Solar water heating loan

You must be an HFS Federal Credit Union member and pass its credit assessment. The savings account needed for membership requires a $50 minimum deposit. Refinancing an existing HFS loan is excluded.

Membership is available if you live on Hawaiʻi island or regularly work, study, worship, volunteer or participate in an association headquartered there. Individuals in local poverty or distress-relief programmes, credit-union employees, spouses of people who died while eligible for membership, and immediate family or household members also have membership routes. Immediate family includes spouses, children, siblings, parents, grandparents, grandchildren, stepparents, stepchildren, stepsiblings and adoptive relations.

For the Hawaiʻi Energy subsidy:

• The residential electricity account must contribute to the Public Benefit Fund on Hawaiʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi or Lānaʻi. You must have been a Hawaiian Electric Companies ratepayer for at least six months, and the account holder must appear on the rebate application.
• The installation must be in an existing home occupied year-round as a primary residence. Newly constructed homes are excluded; buying an existing home does not itself exclude you. A tenant buying the system needs the landlord’s permission and waiver of any claim to the rebate.
• New, fully operating equipment must meet Hawaiʻi Energy’s specifications, use its accepted products and be installed by a participating contractor. It must replace an electric or heat-pump water heater, or a worn-out solar water heater with electric backup. Gas, tankless and solar systems with gas backup are excluded.
• A worn-out system that previously received a rebate normally must be at least 15 years old. The handbook permits Hawaiʻi Energy to approve exceptions for expired collector and tank warranties where repair is unreasonable; fire or disaster damage; an irreparable neglected system in a recently bought home; major renovation preventing reinstallation; an emergency health or safety hazard; or a system inadequate for the needs of a recently bought home. These exceptions require programme approval.

You must allow reasonable access to the equipment, premises and related records for inspections, which may occur up to five years after rebate payment. The signed subsidy terms also require you to defend the programme, its administrator and related public bodies and staff against claims arising from inspection, installation, use or maintenance of your project, and cover resulting liabilities and reasonable legal costs. Funding is not guaranteed before the application is verified and approved.

Status

søknadsfrist 30. juni 2027

Åpner

1. juli 2026

Søknadsfrist

30. juni 2027

Vilkår for søknadsrunden

• Hawaiʻi Energy confirms funding is available; subsidy is subject to verification, approval and remaining funds.
• Contractor must obtain a work order before installation.

Start with a Hawaiʻi Energy participating solar water heating contractor. The contractor helps you complete and submit the interest buy-down application; then apply for the HFS loan online or call 808-930-1400 to arrange an appointment.

The contractor must obtain a Hawaiʻi Energy work order before installation. Work orders expire after 30 days; Hawaiʻi Energy may grant a further 30 days at the contractor’s request. The contractor submits the application, loan agreement, invoice and system-sizing Form 1 within 30 days of purchase, and must also meet the handbook’s 30-day deadline for post-installation documents. Late work orders can forfeit the rebate.

Hawaiʻi Energy currently confirms that lender funding is available. The current subsidy application period runs until June 30, 2027 or until funds run out. HFS has no fixed expiry date for this loan product, but both the loan and subsidy terms may change, and subsidy payment depends on approved funding.