PSE&G Building Decarbonization — Clean Heat

PSE&G Building Decarbonization — Clean Heat

What it covers

The largest single rebate available to NJ homeowners through a utility program. PSE&G's Building Decarbonization (BD) Clean Heat track pays:

• Base: 50% of project cost up to $10,000.
• LMI: 60% of project cost up to $12,000 (income-qualified — household income at or below $80,000).

Adders stack on top of the base/LMI rebate:

• $2,000 decommissioning bonus (for permanently removing the existing fossil system).
• $2,000 re-ducting allowance (for projects requiring duct modifications).
• $2,000 per additional ccASHP (cold-climate air-source heat pump) unit.

A fully optimized Clean Heat project can exceed $17,500 in combined rebate value before financing. OBR financing is available up to $50,000 for the remaining project cost — a significantly higher cap than the standard $25,000 for non-heat-pump projects.

Eligibility

• Active PSE&G electric residential account (gas-only PSE&G customers do not qualify).
• Single-family, townhomes, or multi-family up to 4 units.
• Retrofit only — not eligible for new construction.
• Existing fossil heating system must be fully decommissioned and replaced with a heat pump as the sole heating source. (Keeping a fossil backup pushes the project into Dual Heat or Hybrid Heat tracks instead.)
• Equipment must meet PSE&G's heat pump efficiency spec (typically cold-climate ASHP).
• LMI tier ($12K) requires income verification through PSE&G's process.

Stacks with

• NJ Whole Home Energy Solutions runs as a concurrent but separate project. Heating/cooling comes out of Whole Home scope when BD covers it — reducing the Whole Home rebate but adding the BD rebate. Per rules/bd-stackability-rules.md, the two rebates do NOT sum; agent presents the split-scope trade-off.
• OBR financing stacks with Whole Home up to $75,000 combined ($25K + this program's $50K cap). Financing stacks even though rebates don't.

Does NOT stack with

• PSE&G BD Dual Heat — same exclusiveGroup: "pseg-bd". Engine picks the highest-value BD program per project.
• PSE&G BD Hybrid Heat — same exclusive group; mutually exclusive with Clean Heat.
• PSE&G $900 equipment-only heat pump rebate — conservative default per bd-stackability-rules: do not assume both apply to the same heat pump install.

Edge cases

• LMI surfacing: $12K tier should be presented as upsell, not headline ("you may qualify for $12,000 if household income is under $80K — verified during your free consultation"). Never apply to default headline numbers.
• HPWH covered separately: PSE&G BD does not double up on water heater rebates. If HPWH is part of the project, route through the standalone NJ HPWH $750 rebate — not the BD adder structure.
• Re-ducting allowance: only applies if the project requires meaningful duct modification. Not every install qualifies. Agent should flag as conditional.
• Decommissioning bonus: requires permanent removal of the fossil system (not just disconnection). Confirm with the contractor that the install plan includes decommissioning.
• Multi-family: building owner applies; per-unit rebate scaling depends on the install scope.

Recommended for

• PSE&G electric customers ready to fully decarbonize their heating (no fossil backup retained).
• Homeowners with old fossil heating equipment (oil, propane, or gas furnace/boiler at end-of-life) who'd be replacing it anyway — the $10K-$17.5K rebate makes the heat pump upgrade cost-competitive with a like-for-like fossil replacement.
• Best paired with NJ Whole Home as a concurrent split-scope project — Whole Home covers envelope upgrades, BD covers the heat pump. Per rules/bd-stackability-rules.md, rebates don't sum but OBR financing stacks up to $75K combined.