At Wayne-White Electric, we are pleased to offer several different incentive rebate programs related to making your home more efficient. These rebates are made possible through a program offered by our generation and transmission cooperative, Hoosier Energy.
For the past several years, we have offered rebates on air source, dual fuel, geothermal, and mini-split heat pumps, as well as hybrid water heaters. This year, we are introducing rebate programs for HVAC tune-ups, as well as purchasing electric outdoor equipment. Due to expected increases in federal and state incentive rebates, there are several changes to our program this year from previous years. We still hope many of our members can take advantage of these opportunities to become more efficient. Not only will you save money when you purchase this equipment, but you will save money in the long run on your electric bills!
Shown below is the break-down of each of our incentive rebate programs for 2024. A couple of details to add to this information are that we do provide an extra incentive if you install a heat pump with a gas backup, rather than an electric backup. Since gas backups would use less electricity, we have incentivized this efficiency measure with an extra $500 rebate on top of those listed below for the air source, geothermal, and mini-split heat pump installations.
These rebates are all returned back to members as a check sent by mail. The only exception to this is the HVAC Tune-Up and Electric Outdoor Equipment Rebates. Those amounts will all be returned back to members as a bill credit on your electric account at Wayne-White Electric.
So what exactly is a heat pump? Or a mini-split heat pump? To help identify each of these units, we have included information on them below.
- Air Source Heat Pump: These heat pumps have an outdoor unit (heat pump) and an indoor unit (air handler) that connects to the ducts that send the heated/cooled air to your vents. The indoor/outdoor units are connected by tubing that circulates refrigerant back and forth absorbing or releasing heat depending on the thermostat settings. While very efficient in warmer climates, colder climate heat pumps can also include an auxiliary heating component for temperatures that dip below the efficiency of the heat pump. Heat pumps can deliver up to 10 to 15 times as much energy as they consume driving the compressor.
- Geothermal Heat Pumps: GEOs work similarly like an air-source heat pump except it draws from the constant temperature beneath the ground instead of the outside air temperature. Most GEO installs are closed-loop systems where a water-based solution runs through tubing buried underground or submerged in water. The trenches for the tubing can be up to 500 feet long. While GEOs are more expensive to install, they can last between 25-40 years and depending on the cost of energy and available incentives, your payback may only be 5-10 years.
- Mini-Split Heat Pumps: These work very similar to the air-source heat pump. Ductless mini-split heat pumps have an outdoor unit (condenser/heat pump) and indoor air handling units that can be installed on the wall of each room or the ceiling. Each air handling unit can be managed by remote. The air handlers in a mini-split provides heated/cooled air directly from the air handlers thereby reducing the heating/cooling losses seen from air traveling through ducts.
- Heat Pump/Hybrid Water Heater: Hybrid/heat pump water heaters have a fan at the top of the unit that draws in air across an evaporator, which is a series of refrigerant-filled tubes. The evaporator acts like a dehumidifier, blowing cooler, drier air back into the space. The heat from the ambient air of the water heater's location is transferred to the refrigerant, which is pumped through a compressor to increase its pressure and temperature.
