Rebates and incentives
Which Water Heater Rebate You Can Claim in Pflugerville Depends on Who Bills You
Pflugerville is served by two electric utilities. Homes on Austin Energy can claim $1,000 on a qualifying heat pump water heater; homes on the Oncor side — most of the city — have no equivalent. On gas, Atmos Mid-Tex pays $100–$300 depending on the unit. The federal credit expired at the end of 2025 and the state programs have not launched.
Most pages answering this question are out of date, because the federal credit that anchored them expired and nobody went back to update the copy. Pflugerville has a second problem on top of that one, and it is more interesting: the honest answer is not the same across the city.
Start here: two electric utilities serve one town
This is unusual, it is easy to miss, and it is worth more than every other number on this page. The City of Pflugerville publishes its own electricity provider map, and it contains exactly two providers — Oncor, covering the clear majority of the city, and Austin Energy, covering a substantial minority. Austin Energy’s own service area page lists “all or portions of… Pflugerville” among the places it serves.
They work completely differently, and only one of them pays anything on a water heater.
| If your electricity comes from | How it works | Water heater rebate |
|---|---|---|
| Austin Energy | Municipally owned. No retail plan to shop for — Austin Energy bills you directly | $1,000 on a qualifying heat pump water heater |
| Oncor | Deregulated. Oncor delivers the power; you choose a retail provider, who bills you and passes Oncor’s delivery charge through | None advertised |
Look at who sends the bill. If it comes from Austin Energy, that is your answer. If it comes from Reliant, TXU, Gexa, Green Mountain or any other retailer you chose, you are on the Oncor side and Oncor is the delivery line inside that bill. A simpler version: if you have ever shopped for an electricity plan at this address, you are on Oncor.
Austin Energy: $1,000 on a heat pump water heater
This rebate is available only to homes with permanent Austin Energy electric service. It is not a “Pflugerville rebate” and it is not available to most of the city. If a contractor or a metro-wide guide quotes it to you without that qualifier, they have not checked which side of the line you are on.
For the homes it does cover, it is the largest single incentive available on a water heater anywhere in this area. The conditions, from Austin Energy’s own page:
- The heat pump water heater must be installed in a home that has or will have permanent electric service from Austin Energy
- ENERGY STAR certified hybrid electric
- Energy Factor of 2.0 or higher
- 40 gallons or larger
- New, with a minimum six-year warranty on major components
- Application submitted within 90 days of purchase
- Funding is limited and first-come, first-served
Two of those are worth pulling out. The 90-day application window runs from purchase, not from installation, so a slow install can eat it. And funding is limited and first-come, first-served — a rebate that has run out for the year is worse than one that never existed, because you will have specified the unit around it. Confirm the program is still funded before you buy, not after.
Austin Energy heat pump water heater rebate →
Oncor: nothing advertised, and what that does and does not mean
Oncor Electric Delivery is the delivery utility for most of Pflugerville. As of 2026-08-23, its public program pages name insulation and heating and cooling upgrades as sample eligible work, and no water heater measure appears on them.
We are being careful with the wording. Oncor’s residential efficiency incentives are paid to approved participating service providers rather than directly to homeowners, and we were not able to retrieve a complete list of eligible measures. So the accurate statement is none advertised on Oncor’s public program pages — not that none exists. If a contractor tells you they can route an Oncor incentive to a water heater job, ask them to show you the program name, and treat it as good news rather than as something we told you was impossible.
Gas: Atmos Energy Mid-Tex pays real money, and the amounts are current
Atmos Energy is the natural gas utility for the great majority of Pflugerville — the Railroad Commission of Texas records roughly 26,300 residential customers here on the Mid-Tex division. Its rebate program is live for the current program year, July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027, and it covers water heaters directly.
| Equipment | Requirement | Rebate |
|---|---|---|
| Gas storage tank water heater | 0.68 UEF or higher | $100 |
| Gas storage tank water heater | 0.86 UEF or higher, ENERGY STAR | $150 |
| Gas storage tank water heater | 0.90 UEF or higher, ENERGY STAR | $200 |
| Gas tankless water heater | 0.87 UEF or higher | $200 |
| Gas tankless water heater | 0.95 UEF or higher, ENERGY STAR | $300 |
The tier depends on the unit’s UEF rating, which means ask the contractor to confirm the rating of the specific model before purchase. You cannot upgrade the tier afterwards, and the gap between the bottom and top tank tier is $100 on a decision you make once.
Conditions worth knowing before you commit:
- Must be a current Atmos Energy Mid-Tex customer
- Apply within 12 months of the purchase or installation date
- Application must include a recent Atmos bill matching the name and address
- Application must include the retail receipt or contractor invoice
- Equipment must comply with local, state and federal codes
- Processed only while program funds remain available
- One rebate per appliance — paid to the builder or the homeowner, not both
866.662.5279, atmosenergyrebates@frontierenergy.com, or check your address in the rebate application portal.
SiEnergy, LP serves roughly 1,400 residential customers in unincorporated areas that carry Pflugerville mailing addresses —Pflugerville’s extraterritorial jurisdiction is about 36.12 square miles against a 26.22 square mile city, so this is not an edge case. SiEnergy advertises no appliance rebates on its own site. If your gas bill says SiEnergy, the Atmos amounts above are not yours to claim. SiEnergy is on 888-468-7007.
The city itself: rebates, but none for this
Worth stating because people reasonably assume otherwise. The City of Pflugerville runs several utility rebate programs — landscaping, efficient washers, rainwater collection — but none of them covers water heaters. If you are already replacing a water heater and thinking about water use more broadly, the city’s programs are real — they are just aimed elsewhere.
Not available
Federal 25C tax credit — expired December 31, 2025
The Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit covered qualifying water heaters and, according to ENERGY STAR, was effective for products purchased and installed between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025. It was eliminated under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed July 4, 2025.
A unit installed in 2026 does not qualify. If you installed within the eligible window, the credit is claimed on the return for that year using IRS Form 5695 — gas storage and tankless were capped at $600, heat pump water heaters under a $2,000 category cap. Confirm the details with a tax professional; this is a water heater resource, not a tax advisor.
Texas ENERGY STAR sales tax holiday — water heaters are excluded
Texas holds an ENERGY STAR sales tax holiday over Memorial Day weekend. Water heaters are explicitly excluded, along with clothes dryers, freezers, stoves, attic fans and heat pumps — even when ENERGY STAR certified.
Worth knowing before you time a replacement around it. Verified 2026-08-23.
Texas HOMES and HEAR — not launched
The federally funded state rebate programs are administered by the Texas Comptroller’s State Energy Conservation Office, which still states they are not yet available. Reporting from mid-2026 put likely availability at early 2027. There is no approved contractor list, so nothing can be claimed today, and anyone telling you otherwise is mistaken.
Pedernales Electric Cooperative — wrong utility
PEC serves Cedar Park, Leander and much of the Hill Country, and it does not appear on the City of Pflugerville’s own electricity provider map. Metro-wide guides sometimes list PEC programs for anywhere north of Austin. They do not apply to a Pflugerville address.
Texas Gas Service — wrong utility
This one catches people because Texas Gas Service is the obvious Austin-area answer. It serves Austin and the western Travis County suburbs — Bee Cave, Lakeway, Rollingwood, Sunset Valley, Westlake Hills — and the Railroad Commission’s own service tables do not list it for Pflugerville. Gas here is Atmos or SiEnergy.
Check who publishes it, and check the city and the state. Utility rebate pages get republished by third-party directories long after programs end, sometimes for the wrong utility entirely. Central Texas searches routinely surface documents belonging to other places — a well-ranked rebate schedule for a town of the same name in Massachusetts, and a Dallas-area city’s permit fee schedule that ranks for Pflugerville permit searches and lists a water heater fee that does not exist here. If the amount does not appear on the utility’s or the city’s own site, treat it as unconfirmed.
Pflugerville is served by two electric utilities and two gas utilities. Rebate eligibility depends on which one serves your address, not on your mailing address. Amounts shown are dated and subject to program funds.
Amounts are quoted from each utility’s own published program page. The two-utility split is from the City of Pflugerville’s own GIS provider map and Austin Energy’s service area page; the gas split is from the Railroad Commission of Texas. Program status changes and funding runs out, so this page will go out of date. Confirm current terms with the utility before purchase. We recheck this page quarterly.
Common questions
Is there a water heater rebate in Pflugerville?
It depends on which utility serves your address, which is unusual and is the single most useful thing to know here. Homes with Austin Energy electric service can claim a $1,000 rebate on a qualifying heat pump water heater. Homes on the Oncor side — the clear majority of the city — have no equivalent electric rebate advertised. On the gas side, Atmos Energy Mid-Tex pays $100 to $200 on qualifying storage tank units and $200 to $300 on tankless, for the program year running July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027.
How do I tell whether Austin Energy or Oncor serves my house?
Look at who bills you. Austin Energy bills its customers directly, so an Austin Energy bill is the answer on its own. On the Oncor side you get a bill from a retail electric provider you chose — Reliant, TXU, Gexa and so on — with Oncor appearing as the delivery or TDU charge inside it. If you have ever shopped for an electricity plan for this address, you are on the Oncor side.
How much is the Austin Energy heat pump water heater rebate?
$1,000, and it is available only to homes with permanent Austin Energy electric service — not to Pflugerville addresses generally. The unit has to be an ENERGY STAR certified hybrid electric model with an Energy Factor of 2.0 or higher, at least 40 gallons, new, and carrying a minimum six-year warranty on major components. Applications must be submitted within 90 days of purchase, and Austin Energy states that funding is limited and first-come, first-served.
Is there a federal tax credit for water heaters in 2026?
No. The 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit applied to products purchased and installed between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025, and was eliminated under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed July 4, 2025. Units installed in 2026 do not qualify.
Does the Texas ENERGY STAR sales tax holiday cover water heaters?
No. Texas waives sales tax on qualifying ENERGY STAR appliances over Memorial Day weekend, and water heaters are named on the exclusion list alongside clothes dryers, freezers, stoves, attic fans and heat pumps — even when ENERGY STAR certified. It is worth knowing before anyone times a replacement around it.
When will Texas HOMES and HEAR rebates be available?
Not in 2026, most likely. The programs are administered by the Texas Comptroller’s State Energy Conservation Office, which still states they are not yet available, and reporting from mid-2026 put availability at early 2027. There is no approved contractor list, so nobody can process one today.
Does the City of Pflugerville pay a water heater rebate?
No. The city does run several utility rebate programs — landscaping, efficient washing machines, rainwater collection and an LCRA rebate among them — but none of them covers water heaters.