Whatcom County, Washington
Heat pumps, mini splits and HVAC in Bellingham
91,482 people, 19°F on the coldest design day, and about 0 minutes from our shop on Larrabee Avenue.
- Electricity: Puget Sound Energy
- Gas: Cascade Natural Gas
- Permits: City of Bellingham Building Services
- ZIPs: 98225, 98226, 98229
- WA L&I #BELLIHC808NM Active registration — verify it with the state
- $30,000 bonded Surety bond on file with L&I
- $1,000,000 insured General liability coverage
- Local since 2020 Owner-operated in Whatcom County
- We pull the permit City of Bellingham or Whatcom County, and we meet the inspector
The housing in Bellingham
Bellingham runs four distinct building eras inside one city: 1890s–1920s workers’ cottages in the Lettered Streets and Columbia, 1900–1930 hillside homes in Fairhaven and Sehome, 1950s–70s ramblers on Alabama Hill and around Silver Beach, and 1990s–2010s subdivisions in Cordata and Barkley. Most of the older stock was never ducted, so baseboard electric and wall heaters are the default — including in the student rentals around Western Washington University. That is the exact starting condition PSE’s $1,500 electric-resistance-to-heat-pump rebate was written for.
The climate here
The code-adopted heating design temperature here is 19°F at the Bellingham 2 N station, five degrees colder than Sea-Tac’s 24°F. Cold snaps arrive as Fraser Valley outflow: dry northeast wind funnelling down the Fraser and across Bellingham Bay, which is why a unit tucked into a north-facing corner ices up differently than the same unit on a south wall. Summers are short enough that cooling is a comfort upgrade rather than a load driver, against a 78°F cooling design temperature.
Washington's energy code puts Bellingham's outdoor heating design temperature at 19°F (taken from the nearest code station, Bellingham 2 N). Bellingham is 19°F and Sea-Tac is 24°F, so equipment picked off a Seattle-area rule of thumb is the wrong equipment for this address.
What makes a Bellingham install different
Inside city limits the mechanical permit goes to City of Bellingham Building Services through the eTRAKiT portal; we pull it and meet the inspector. Plenty of addresses with a Bellingham mailing address are actually in unincorporated Whatcom County, which moves the permit to the county Permit Center — the City says so itself, and we confirm it from the parcel before quoting. The other recurring wrinkle is the panel: a 1950s 100-amp service on Alabama Hill or in Puget often needs a load calculation first, and the electrical work is done by a licensed electrical contractor.
Utilities, and what they mean for your rebate
Bellingham is inside Puget Sound Energy's electric territory — PSE serves every address in Whatcom County, which is what puts its heat pump rebates within reach. Natural gas comes from Cascade Natural Gas, not PSE. PSE's hybrid heat pump rebate and its $4,000 moderate-income fuel-switching rebate both require PSE natural gas service, which does not exist anywhere in Whatcom County. So a gas-heated Bellingham home currently has no PSE gas-to-heat-pump rebate at all. It can still add cooling and shoulder-season efficiency with a heat pump — it just does not come with that particular cheque.
Permits in Bellingham
Mechanical permits for Bellingham go through City of Bellingham Building Services using its eTRAKiT online portal. We file it under our Washington contractor registration and we meet the inspector.
Nearby
We cover Fairhaven, Sunnyland, Cordata, Barkley, Alabama Hill, Lettered Streets on the same runs. If you are near Western Washington University, Fairhaven Historic District, Whatcom Falls Park, we know the roads.
What a Bellingham household can claim
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Electric Resistance to Air-Source Heat Pump Conversion
Puget Sound Energy
$1,500
Available now$2,400 with PSE Efficiency Boost for income-qualified households.
- Paperwork:
- We file it
- Deadline:
- No published end date — tariffed and subject to change
- Verified:
- 2026-09-04 · source
-
Efficiency Boost (income-qualified multiplier)
Puget Sound Energy
Raises other PSE rebates
Income-qualifiedHeat pump $1,500 → $2,400 · heat pump water heater $1,000 → $1,100 · smart thermostat $75 → $175.
- Paperwork:
- We file it
- Deadline:
- Ongoing
- Verified:
- 2026-09-04 · source
-
Hybrid Heat Pump Rebate
Puget Sound Energy
$1,500
Check first$2,400 with Efficiency Boost — but not reachable from a Bellingham address.
Bellingham note: Unavailable in Bellingham. This rebate requires PSE natural gas service, and Bellingham’s gas utility is Cascade Natural Gas. PSE supplies electricity to all of Whatcom County but no natural gas, so a gas-heated Bellingham home currently has no PSE gas-to-heat-pump conversion rebate at all.
- Paperwork:
- We file it
- Deadline:
- No published end date
- Verified:
- 2026-09-04 · source
-
Cascade Natural Gas Residential Rebates
Cascade Natural Gas Corporation
Amounts not published in a verifiable form
Check firstCascade’s rebate pages block automated retrieval and the current offerings PDF renders without its amount table. Figures circulating online (tankless $700, insulation $2.00/sq ft, duct sealing $500) come from a 2024 document and are treated as stale.
Bellingham note: We list this program because Cascade is Bellingham’s gas utility, but we will not print dollar amounts we could not verify. Confirm current figures with Cascade directly.
- Paperwork:
- You file it
- Deadline:
- Apply within 90 days of installation
- Verified:
- 2026-09-04 · source
-
City of Bellingham Mobile Home Repair
Opportunity Council + City of Bellingham
No cost to qualifying households
Income-qualifiedCovers heating and cooling systems alongside roofing, plumbing, electrical and structural work.
- Paperwork:
- You file it
- Deadline:
- Ongoing
- Verified:
- 2026-09-04 · source
-
Low-Income Weatherization
Opportunity Council (Whatcom, Island, San Juan)
No cost to qualifying households
Income-qualified- Paperwork:
- You file it
- Deadline:
- Ongoing
- Verified:
- 2026-09-04 · source
-
Washington State HEAR — Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates
WA Dept. of Commerce via local administrators
Varies by administrator
Income-qualifiedCommerce awarded $39.3M across 40 local administrators with no statewide schedule. Whatcom-relevant awards: Sustainable Connections $731,250, Opportunity Council $500,000, Lummi Nation $950,500. Per-household amounts are not published.
- Paperwork:
- The program files it
- Deadline:
- While administrator funds last
- Verified:
- 2026-09-04 · source
-
Heat Pump Water Heater Rebate
Puget Sound Energy
$1,000
Available now$1,100 with Efficiency Boost. Requires a NEEA Tier 3 or Tier 4 model.
- Paperwork:
- You file it
- Deadline:
- No published end date — apply within 30 days of installation
- Verified:
- 2026-09-04 · source
-
Federal §25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit
Internal Revenue Service
$0 — terminated
EndedHistorically 30% of cost, up to $2,000/year for heat pumps and heat pump water heaters. Gone. The One Big Beautiful Bill (P.L. 119-21, enacted July 4, 2025) accelerated its termination.
- Paperwork:
- You file it
- Deadline:
- Terminated — property placed in service after December 31, 2025 does not qualify
- Verified:
- 2026-09-04 · source
Everything we do
Ductless Mini Split Installation
Heat and cool the rooms you actually use, without tearing your house apart to add ductwork.
$3,000–$ 10,000 Details →
Heat Pump Installation
One system that heats through a Bellingham winter and cools through a smoke-season August, sized to your house rather than to a chart.
$4,000–$ 8,000 Details →
Heat Pump Replacement
Replace a tired system once, correctly, instead of paying for a third repair on equipment that will not see another winter.
$2,793–$ 10,058 Details →
Furnace to Heat Pump Conversion
Use the ductwork you already have to get efficient heating plus air conditioning, and keep the furnace only if it is genuinely earning its place.
$4,000–$ 8,000 Details →
Heat Pump Repair
Find out what is actually wrong, in plain language, with the repair price and the replacement price side by side.
Details →
Heat Pump Maintenance
An hour of attention each year keeps the capacity you paid for and finds the cheap failures before they become the expensive ones.
Details →
DIY Mini Split Kit Commissioning
Do the labour you are capable of doing, and pay a professional only for the part that needs gauges, a vacuum pump and a licence.
Details →
Bellingham neighborhoods
Bellingham's housing stock changes street by street. These pages say what is likely already heating your house and what the install wrinkle is where you live.
Get a Bellingham estimate
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Also serving near Bellingham
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Tell us what you have now and what you want it to do. We will tell you what fits, what it costs, and which rebates you actually qualify for — before anyone comes out.
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