'Rebate Aggregators' Are Cashing in on Home Electrification
New York-based Sealed pays contractors upfront for rebates tied to heat pumps and other energy-efficient improvements, eliminating lengthy wait times.
An engineer works on pipe installation for an external heat pump.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Nearly two years after the Inflation Reduction Act promised to supply millions of Americans with rebates for heat pumps, induction stoves and other energy-efficient upgrades, a handful of states are readying programs to begin deploying federal funds. The rebates are designed to help contractors and homeowners offset the costs of residential improvements that can significantly cut a home’s carbon footprint, but the advent of state programs is likely to expose the next bottleneck for US consumers: getting the money fast enough to make the incentive compelling for installers.
That’s where Sealed comes in. The New York-based startup, which aggregates government rebates for heat pumps and weatherization projects and verifies energy savings from those installations, last year launched a Sealed Pro pilot program for contractors in California. Replacing a pile of paperwork with a smartphone app, Sealed pays rebates to installers upfront — reducing the wait time for savings that can be critical to adoption of greener technologies.