When I got the cold call last year in October asking me if I’d be interested in participating in a program for SCE customers (sorry DWP friends) that would swap out my existing 40 gallon gas fired water heater and replace it with a new 65 gallon electric heat pump water heater, I already knew about California’s Tech Clean rebate program that paid participating contractors upfront rebate money to do exactly that.

I had started to check out some of the contractors offering the program, but it was still going to cost me out-of-pocket money to make the switch on top of the rebate money the contractor got from the state.

But the guy on the phone said that in addition to that $3800 rebate from Tech Clean, there was also a $900 rebate from Golden State Rebates and that his company, LivSmart, would do the swap for the amount of the two rebates with no money out of my pocket.

I didn’t believe a word of it, but I was happy to see if I qualified and have them do a virtual inspection of my current water heater and my electric panel load and circuit breaker availability via video.

And so it came to pass in December that I first sent photos and then did a video chat with the inspector who had me show him my electrical panel and gas fired hot water heater.

I sent them a copy of my SCE bill and the folks at Livsmart sent me the rebate program customer agreement to sign.

But then came the wrinkle I was worried about all along, since Livsmart was the only contractor offering to do the swap for no charge above the rebate cost.

Ben Shamoon, the company president, told me the state’s funding for the program was running out and that the rebates were now taking 2-3 months to get paid to contractors instead of 2-3 weeks. So if I was willing to front the $3,800 to cover the swap out costs and then wait for the rebate to come in to get reimbursed, we could move ahead with the swap out.

Ben sent me a copy of the agreement spelling out the terms of repayment. They looked good to me so we set the installation date.

And so it came to pass on March 8 that first the new HPWH was delivered.

Then the electrical team arrived to run a new 240 line under the house to the location and add the circuit breaker.

And then the plumber arrived to remove the old gas unit and install the new HPWH.

The new HPWH unit has been in and running like a champ for over 5 weeks now.

Next step – now that the Tech Clean people have issued my rebate claim number and it’s currently in the “submitted” status, I await their payment to LivSmart.

Ben from Livsmart reports that rebates are now taking 2-4 months long to be paid to contractors because of the state’s budget issues and the uncertain future of funding for the Tech Clean program.

“As of today, only 33% of the rebate funding budget remains for those in SCE territory,” Ben told me. 

“I anticipate that funding will only last for the next couple of weeks or so. After that? Who knows? I hope they replenish the rebate funds, because this is a highly effective program. But we haven’t had any confirmation that additional fund allocations are coming,” Ben said.

If you’re an SCE customer with a gas water heater and you’re ready to swap out for a HPWH and you’d like to talk to Livsmart about doing the same swap for you while funding is still available, you can email Ben at ben@livsmart.pro or call them at (818) 869-9987.

I talked to a few other contractors who are part of the Tech Clean rebate program, but only LivSmart offered to do the swap as a “no net cost retrofit.”

If you’re not ready to make that move just yet, or the state funding runs out, don’t sweat it. There’s free money falling from the sky from the Feds starting later this year for Heat Pump Water Heaters and a whole lot more. Read all about it right here.