The TEP Efficient Home Program is Tucson Electric Power's residential rebate for installing qualifying high-efficiency cooling and heating equipment. Unlike a mailed check, the program pays as an instant rebate. A participating contractor subtracts the rebate from the project price at the time of sale, so the homeowner sees the discount on the install invoice rather than waiting for a reimbursement. The program is administered for TEP by a third-party energy partner, and only contractors enrolled in that network can apply the instant rebate. The equipment must still meet the program's minimum efficiency rating to qualify.
For the 2026 program year, the headline amounts are up to $720 on a qualifying high-efficiency heat pump, $600 on a central air conditioner, and $100 per ton on a ductless mini-split. Mini-split equipment must rate at least SEER2 15.2 and HSPF2 7.8, which is the program floor. On a typical 3-ton mini-split job, the $100-per-ton rate works out to roughly $300 off the project. The program also pays smaller incentives for related work, including about $80 for a refrigerant-charge correction and $40 for a coil cleaning. These figures exceed the federal Southwest-region minimum of SEER2 14.3 for split systems under 45,000 BTU per hour.
Coverage is the first thing to confirm. The program serves TEP residential electric customers across Tucson and the surrounding Pima County area, and eligibility follows the meter rather than the mailing address. A similarly named Efficient Home Program runs in Mohave and Santa Cruz counties under the affiliated UES and UNS utilities, so a quote built on those amounts will not match a TEP bill. TEP's approach also differs from Salt River Project's Cool Cash, which pays a per-ton amount as a check or bill credit and accepts any Arizona-licensed contractor. By contrast, Arizona Public Service discontinued its residential heating and cooling rebates on January 1, 2026 under Arizona Corporation Commission Decision 81584. Tucson buyers on TEP still have an active program, while much of metro Phoenix on APS no longer does.
Because the rebate is instant, there is no separate post-install submission window for the homeowner to track; the participating contractor handles the paperwork at the point of sale. The program runs through the 2026 program year and pays while program funds remain, so amounts and qualifying equipment lists can change between years. The installing company must be enrolled as a participating Efficient Home Program contractor and hold the appropriate Arizona Registrar of Contractors license for residential HVAC work. The contractor confirms the matched system's efficiency using its AHRI Reference Number, the certified rating for the paired outdoor unit, indoor unit, and coil. New equipment installed after January 1, 2026 also ships with R-454B refrigerant under the federal AIM Act.