Low-interest state energy loans, the ones we have verified.
Ten programs across ten states, with rates, caps, and the rules attached to each. This is the set we have confirmed at the administrator, not a fifty-state census, and we say so on purpose.
How a state energy loan differs from a bank loan
The rate is better than anything a bank will quote you unsecured. You pay for that in restrictions, not in interest.
A bank prices a loan on your risk. A state energy loan is priced on policy. Somebody, usually ratepayers through the efficiency charge on your utility bill or a state green bank deploying public capital, has already paid down the interest so that efficiency work gets done. That is why a state program can offer 0% on $25,000 unsecured when no bank in the country will.
The tradeoff is that the money comes with conditions attached to the public purpose behind it. Six differences matter in practice, and every one of them is a reason to read the program rules before you sign a contract with an installer.
Usually unsecured, so no lien on your house
Most state energy loans are unsecured installment loans. Efficiency Maine says so plainly: its Home Energy Loans carry no property lien. A bank home equity loan or HELOC is secured, which is why it prices lower than an unsecured bank loan and why a missed payment is a much bigger problem. State programs get low rates a different way, so you keep your equity out of it.
The money only buys approved measures
A personal loan buys anything. A state energy loan buys what the program's eligible-measure list says it buys. Efficiency Maine finances heat pumps, insulation, and air sealing, and allows health and safety work only up to 25% of the financed amount. Tacoma Power sets separate caps by measure: heat pump up to $20,000, insulation up to $10,000, heat pump water heater up to $5,000. If your scope wanders outside the list, the extra comes out of your pocket.
Your contractor has to be on their list
This is the requirement that surprises people latest in the process. Efficiency Maine requires an Efficiency Maine Registered Vendor. Tacoma Power requires a Participating Contractor, with a carve-out for a do-it-yourself water heater. If the installer you like is not on the list, you either change installers or lose the rate. Check the list before you collect quotes, not after you have picked a favorite.
The rate is bought down by somebody else
A 0% loan is not free money, it is money somebody else paid the interest on. The subsidy usually comes from ratepayer-funded efficiency charges (the line item on your utility bill), from a state green bank that uses public capital to backstop private lenders, or from a state appropriation. Connecticut Green Bank, Michigan Saves, and the Clean Energy Fund of the Carolinas are all green-bank structures. Ratepayer funding is why these programs cover efficiency work and nothing else, and why they can close when the fund empties.
Some are repaid on your utility bill
On-bill repayment means the utility pays your contractor and you repay through a line item on the bill you already get. Tacoma Power's loans work this way at 0% for seven years. There is no separate servicer and no separate due date, which is genuinely simpler. It also means the debt is tied to a utility account, so ask what happens if you sell or switch accounts before the term ends.
Pre-approval before work starts, almost always
Tacoma Power requires pre-approval. Most programs do. Signing a contract or starting demolition before the program approves the project is the single most common way homeowners disqualify themselves from money they would have gotten. Paperwork order matters more here than in any private lending you have done.
Put plainly: you give up contractor choice, measure flexibility, and speed. You get a rate that is often less than half what an unsecured bank loan would charge, and in four of the programs below, no interest at all. For a five-figure project over ten years, that difference is thousands of dollars, which is why a state program sits second on our funding order, right behind rebates you never repay. The full order is in how to pay for home energy upgrades, and the heat pump version of the same decision is in heat pump financing.
Ten programs we have confirmed at the administrator
Every row here was checked against the program's own materials on the date shown. Rates, caps, and funding change without notice, so treat the verified date as an expiry warning rather than a guarantee.
Read this table for what it is. Ten programs across ten states: nine statewide offers plus one single-utility program in Washington. That is not every state energy loan in the country, and we are not going to pretend otherwise by filling in forty more rows from memory or from aggregator pages. A wrong rate on a page like this costs a homeowner real money. The list grows as we verify more programs at the administrator, and it grows slowly on purpose.
| State | Program | Rate and cap | Terms and constraints | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts | Mass Save HEAT Loan | 0% interest, up to $25,000 | The $25,000 is a lifetime maximum per customer, not per project. If you borrow $12,000 for a heat pump this year, you have $13,000 of headroom left for everything you ever do afterward. | 2026-07-15 |
| Maine | Efficiency Maine Home Energy Loans | 0% to 7.99% APR, up to $25,000 | 1-year 0% APR up to $25,000 with a $500 origination fee. 5-year 5.99% APR up to $25,000, no fees. 10-year 7.99% APR up to $25,000, no fees. Income-based 10-year 5.99% APR up to $7,500. Unsecured, no property lien. Standard underwriting: minimum FICO 620, maximum DTI 55%. Income-based: FICO 580, DTI 70%. Work must be done by an Efficiency Maine Registered Vendor. Eligible measures: heat pumps, insulation, air sealing, and health and safety work up to 25% of the financed amount. | 2026-07-15 |
| Connecticut | Connecticut Green Bank Smart-E Loan | 6.99% to 7.99% APR, up to $50,000 | 6.99% APR on 5, 7, and 10-year terms, 7.49% on 12-year, 7.99% on 15-year. The heat pump special offer of 0.99% APR (5 and 7-year, up to $25,000) and 2.99% (10-year, up to $30,000) ran April 1 to July 31, 2026 and has ended. A 1.99% 5-year successor offer was announced. Confirm the current rate at the administrator before you plan around it. | 2026-07-15 |
| New Hampshire | Home Energy Performance (HEP) financing through the utilities | 2% APR, $1,000 to $15,000 | Unsecured, with terms up to 7 years on loans of $12,001 to $15,000. The program describes the rate as valid for a limited time while funding is available, so confirm it is still open before you build a budget on it. | 2026-07-11 |
| New Jersey | NJ Clean Energy Whole Home program financing | 0% interest, up to $25,000 | $25,000 at 0% over 10 years, or $10,000 at 0% over 7 years. There is no income requirement for the program itself, but the 0% financing runs a credit check. | 2026-07-11 |
| Pennsylvania | KEEP Home Energy Loan (administered under PEDA and DEP) | Below-market interest, $2,500 to $25,000 | Terms run 36 to 120 months. Reduced rates took effect 7/1/2025. We are not publishing a specific APR because the rate depends on the term and the borrower, so get the quote from the administrator. | 2026-07-11 |
| Delaware | Energize Delaware Loan Program | Up to $50,000 | The largest borrowing cap on this table, for efficiency upgrades. Measure eligibility is set by the program, so confirm your scope qualifies before you apply. | 2026-07-11 |
| Nebraska | Dollar and Energy Saving Loans (Nebraska DWEE) | Roughly 1.5% to 3% | Low-interest, delivered through utility lending partners: roughly 1.5% through NPPD and 3% through OPPD per the DWEE loan page. Which rate you get depends on your utility. This is a loan, not a rebate. | 2026-07-11 |
| Vermont | Efficiency Vermont Home Energy Loan | Low-interest, starting at 0% for income-qualified households | We are not publishing a borrowing cap for this one. The figure in circulation has not been re-verified with the administrator, so ask Efficiency Vermont for the current maximum. | 2026-07-15 |
| Washington (Tacoma Power only) | Tacoma Power on-bill loans | 0% for 7 years | Heat pump up to $20,000, insulation up to $10,000, heat pump water heater on a 5-year term up to $5,000. This is a single utility program, not a statewide one. Pre-approval is required, and a Tacoma Power Participating Contractor is required except for a do-it-yourself water heater. | 2026-07-11 |
Four patterns are worth pulling out of that table. Massachusetts and New Jersey are the two cleanest 0% offers at real project scale, and both cap at $25,000. Maine trades interest for structure, so the cheaper of its options depends entirely on how fast you can repay rather than on the headline rate. Connecticut is the timing lesson: a genuinely excellent 0.99% heat pump offer opened and closed inside four months of 2026. And New Hampshire is the funding lesson, since its 2% rate is described as valid for a limited time while funding is available.
Named, but terms not verified
These programs exist and are worth calling. We have not confirmed their current rates, terms, or caps at the administrator, so we publish no numbers for them. If you find a figure for one of these on another site, treat it as unconfirmed until the program itself tells you.
Michigan Saves
Michigan's residential energy green bank runs a lending program for home efficiency work. We have not verified its current rates, terms, or caps at the administrator, so we are not publishing any numbers for it.
Nevada Clean Energy Fund
Nevada's green bank offers financing for home energy work. We have not verified its terms at the administrator, so confirm rate, term, and cap directly before you count on it.
Carolina SURE, from the Clean Energy Fund of the Carolinas
A North Carolina consumer loan program that launched in July 2025. We have not verified its terms at the administrator, so treat any figure you see elsewhere as unconfirmed.
Home Energy Loan Program, Center for Energy and Environment (Minnesota)
Minnesota's nonprofit lender for efficiency retrofits. We have not verified its loan amounts or rates at the administrator, so get them from the program itself.
Me2, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
A city program that is financing-only as of mid-2026: the city page states it is not offering free energy assessments or bonus incentives at this time. We have not verified its loan terms at the administrator.
If your state is not in either group, that does not mean nothing exists there. It means we have not verified it yet. Section 05 covers where to look, and your state page lists the administrators we do track.
The four strongest programs, in detail
Who each one fits, what it actually covers, and the catch that is easy to miss until you are already committed.
Mass Save HEAT Loan
Who it fits Massachusetts homeowners doing one large project, or a first project they know is the big one. At 0% there is no reason to pay cash out of savings if you can qualify for the loan instead.
What it covers Efficiency measures approved through Mass Save. Massachusetts also runs the deepest rebate program we track (up to $9,500 on a partial-home air-source heat pump with bonuses, up to $8,500 whole-home, up to $13,500 ground-source, and up to $16,000 air-source or $25,000 ground-source or no cost for income-qualified households, verified July 15, 2026), so the loan usually covers what the rebates do not.
The catch The $25,000 is a lifetime maximum per customer. Spend it on a heat pump and it is not there for insulation in four years. If you are planning a multi-year retrofit, decide the order before you draw, and read our sequencing guide first.
Efficiency Maine Home Energy Loans
Who it fits Maine homeowners who want a real choice between paying a fee and paying interest, and borrowers with thinner credit files. The income-based option accepts a FICO of 580 and a DTI of 70%, which is more accessible than most lending anywhere.
What it covers Heat pumps, insulation, air sealing, and health and safety work up to 25% of the financed amount. Unsecured, with no property lien on your house.
The catch Two things. The one-year 0% loan carries a $500 origination fee while the longer terms carry interest and no fee, so the cheaper option depends entirely on how fast you can actually repay. And the work has to be done by an Efficiency Maine Registered Vendor, which narrows your contractor shortlist before you start collecting quotes.
NJ Clean Energy Whole Home financing
Who it fits New Jersey homeowners doing whole-home work rather than a single appliance swap. The second tier, $10,000 at 0% over 7 years, suits a smaller scope. There is no income requirement for the program itself.
What it covers Work delivered through the Whole Home program, which is built around treating the house as a system rather than replacing one box.
The catch The 0% financing runs a credit check even though the program has no income test, so approval is not automatic. And Whole Home is a program with its own process and its own contractor network, which means the financing and the scope are decided together rather than separately.
Tacoma Power on-bill loans
Who it fits Tacoma Power customers who want repayment folded into a bill they already pay. Caps are set per measure: heat pump up to $20,000, insulation up to $10,000, heat pump water heater on a 5-year term up to $5,000.
What it covers Heat pumps, insulation, and heat pump water heaters, each with its own ceiling. The measure-by-measure structure means a combined project can draw more than any single cap.
The catch It is one utility, not a state. If you live in Washington outside Tacoma Power territory, this is not available to you. Pre-approval is required before work begins, and a Tacoma Power Participating Contractor is required except for a do-it-yourself water heater install.
A note on the Massachusetts lifetime cap, because it changes the order you should do work in. If the HEAT Loan is your only cheap money and it is capped for life at $25,000, spending it on the largest single line item first is not automatically right. Envelope work is cheaper, it shrinks the heat pump you need, and most programs now want it done first anyway. That argument is laid out in retrofit sequencing and weatherize before the heat pump. The insulation-specific funding picture is in how to pay for insulation.
Six things to check on any of these
Every item here has cost somebody a program's worth of money. Run the list before you sign the loan documents or the installation contract, whichever comes first.
Is your measure on the eligible list?
Programs finance measures, not projects. Ask for the eligible-measure list in writing and check your full scope against it, line by line. Anything that falls outside is cash. Efficiency Maine caps health and safety work at 25% of the financed amount, which is a good example of a rule you only find by reading.
Is your contractor on the approved list?
Check the participating or registered contractor list before you collect quotes. Efficiency Maine requires a Registered Vendor. Tacoma Power requires a Participating Contractor. Discovering this after you have chosen an installer means picking between the contractor you trust and the rate you wanted.
Does pre-approval have to happen before work starts?
For most programs, yes, and this is the most expensive box to leave unchecked. Signing a contract or letting a crew start before the program approves the project can disqualify the whole thing. Get the approval in hand, then schedule.
Is there an origination fee?
A 0% loan with a fee is not a 0% loan. Efficiency Maine's one-year 0% option carries a $500 origination fee while its interest-bearing terms carry none. Ask for the fee, the APR, the term, and the total of payments, then compare on total cost rather than on the headline rate.
Is the cap per project or lifetime?
This one changes long-term planning. The Mass Save HEAT Loan's $25,000 is a lifetime maximum per customer, not per project. Other programs cap per project or per measure, like Tacoma Power's separate heat pump, insulation, and water heater ceilings. Ask which kind you are dealing with before you spend the first tranche.
Does taking the loan affect rebate eligibility?
Usually not, because rebates attach to the equipment, the installer, and the household rather than to how you paid. But sequencing matters: a rebate applied at the point of sale reduces what you borrow, while a rebate that arrives later means you financed the full price. Some state loans are also built to pair with that state's own rebates and require the same approved contractor for both. Confirm before you sign, not after.
Two companion reads make this checklist faster to run. Rebate stacking covers which incentives can sit on the same job and which ones cancel each other, so you know what to subtract before you pick a loan amount. Reading a quote covers what a good proposal has to contain, including the line items a program will ask you to document. If your installer cannot produce a scope that maps to the program's eligible-measure list, that is a signal about the installer, not just the paperwork. The warning signs are in contractor hiring red flags.
If your state is not here, look in these four places
Absence from our table means we have not verified a program, not that none exists. Here is the search order that finds one fastest.
Your state energy office
Every state has one, and it is the office that administers federally funded programs and often the state's own loan fund. It is also where you find out whether a program is open, paused, or fully subscribed. Start at your state page for the administrator name.
A state green bank or clean energy fund
Green banks use public capital to buy down rates from private lenders, which is how Connecticut gets Smart-E and how Michigan gets Michigan Saves. If your state has one, it is the most likely home of a below-market energy loan. Search the state name with the words green bank or clean energy fund.
Your utility's on-bill program
On-bill financing is rarely advertised well. Call your electric utility and ask directly whether they offer on-bill repayment for heat pumps, water heaters, or insulation, and whether pre-approval is required. Gas utilities sometimes run one too. These programs frequently run out of funding mid-year, so ask about the current budget while you have someone on the phone.
A local credit union
Credit unions usually price unsecured lending below banks, and many partner with state programs as the actual lender behind a subsidized rate. If there is no program in your state, a credit union is the category worth shopping first. We do not name private lenders, because rates move weekly and a lender name is not advice.
Work those four in order, because that is roughly the order of how cheap the money gets. And before you borrow anything, find the rebates: a rebate is money you never repay, so every dollar of rebate is a dollar of loan you do not take. Start with the Rebate Matcher for the programs that apply to your ZIP, and your state page for the administrators, deadlines, and current program status where you live.
One caution about federally funded rebates, because they get confused with state loans constantly: money allocated to your state is not money available to you. Each state has to file its implementation plan, get federal approval, and launch a program before a homeowner can claim anything, and several states with allocations have no consumer program open. The current state of play is in home energy rebates in 2026.
State energy loan questions
Which states have 0% energy efficiency loans?
Among the programs we have verified at the administrator, Massachusetts offers a 0% Mass Save HEAT Loan up to $25,000 (a lifetime maximum per customer, verified July 15, 2026) and New Jersey offers $25,000 at 0% over 10 years or $10,000 at 0% over 7 years through the Clean Energy Whole Home program (verified July 11, 2026). Efficiency Maine offers a one-year 0% APR loan up to $25,000, though it carries a $500 origination fee (verified July 15, 2026). Efficiency Vermont's Home Energy Loan starts at 0% for income-qualified households (verified July 15, 2026). In Washington, Tacoma Power offers 0% on-bill loans for seven years, but that is one utility rather than the whole state (verified July 11, 2026). This is our verified set, not a national census: other states run programs whose terms we have not confirmed.
Can you get a 0% heat pump loan?
Yes, in some places. The Mass Save HEAT Loan is 0% up to $25,000 and covers approved efficiency measures including heat pumps. New Jersey's Whole Home financing is 0% up to $25,000 over ten years. Tacoma Power lends 0% for seven years with a heat pump cap of $20,000. Connecticut ran a 0.99% APR heat pump special offer through the Smart-E Loan from April 1 to July 31, 2026, which has ended, and announced a 1.99% five-year successor, so confirm the current rate with the Connecticut Green Bank. Outside a state or utility program, a 0% offer usually comes from a contractor as a promotional deal with a deferred-interest clause, which is a different and more expensive thing.
Do you need good credit for a state energy loan?
Usually you need decent credit, though the thresholds are more forgiving than most private lending. Efficiency Maine publishes its floors: standard underwriting requires a minimum FICO of 620 and a maximum debt-to-income ratio of 55%, while its income-based option accepts a FICO of 580 and a DTI of 70% (verified July 15, 2026). New Jersey's Whole Home program has no income requirement, but the 0% financing runs a credit check (verified July 11, 2026). Most programs publish their criteria, so ask before you apply rather than collecting a hard inquiry to find out.
Can you combine a state energy loan with rebates?
In most cases yes, and many state programs are designed for exactly that: the rebate covers part of the project and the loan covers the rest. The rules to check are which rebates stack with each other, whether the rebate is applied at the point of sale or paid afterward, and whether the loan and the rebate require the same approved contractor. A rebate applied before financing shrinks the amount you borrow, which cuts your interest on every month that follows. Our rebate stacking guide walks through which combinations hold up.
What happens if the program runs out of money?
Applications stop, usually with little warning. These programs are funded by ratepayer charges, green bank capital, or state appropriations, and none of those are unlimited. New Hampshire's 2% Home Energy Performance financing is described as valid for a limited time while funding is available (verified July 11, 2026). Connecticut's 0.99% heat pump offer opened April 1, 2026 and closed July 31, 2026. If you already have written pre-approval, your project is normally honored under the terms you were approved for, which is another reason to get approval before you schedule work. If you do not, you are looking at whatever the program offers next.
More money guides
How to pay for home energy upgrades
Every funding source for a whole retrofit, ordered cheapest money first: rebates, state loans, on-bill, equity, then the expensive options.
Heat pump financing
Seven ways to pay for a heat pump in 2026, with the installed-cost bands you are actually financing.
How to pay for furnace replacement
The emergency-replacement version, where you have days rather than months to decide.
How to pay for insulation
Envelope work is the cheapest measure to finance and the one most programs now require first.
HELOC vs. home equity loan
If there is no program in your state, this is the next-cheapest category. Fixed lump sum or revolving line, and what each costs to open.
Home energy rebates in 2026
Which federally funded rebate programs have actually launched, state by state, and what the 2026 DOE rule changes did to them.
Find the money you do not have to pay back first.
A loan is the second-cheapest money on the list. Rebates are the first. The Rebate Matcher checks your ZIP against the programs we track, so you borrow for what is left instead of the whole project.
Run the Rebate Matcher