Pool Pump Rebates for ENERGY STAR Variable Speed Pumps

A pool pump rebate is usually a fixed payment from your electric utility for installing a new ENERGY STAR certified variable speed pump, and the five programs read for this page on 17 October 2026 pay between $100 and $350 per pump. Every one of them requires ENERGY STAR certification, every one requires variable speed, and every one has a deadline measured in days from installation or a fixed date.

Rebates are local. There is no single national pool pump rebate; each offer belongs to a utility or a state efficiency program, and the amounts and rules change by program year. This guide sets out the five offers exactly as their own pages stated them, what they have in common, how to check a pump qualifies before you buy it, and what the rebate is worth against the pump's running cost.

Five 2026 pool pump rebate offers, as published

Each figure below was read from the program's own page or form on 17 October 2026. Programs can change or close without notice, and several say they run while funds last.

Program	Where	Maximum rebate	Purchase or install window	Apply within
NHSaves	New Hampshire, participating electric utilities	$350	Bought and installed 1 January to 31 December 2026	90 days of installation, no later than 31 January 2027
Dominion Energy South Carolina	South Carolina	$300	Not stated as a calendar window	90 days of installation
Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association	Minnesota, WH service territory	Up to $200, as a bill credit	Purchased 1 January to 31 December 2026	90 days of installation
CPS Energy	San Antonio, Texas	$50 per horsepower, up to $150	Project completed 1 February 2026 to 31 January 2027	30 days of completion
Energize Connecticut	Connecticut, Eversource and UI customers	Up to $100	Purchased and installed 1 January to 31 December 2026	Postmarked by 31 March 2027

The spread is wide. The largest offer here is three and a half times the smallest, for the same kind of pump. That alone is a reason to check before buying rather than after.

What every variable speed pool pump rebate here requires

Read side by side, the five programs share a core set of conditions.

ENERGY STAR certified. All five say so. Wright-Hennepin adds that certification is checked against the list in effect on the purchase date, so a pump removed from the list before you buy it does not qualify. CPS Energy requires the pump to be listed on the ENERGY STAR website as a variable speed pool pump.

Variable speed. All five name variable-speed pumps. Dominion Energy South Carolina states that single-speed pumps do not qualify.

New equipment. NHSaves, Energize CT, CPS Energy and Wright-Hennepin exclude used equipment, and NHSaves and Energize CT also exclude refurbished units; Energize CT excludes leased and rented units too.

Not a booster pump. NHSaves and Energize CT exclude booster pumps, the small high-pressure pumps that drive pressure-side cleaners. Those are a separate category on the certified list, and all ten certified booster records are single-speed in any case.

Your account, your territory. Each program pays only its own customers, for a pump installed in its own service area; NHSaves, Energize CT, Dominion and CPS Energy name residential customers specifically.

One per year or per account. NHSaves and Energize CT limit it to one pool pump rebate per year, NHSaves per residential account; CPS Energy to one per service account; Wright-Hennepin to one per member account.

Not more than the price. NHSaves, Energize CT and CPS Energy say the rebate cannot exceed the purchase price or project cost.

Program-specific rules worth knowing

NHSaves (New Hampshire). The pump must be 1/2 horsepower or larger. The rebate cannot be combined with other utility offerings. Apply online through the NHSaves portal or by mail.

Energize Connecticut. Also 1/2 horsepower or larger. The rebate cannot be combined with other Energize Connecticut rebates. Apply online or with a signed mail-in form.

Dominion Energy South Carolina. Submit the rebate application with proof of purchase, a detailed installation invoice or receipt. Rebates are paid by check to the account holder, and the page says processing usually takes 4 to 6 weeks.

CPS Energy (San Antonio). The rebate is $50 per horsepower up to $150, rounded to the nearest half horsepower. The pump must carry at least a one-year manufacturer warranty and be a one-for-one replacement: motor-only replacements, rebuilds and pumps for newly built pools do not qualify. The application needs a receipt or invoice showing model and serial numbers and costs, plus a photo of the installed pump's model and serial label.

Wright-Hennepin (Minnesota). The rebate is paid as a bill credit. The form also states an efficiency threshold, EF of 3.8 or more. ENERGY STAR records publish WEF, a different metric from the older energy factor, so if you are near any threshold, ask the co-op which figure it checks. Allow six to eight weeks for processing.

How to check a pump qualifies before you buy

The most common reason a rebate is refused is a pump that was never eligible. Four checks cover it:

1. Confirm certification by model number. Look the exact model number up on the certified pump list, which is built from the ENERGY STAR dataset and lists every model number on each certification record. A retail SKU can differ from the certified model number; this site shows both where the record publishes both.
2. Confirm the speed class. Each record names its speed class. A rebate that requires variable speed will not accept a multi-speed record, even though multi-speed in-ground pumps draw similar power at low speed.
3. Confirm the product type. In-ground filter pump, above-ground filter pump or booster pump. Booster pumps are excluded where programs say so.
4. Keep the paperwork. An itemised invoice with the model number, a dated receipt, and for some programs a photo of the installed pump's label and serial number.

Of the 423 records on the certified list retrieved 17 October 2026, 376 are variable speed: 320 in-ground and 56 above-ground. The lowest rated horsepower on any of them is 0.85, above the 1/2 horsepower minimum that NHSaves and Energize CT set.

What a pool pump rebate is worth against running cost

A rebate lowers the price of the pump once. The pump's running cost recurs every season. It helps to see the two on the same scale.

This site's standard schedule for a certified variable speed pump is 10 hours at the low-speed test point and 2 hours at the high-speed test point each day, with standby the rest of the time. At the median certified in-ground design, 117.66 W low, 742.25 W high and 3 W standby, that is about 2.70 kWh a day. At the July 2026 U.S. average residential price of 18.31¢/kWh it costs about $14.82 a month, or about $88.89 over a 180-day season.

Rebate	Equivalent seasons of running cost on that schedule
$350	about 3.9
$300	about 3.4
$200	about 2.3
$150	about 1.7
$100	about 1.1

ENERGY STAR's own figure is a useful second scale: it says certified in-ground pumps use 20% less energy than standard pumps and save about $50 a year. On that figure, a $350 rebate is worth about seven years of the certification's extra savings on its own.

The bigger saving for an owner replacing an old single-speed pump is the switch to variable speed itself, which the single speed vs variable speed cost comparison works through, matched by gallons moved.

These are test-rig figures and a stated schedule, not a prediction for any one pool. The energy cost calculator takes your own watts, hours and rate.

Installer or do it yourself

Some programs care who installs the pump, and most care what the paperwork shows. Dominion Energy South Carolina asks for a detailed installation invoice or a detailed receipt as proof of purchase. CPS Energy wants an invoice that separates equipment and installation costs, and a photo of the installed pump's label. CPS Energy's page sets no pool-pump-specific installer licence requirement but says installation must comply with local, state and national codes; for the other programs, check the terms. Electrical codes apply to wiring a pump whatever the rebate says.

Choosing a pump with a rebate in mind

A rebate is a reason to buy a certified variable speed pump, not a reason to buy a particular size. Two points keep the decision honest.

Size by flow, not by the rebate formula. CPS Energy pays more for higher horsepower, up to $150. A bigger pump than you need costs more to run every time it runs fast; across certified in-ground designs, the median high-speed draw more than doubles from the smallest to the largest size bands while low-speed draw barely changes. Work out the flow your pool needs first, using what size pool pump do I need, and let the rebate follow.

Compare efficiency within the right size class. Every certified pump clears ENERGY STAR's minimum for its size, but some clear it by much more. The most energy efficient pool pump guide ranks them against their own class minimum.

Where to find the offer for your address

Rebates are set by utilities and state programs, so the first place to look is your electric bill: the utility named on it runs or funds any rebate you can claim. Then:

• ENERGY STAR Rebate Finder. ENERGY STAR's own tool takes a ZIP code and lists rebates and special offers on certified products in that area, with pool pumps as one of its categories. ENERGY STAR's pool pump page points to it and says certified pumps qualify for incentives across the country.
• DSIRE. The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency, run by the N.C. Clean Energy Technology Center at North Carolina State University, lists state, utility and federal efficiency programs.
• Your installer. Pool professionals in an area with a rebate usually know its paperwork. Ask whether they submit it or you do.

When you find an offer, read four things before buying: whether it requires ENERGY STAR and variable speed, the purchase and installation window, the deadline to apply, and whether funds are limited.

Common reasons a claim is refused

Taken from the stated terms of the five programs, the predictable failures are:

• Late application. CPS Energy allows 30 days from completion of the work; three others allow 90 days; Energize CT has a fixed postmark date.
• Wrong product. A multi-speed, two-speed or single-speed pump, a booster pump, or a pump not on the certified list on the purchase date.
• Motor only. CPS Energy excludes motor-only replacements and rebuilds.
• Missing documents. A receipt without the model number, or no photo of the installed label where one is required.
• Wrong account. A pump installed outside the utility's territory, or a claim from someone other than the residential account holder.
• A second rebate. NHSaves and Energize CT cannot be combined with other offers from the same program.

What this page does not cover

This page lists five programs read on one day, not every program in the country. It does not cover tax credits, contractor-only incentives or commercial pools. Amounts and dates are as each program stated them on 17 October 2026; if anything here differs from the program's current page, the program's page is right.

Sources

• NHSaves, Variable-Speed Pool Pumps: $350 rebate, eligibility, 2026 window and deadline. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
• Energize Connecticut, Pool Pumps: up to $100, eligibility and the 31 March 2027 deadline. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
• Dominion Energy South Carolina, Pool Pump Rebates: $300 rebate, eligibility, documents and the 90-day deadline. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
• CPS Energy, Pool Pump rebate: $50 per horsepower up to $150, eligibility, documents and the 30-day deadline. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
• Wright-Hennepin Cooperative Electric Association, 2026 residential pool pump rebate form: up to $200, eligibility and deadline. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
• ENERGY STAR Rebate Finder: ZIP code search for offers on certified products. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
• ENERGY STAR Pool Pumps: savings figures for certified pumps and the pointer to rebates. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
• DSIRE: database of state and utility incentives. Retrieved 17 October 2026.
• ENERGY STAR Certified Pool Pumps dataset, 423 records retrieved 17 October 2026: record counts, speed classes, rated horsepower and wattages.
• EIA Electric Power Monthly, Table 5.3: July 2026 U.S. residential average of 18.31¢/kWh, retrieved 17 October 2026.

Check your utility's page before you buy, confirm the exact model on the certified list, and file inside the deadline: that is how a pool pump rebate gets paid.