old furnace-and-AC setup for a heat pump saved households roughly $304 annually on utility bills, and over $500 a year in the hottest areas.
Households moving from gas water heating to a heat pump water heater saved an average of $97 per year.
For homes that had no AC before, swapping in a heat pump brought reliable cooling through dangerous heat waves and raised the typical yearly energy bill by only $35.
The technology can also reduce pollution indoors and outdoors, while cutting the carbon pollution that drives warming.
What's being done?
Since 2021, TECH Clean California has supported more than 80,000 heat pump HVAC and water-heating projects in 54 counties.
Survey results also suggested contractors are becoming more capable: from 2022 to 2024, Capitol Weekly reported, the share of TECH-enrolled contractors who said they gained heat pump water heater experience despite beginning with no prior knowledge increased by 12%.
TECH's analysis found that counties with the largest contractor networks had average project costs that were $1,031 lower than counties with less participation.
Customer satisfaction was also high, with 90% of heat pump water heater customers and 91% of heat pump HVAC customers saying they were satisfied.
"This is what market transformation looks like: skilled workers gaining new business opportunities, consumers gaining access to better technology, and costs declining as adoption grows," Burmester wrote in the opinion piece.
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