The SoCalGas Tankless Water Heater Rebate

SoCalGas runs a rebate on tankless water heaters, and almost nobody in this market tells a customer what it is actually worth or how to claim it. This page is here so you can get straight to the form. You file it yourself — the utility will not accept it from a contractor — and our job is to make sure the paperwork you file with it is the paperwork SoCalGas accepts. The conversion prices referred to below are on our pricing page.

Open the SoCalGas rebate application

SoCalGas pays a rebate on an ENERGY STAR certified natural gas tankless water heater that replaces a conventional storage water heater, in bands set by the unit’s efficiency rating. Whether any particular unit is eligible is SoCalGas’s call, not ours and not the manufacturer’s, and the application itself is where you check it. Only the account holder, an authorized spouse or the property owner may apply, and the payment goes to the account holder — so no plumber can file this one for you, us included. What we can do is give you an invoice the application will accept, which is where most of them fail. SoCalGas’s rebate application is the form.

The rebate is paid in bands, set by the unit’s Uniform Energy Factor — the higher the rating, the larger the rebate. We are not reprinting the amounts here. SoCalGas sets them per program year, and the application says plainly that they are “subject to change and may be modified without prior notice”, so a figure copied onto this page would go stale without anyone noticing. The current bands are on the application itself, a few lines above the form:

The gate in front of those bands is the certification, not the number on a spec sheet: the unit has to be an ENERGY STAR certified natural gas tankless model, and the application checks the model you enter against its own list. What it takes to be certified is set by ENERGY STAR rather than by SoCalGas or by any manufacturer, and it moves too — the current requirements are on ENERGY STAR’s published criteria. A unit with a respectable efficiency rating that is not certified earns nothing.

Three conditions sit alongside it, and all three are the customer’s rather than ours. You have to be a residential SoCalGas customer on a residential rate with an active meter at the installation address. The tankless unit has to be replacing a conventional natural gas tank-type water heater in a single family detached home, so a condominium or an attached home does not qualify for this particular rebate. And new construction homes do not qualify; it has to be a replacement.

We are not going to tell you that the heater we install qualifies, because that is not ours to promise. SoCalGas decides it, against its own list, and the list moves. What we can tell you is how the decision is made, so you can check it before you spend anything.

Two tests, not one. The efficiency rating decides which band a unit would fall in. Separately, the unit has to be ENERGY STAR certified — that is the name of the measure — and the efficiency it takes to earn that is set by ENERGY STAR’s published criteria, which is a higher bar than the bottom of SoCalGas’s bands. A rating that sits inside one of those bands is not by itself a rebate you will receive, and manufacturer literature does not always make that distinction.

How to check, in about a minute. Open the application, choose the manufacturer, and look at the model list. If the unit is there, the form fills in its efficiency rating and you can see the band. If it is not there, ask SoCalGas directly before you count on the money — it is their program and their decision.

Tell us when you call if the rebate matters to you. We will give you the exact make, model number and rating of the unit we would install so you can check it on the application before you book, and we will not quote you a rebate figure we have not confirmed. Our tankless water heater installation page covers what the conversion involves, and the pricing page has the cost of the job itself.

SoCalGas pays the customer, not the contractor, and it pays weeks after the job. The invoice on the day is the full book price. Two things then decide what actually lands in your mailbox:

That second one matters here, because our conversion price is deliberately one number — the unit, the labor, new hot and cold supply lines, a gas supply line and isolation valves. The cap is measured against the equipment line on your itemized invoice, not against the price of the whole job. Ask us what that line is before you book and we will tell you.

The application asks for proof of purchase showing itemized equipment details — manufacturer name, model number and equipment cost — proof the equipment is paid in full, and retailer or contractor information. On the invoice itself it wants the words “Paid in Full”: the packet asks for an invoice that notes it, and the online form will also take a zero balance or a receipt showing the method of payment. It asks for photographs of the equipment too. And it says altered receipts will not be accepted and that an incomplete application has to be submitted again.

Your invoice from us carries the manufacturer, the model number and the equipment-only cost on their own line, our business name, address and phone, the words “Paid in Full”, and the installation date — which is the whole of what the packet asks a contractor’s proof of purchase to show. Ask us for the serial number too; the form has a field for it and we have it.

The photographs are yours to take, and the timing matters. SoCalGas wants the old storage tank in place as well as the finished installation, so take the “before” shot while the old tank is still standing — we haul it away the same day, and after that there is nothing to photograph. Say the word on the day and we will wait for you to get it. For the “after”, a picture of the unit on the wall with the data plate readable is enough.

A tankless conversion also comes with a home improvement contract. The Contractors State License Board requires one on any job where materials and labor come to $500 or more, and SoCalGas accepts it as proof of purchase in place of an invoice — but only the original, signed and dated by both you and us. Keep it; keep a copy of everything you mail.

Going tankless is not the only way to earn something back. The same SoCalGas program carries a separate, smaller rebate on a high-efficiency natural gas storage water heater, paid in tiers by efficiency rating. The amounts and the tiers are in the rebate packet rather than on this page, for the same reason as above.

The conditions are tighter than they look: the tank has to be within a set capacity and input range, it has to be on SoCalGas’s own qualifying list rather than ENERGY STAR’s, and it will not qualify if it was bought from a statewide participating retailer. Ask us when we quote the job and we will give you the make and model so you can check it.

SoCalGas customers affected by the 2025 Southern California wildfires may be eligible for an increased rebate on qualifying equipment, which on a tankless unit is a meaningful difference. Eligibility is set by zip code, not by city, and the list is on page 6 of the application packet — several of the cities we serve have zip codes on it, including parts of Pasadena, Arcadia, Temple City, El Monte, San Gabriel and Baldwin Park, from the Eaton Fire. Neighboring zip codes in the same city are sometimes not on the list, so check yours against page 6 rather than going by the city name. The increased rebate cannot be combined with other incentives in the program.

December 31 is the cutoff, twice over. For the 2026 program year the unit has to be bought and installed between January 1 and December 31, 2026, and the application has to be postmarked by December 31, 2026. Miss either and it does not qualify. So if you are deciding in December, do not leave the installation to the last week — the unit has to be in before you can apply at all.

And the money can run out first. SoCalGas allocates the funds first-come, first-served until they are depleted, and says the program “may end sooner” if that happens. The amounts are also “subject to change and may be modified without prior notice”, so the bands above are what the program pays today rather than a promise about the day you book. Read the current terms on SoCalGas’s rebate application before you commit, and send the application in as soon as the job is done.

Book prices apply during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM; pricing outside those hours or in an emergency is subject to change. We take calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Prices are current as of September 2026 and subject to change, and every quote is in writing before any work starts. The full book is on our pricing page; call 833-927-3356 or send us the details and we will tell you where your job stands on the rebate before anything is booked. When the work is done, the application is at eecp.socalgas.com.