Save Money on a Heat Pump Water Heater That Can Reduce Your Electric Bill

You know, with the war in Iran, the price of oil and gas right now is top of mind for families across this country, but especially in Maine, where we're one of the most heating oil dependent states in the country. We send billions of dollars each year from Maine out of our pockets and into the pockets of the oil and gas companies, money that could go to pay for groceries, or health insurance, or medicine, or savings right here at home.

So when I took office, I promised to change that in part by helping Maine people transition to heat pumps instead of costly, inefficient, and environmentally harmful heating oil. That heating oil now costs more than $5 a gallon, a historic high.

But high performance heat pumps are affordable, efficient, and easy to use. They work well in cold climates when used for heating, and they're much more efficient than window air conditioning units in the summer when they're used for cooling. And heat pump water heaters use less than half the electricity than a standard electric water heater.

In 2019, with the support of the legislature, I signed a bill that put into law a goal of installing 100,000 heat pumps by 2025. In 2023, we achieved that goal. We met it two years early, and we became a nationwide leader in installation of heat pumps.

To build on that progress, I set a new target of installing another 175,000 heat pumps in Maine by 2027. That would bring the number of heat pumps in Maine homes, businesses and public buildings installed during my time in office to 275,000.

I'm proud to say that we recently surpassed 200,000 heat pumps installed in Maine, more than doubling the amount of heat pumps in Maine in less than three years.

Maine has now cut our reliance on home heating oil by nearly 20 percent, the lowest it's been in decades, and more than 16,000 people are now working in the clean energy industry statewide. That includes nearly 9,500 people working in good-paying energy efficiency jobs like heat pump installers and technicians.

We focused not only on home heating but on water heaters, too. Through a grant awarded to the New England Heat Pump Accelerator Program, Maine has now received $43 million to outfit about 30,000 homes with heat pump water heaters. You could get an instant discount of more than $1,000 on a new heat pump water heater at participating Maine retailers. Look, the cost of energy is still too high, but heat pump water heaters can save your family as much as $650 a year on electric bills.

Our transition to heat pumps is creating good-paying jobs. It's curbing our reliance on expensive and harmful fossil fuels, and it's cutting costs for Maine families. With this additional funding, we'll be delivering those same cost savings to more households across Maine.

Find out how you can get a rebate for a heat pump water heater and reduce your electric bill at EfficiencyMaine.com. That's EfficiencyMaine.com.

This is Governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening.