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South Coast AQMD’s GO ZERO program put $21 million behind zero-NOx heat pumps — and western Riverside County is inside the district. Here is who qualifies, what the money is actually worth, where the program stands right now, and the paperwork mistakes that kill claims.
I am Jorge, owner of SoCal AC Guy in Temecula. C-20 HVAC contractor, CA Lic. #1070401, ten-plus years in the Inland Empire. Every week somebody asks me some version of the same question: with the federal tax credit gone, is there any money left on the table for a heat pump? The honest answer is yes, but it comes from air districts and utilities now, not the IRS — and the biggest single pot in our region is South Coast AQMD’s GO ZERO program.
GO ZERO is not a tax credit. It is a direct incentive funded by the air district, aimed at getting gas furnaces and gas water heaters out of existing buildings and replacing them with zero-NOx electric heat pumps. That distinction matters: you are not waiting for a refund at tax time, and your income tax liability has nothing to do with whether you qualify. It also means the money is finite, first-come, and the program opens and closes as funding cycles through. Below is what I tell customers before they spend a dollar.
South Coast AQMD — the air district that covers Orange County, most of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties, and western Riverside County — approved GO ZERO as a $21 million pilot incentive program. It covers three tracks: single-family homes, multifamily buildings, and small businesses. The qualifying equipment is all-electric and ENERGY STAR certified: heat pumps for space heating and cooling (heat pump HVAC), and heat pump water heaters.
The geography is the first thing to check, and it is where most confusion starts. Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Hemet, Perris, Moreno Valley, Corona, Riverside, Beaumont and Banning are all inside the South Coast district. The Coachella Valley side of the county is handled differently, and San Diego County addresses — Fallbrook, Bonsall, Pauma Valley — sit under the San Diego Air Pollution Control District instead. If your address is not in the district, GO ZERO is not your program and you should go straight to the utility rebates in our Riverside County rebate roundup.
Amounts move with funding cycle and property type, so treat these as planning numbers and confirm the current schedule before you sign anything. The structure has been consistent since launch:
| Property Type | Typical Incentive | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Single-family home, standard | $1,000 – $2,000 per heat pump | Space-heating heat pump and heat pump water heater are counted separately |
| Single-family in an overburdened community | Up to $3,000 | Higher tier tied to AQMD’s environmental-justice mapping, not household income |
| Multifamily | Per-unit incentive | Separate application track and launch date |
| Small business | Per-unit incentive | Existing commercial properties only |
| New construction | $0 | GO ZERO targets existing buildings, full stop |
Figures reflect the GO ZERO pilot structure as published by South Coast AQMD. Amounts and availability change between funding cycles — verify at aqmd.gov before you rely on a number.
On a typical Temecula heat pump changeout, a $2,000 GO ZERO incentive is roughly 12 to 20 percent of the job. That is real, but it is not the whole picture. Stacked on top of a Southern California Edison heat pump rebate, the combined number gets interesting — see our step-by-step on claiming SCE HVAC rebates for how those applications interact.
GO ZERO is a pilot, and pilots run out of money. The single-family track launched for installations completed on or after June 24, 2025, with multifamily and small business opening June 13, 2025. Since then the single-family pilot has been paused at points as reservations caught up with funding. Statewide, the picture is similar: TECH Clean California single-family heat pump incentives went fully reserved in November 2025, and HEEHRA single-family rebates were fully reserved statewide as of February 24, 2026, with new reservations going onto a waitlist.
So the practical rule is this: never sign a proposal whose math only works if a rebate lands. I quote every job at a price that stands on its own, then treat incentive money as a rebate on top. Any contractor who discounts your contract up front on the assumption that a pilot program will pay them back later is putting their cash-flow risk on your invoice.
Note what is not on that list: household income. GO ZERO’s higher tier is tied to whether your address falls in a community the district has mapped as overburdened, not to what you earn. That is different from SCE’s Energy Savings Assistance program and from HEEHRA, both of which are income-qualified.
Send me your address and your current equipment. I will tell you straight whether GO ZERO, SCE, or neither applies — before you commit to anything. Free, itemized, no pressure.
Going all-electric is not a paperwork decision, it is a system-design decision. In Temecula, Murrieta and Menifee, a heat pump is genuinely a good fit — our heating season is short and mild, and a modern inverter heat pump from Carrier, Trane, Lennox, Daikin or Mitsubishi Electric handles a 35°F Temecula night without breathing hard. We covered the cold-weather question in detail in do heat pumps work in Temecula winters.
Three things change when a gas furnace comes out and a heat pump goes in, and they belong in the quote:
The order of operations is where homeowners lose money. Do it in this sequence:
I handle the documentation side for my customers as a matter of course — correct model numbers on the invoice, permit record attached, install photos taken before we leave. It costs me twenty minutes and it is the difference between a claim that pays and one that gets kicked back six weeks later.
Being clear about the gaps saves arguments later. GO ZERO money does not pay for electrical panel upgrades, duct replacement or sealing, asbestos or mold abatement found behind an old furnace, permit fees, or the cost premium of jumping to a top-tier variable-speed system. It also does not cover a repair — if you are weighing whether to fix or replace, work through repair vs replace first and let the incentive be a tiebreaker, not the reason.
If you were already replacing a dead or dying system and a heat pump makes sense for your house, yes — absolutely chase it. One to three thousand dollars for paperwork you were going to generate anyway is free money. If you are being talked into tearing out a healthy eight-year-old furnace to capture a $2,000 incentive on a $14,000 project, no. That math has never worked, and it does not work now that the federal 25C credit expired on December 31, 2025.
The other honest point: incentive availability is the worst possible reason to rush an equipment decision. Sizing, duct capability and installation quality determine whether you like this system for the next fifteen years. Get the Manual J load calculation right and the rebate is a bonus. Get it wrong and no rebate saves you.
Yes. Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Hemet, Perris, Corona, Riverside, Beaumont and Banning are all within the South Coast AQMD boundary, which covers western Riverside County. Fallbrook, Bonsall and other San Diego County addresses fall under the San Diego Air Pollution Control District and are not eligible for GO ZERO.
Typically $1,000 to $2,000 per qualifying heat pump, with single-family homes in communities AQMD has mapped as overburdened eligible for up to $3,000. Space-heating heat pumps and heat pump water heaters are counted separately, so a household replacing both can claim on each.
No. The federal 25C energy efficient home improvement credit expired for systems placed in service after December 31, 2025, so there is no federal HVAC credit to stack in 2026. GO ZERO can generally be combined with Southern California Edison rebates, which is where the real stacking opportunity is now.
No. GO ZERO exists to remove combustion appliances, so only all-electric ENERGY STAR certified heat pumps qualify. A 96 percent AFUE gas furnace paired with a high-SEER2 condenser is a fine system, but it is not eligible for this program.
It is a funded pilot, and availability changes. The single-family track has been paused at points as reservations caught up with funding, and several statewide programs including TECH Clean California and HEEHRA single-family are fully reserved. Confirm current status at aqmd.gov before you plan around it, and never sign a contract that only pencils out if a rebate lands.
Yes. Permitted and inspected work by a licensed contractor is required. SoCal AC Guy is a C-20 HVAC contractor, CA Lic. #1070401, and we pull the permit on every changeout as standard practice.
SoCal AC Guy is based in Temecula and works throughout western Riverside County — the same footprint South Coast AQMD covers, which is why we know this program well.
Core service area: Temecula, Murrieta, and Menifee.
Also serving: Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Winchester, Sun City, Canyon Lake, French Valley, Hemet, San Jacinto, Perris, Moreno Valley, Riverside, Corona, Norco, Eastvale, Banning, Beaumont, Calimesa, Cherry Valley, Yucaipa, Idyllwild, Fallbrook, Rainbow, La Cresta, De Luz, Aguanga, and Anza.
No rebate guesswork, no contracts that only work if a pilot program pays out. Tell me what you have and I will tell you what is actually available at your address.
Call (951) 513-8476
Contact Jorge
SoCal AC Guy — Jorge and crew. C-20 HVAC Contractor, CA Lic. #1070401. Based in Temecula, CA. 10+ years serving the Inland Empire.
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