Welcome to Bragg Heating's Customer Information Page. Every month we will offer a new column with useful information on all aspects of a heating and air system.

March 2009 - "The Federal Government Saves You Money"

 One of the tax cuts that came out of the recent stimulus package signed into law by President Obama on February 17th, was improvements in the energy tax credits for the year 2009-2010 tax years. Before the stimulus package went into law, there was going to be energy tax credits available in 2009. However they were going to be limited, in many cases maxing out at $300. The new law raises those cap limits to $1500 and in some cases makes them unlimited. How does this effect you? If you are a homeowner who will need to change your heating and air system, it allows you to buy a more efficient system for very little extra money overall. What are the criteria to receive these tax credits? If you are purchasing a heating and cooling system, the system must meet the following standards:

What do all these abbreviations stand for, let's break them down.

HSPF--This stands for Heat Season Performance Factor. This is simply how efficient does your heat pump use power for heating. The higher the number the more efficient your system.
SEER--This stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. This is how efficient does your system work on the air conditioning side. The minimum that can be installed now is 13. Some heat pumps have SEER ratings as high as 21. Every SEER point higher is on average an additional 10% reduction in your cooling cost.
EER--This stands for Energy Efficiency Ratio. This number combines your heating and cooling cost to give you an overall efficiency number.

How does the tax credit work?

If your system meets the criteria listed above, you will receive a tax credit of 30% of the installed cost up to $1500. You will take this credit on next years taxes. One thing to keep in mind, the $1500 cap is for 2009-2010 years combined. For example, if you had two systems to change out, you would only receive a tax credit of $1500 total, not per system.
There is one system that has an unlimited cap number. If you have a geothermal heat pump system and you meet the criteria(EER>=16.2), you can take a credit of 30% of the installed cost with no cap  on the tax credit.

To receive the credit you must have the following: a bill from your installing contractor for your records. A statement of certification from the equipment manufacturer, which your installing contractor can provide. Finally you will have to send in IRS tax form 5695 with your taxes.

If you wish, you can go directly to the government website-- www.energystar.gov for more details.
We offer several systems that will qualify for these tax credits across our three product lines. We also sell and install Florida Water Source units for those with geothermal systems.

Hopefully this information has been helpful.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to call us at 648-0387.
You may also contact us with any questions or concerns.

Finally, if you have a question that you would liked answered,
e-mail it to us and we will answer it in a future column.