Would It Be Ok if Your Utility Company Picked up Part of the Cost of Your New Air Conditioning System?

After years of laboring through hot Texas summers, eventually, all air conditioners need to be replaced. And, as everybody knows, buying a new ac system is one of those major purchases that are never cheap. Fortunately, some Texans have found a way to get their power company to cover part of the cost of a new air conditioning or heat pump system.

This is all thanks to a special incentive program by Texas energy company, Oncor. As part of Oncor’s Take a Load Off Texas Home Energy Efficiency program, consumers in Oncor’s service area, who upgrade to a more energy-efficient air conditioning system, could qualify to receive incentives ranging from $300 – $1,500.

How to See if You Qualify

These incentives are available to consumers who are Oncor customers, use an approved service provider, and install equipment that meets Oncor’s energy efficiency guidelines.

1) Verify That You’re an Oncor Customer.

This is an area of confusion for many consumers because Oncor isn’t the company that consumers pay their bills to.

As a company, Oncor’s role is to take care of the power lines and ensure that electricity gets delivered to your home or business. For example, they supply the crews who go out and repair downed power lines or fix outages caused by a storm. If they’re the one that your electric company tells you to call in the case of an outage, then you’re one of their customers.

Other companies, such as Ambit, TXU, Champion, Direct, Green Mountain, Amigo, Stream, Cirro, and Reliant are energy retailers that enroll customers, and then bill them and collect payment for the energy used. So, even though your bill comes from one of these companies, you still may be an Oncor customer.

While Oncor covers all of the greater DFW metroplexes, there are pockets that are supplied by electric co-op’s (municipality-owned electric providers), or some areas that are serviced by multiple energy providers.

If you have any confusion about whether or not you’re an Oncor customer, call us at and we can look up your address to see if you’re in a qualifying service area.

2) Choose a Participating Air Conditioning Provider

In order to prevent fraud and control the quality of the workmanship, Oncor only partners with trusted heating and air contractors who are put through an intense application process – including an in-person interview. Consequently, Oncor sends the incentives directly to the service provider and leaves it up to them what to do with the money.

At Comfort Experts, we’re proud to continue our partnership with Oncor in 2015. “For us, it’s a no brainer to pass these savings directly to the consumer,” said Brett Hobson of Comfort Experts Air Conditioning and Heating. “In addition, we make sure each homeowner receives their incentive as an instant credit at the time of installation – which is often weeks before we get the check from Oncor.”

Procrastination Could Cost You Thousands of Dollars

If there’s a downside, it’s that Oncor budgets a limited amount of money to this program every year, and once it’s used up – it’s gone until the next year.

“This is a chance for consumers in the Oncor service area to save literally thousands of dollars on a new system,” said Hobson, “but it won’t last forever.”

For more information, to see if you qualify, or to see if there are still incentive funds available from Oncor, call us today at 817-341-5149 , and we’ll be happy to assist you!