Which specific financial tools or subsidy programs can lower the high upfront costs for poor households switching to electric heating?
The primary obstacle isn't the monthly utility bill; it is the massive upfront cost of heat pumps and electrical upgrades. To solve this, we need to move away from simple rebates, which still require cash on hand. Instead, governments and utilities should scale up On-Bill Financing (OBF). Under this model, the cost of the new HVAC system is folded into the monthly utility bill. Since the energy savings from a high-efficiency heat pump often exceed the incremental increase in the bill, the tenant pays for the hardware through their savings. This eliminates the
