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Shipments of heat pumps in the United States declined for the fourth straight month in July, with a 9.7% slide from a year earlier to 326,771 units, according to data from the Air-Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration Institute (AHRI).
The continued decline may indicate that households didn’t buy energy-efficient upgrades because of economic uncertainties. They also may await tax rebates on home renovations to start later this year.
Consumers are set to receive rebates as part of the $9 billion federal program that Congress passed last year in the Inflation Reduction Act. States will more provide details on the tax incentives in coming months, as required by the U.S. Energy Department.
The size of household savings will vary by income and state, and could be anywhere from hundreds of dollars for an electric appliance to $8,000 for a heat pump or cutting energy usage by at least 35%. Shipments of heat pumps, which are all-in-one devices to heat and cool a home, had been forecast to expand amid supportive government policies.
Shipments of central air conditioners slipped 1.6% from a year earlier to about 529,700 in July.
Shipments of residential gas-storage water heaters rose 8.3% to 286,619 million during the comparable periods. Electric-storage water heater shipments advanced 9.5% to 331,641, the data show.
