Are there rebates for heat pumps or geothermal in WA?
The short answer
For heating, no. As of October 2026 we could find no federal or WA rebate for an air-to-water heat pump that runs floor heating or radiators, and none for geothermal. What does exist: federal certificates that take money off a listed hot water heat pump, the WA Residential Battery Scheme (up to $1,300 for Synergy customers), the federal Cheaper Home Batteries discount, and cheaper green loans from some lenders. We checked each scheme in October 2026; rules change, so confirm the current terms before you buy.
Rebate rules change every year, and much of what’s online about heating rebates is out of date or written for Victoria. So we went through each scheme that could apply to a Perth home in October 2026 and wrote down what we found, including the places where the answer is simply no.
Is there a rebate for a heat pump that heats the house?
Not that we could find. The federal Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme, which sits behind most solar and hot water rebates, accepts air-source heat pumps only as water heaters of up to 425 litres that are listed on the Clean Energy Regulator’s register. A heat pump that warms your floors or radiators isn’t one of those, and WA has no state rebate for heating heat pumps. Ground-source heat pumps, the geothermal kind, aren’t on the scheme’s list at all.
Phil put it plainly in one of his videos: “Where we are in Perth, unfortunately, we don’t get as many rebates as in Victoria and New South Wales, but we’ve got the better weather, so we’ll keep that.” If you’re reading from another state, check your state energy department’s website, because some run schemes of their own.
Hot water heat pumps: the federal certificates
This is where the money is. A stand-alone hot water heat pump that’s on the register earns small-scale technology certificates when it’s installed. Most people never handle them: you sign them over to the installer, who takes their value off your price. What they’re worth depends on the model, where you live and the certificate price at the time, and each unit earns fewer of them every year as the scheme winds down towards its end in 2030.
The certificates are one reason a separate hot water heat pump usually costs less than heating your tap water from the floor heating’s heat pump. As Phil points out, the stand-alone units are mass-produced and attract the rebate, while the special indoor tanks carry a specialty price. We go through that choice in whether one heat pump can do your heating and your hot water.
Batteries: the WA and federal schemes
If you have rooftop solar, as about 40% of households on WA’s main grid do, the battery schemes are the most generous help on offer. The WA Residential Battery Scheme gives Synergy customers up to $1,300 off a battery, and Horizon Power customers up to $3,800, with the maximum based on 10 kilowatt-hours of usable storage. To qualify you join your retailer’s virtual power plant, which lets you sell stored power back to the market at busy times. The state expects the scheme to run until 2027, or until its 100,000 rebates are gone.
Households with a combined income under $210,000 can take a no-interest loan of up to $10,000 for the battery, repaid over as long as 10 years. And the WA scheme comes on top of the federal Cheaper Home Batteries Program, which works through the same certificates and comes to around 30% off the installed cost for a battery of up to 14 kilowatt-hours. Bigger batteries get less support for the extra capacity, and the discount steps down over time until the program ends in 2030.
Green loans that can cover a heat pump
The federal government’s Household Energy Upgrades Fund, run by the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, offers discounted green home loans and personal loans through a list of participating banks and lenders. Its list of eligible upgrades includes solar, batteries, insulation, double glazing and heat pumps. Each lender sets its own rules, so ask yours whether an air-to-water heat pump for floor heating or radiators counts before you rely on it.
What lowers the cost of heating more than any rebate
A $1,300 battery rebate is welcome, but it’s small next to the difference the design makes. Our modelled running cost for floor heating in a 200 m² Perth home is about $240 a winter month built right and about $601 built cheaply, at Synergy’s July 2026 home rate, and over twenty winters that gap comes to about $36,100 (modelled estimates). No rebate on offer comes close to that.
The cheapest heating in the long run is a system that doesn’t waste what it makes: insulation under the pipes, a slab edge that isn’t leaking heat into the patio, and a heat pump sized for the house and placed where it can breathe. None of that earns a certificate, and all of it shows up on every power bill for as long as you live there.
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Other questions people ask us
Is there a rebate for geothermal in WA?
Not as of October 2026. Ground-source heat pumps aren’t eligible for the federal certificates, and WA has no state scheme for them. Articles online that promise geothermal cash back describe schemes that don’t apply here. If geothermal makes sense on your site, it has to stand on its running-cost saving alone, and our article on what geothermal costs covers when it does.
Who claims the hot water certificates?
Usually the installer, who takes their value off the price you pay. Ask for the certificate value to be shown on the quote, so you can compare quotes on the same footing.
Will a battery help run my floor heating?
A little. A battery stores midday solar for the evening, when a heat pump is often running, but a 10 kWh battery covers only part of a winter evening’s heating in a typical home. We go through the sums in whether solar and a battery can run your heating through a winter night.
Where to go from here
If you’re in Perth or the south-west, the 5-minute quote gives you your options in writing within 3 working days, each with its price and a modelled running cost, and you don’t need plans to start. If you want hot water included, say so in the notes. For the background on sizing, siting and hot water, see our heat pump page.