DTE Heat Pump Concierge: Our partnership with DTE Energy
DTE and Pearl Edison are teaming up to support DTE’s 100,000 customers who heat their homes - often at very high cost - with delivered propane.
We recently partnered with DTE Energy to launch DTE Heat Pump Concierge to help DTE customers save money on heating and cooling by switching from high-cost propane to an efficient air-source heat pump.
DTE has nearly 100,000 residential customers with propane as primary heating source. The average Michigan customer with propane primary heating can save up to $1,500 per year, per the Department of Energy.
DTE is committed to helping these customers find a cheaper way to heat their homes during Michigan winters, and we’re proud to support their work.
DTE Heat Pump Concierge provides DTE Electric customers who have expensive propane heating systems with support to:
Identify an efficient heating and cooling system that’s right for their unique home and goals;
Access rebates and incentives to reduce the cost of their new system;
Connect with an expert for support, execute the project with a qualified local contractor; and
Ensure end-to-end job quality as a function of system design, installation, and commissioning.
Better yet, with last week’s launch of the Michigan Home Energy Rebate (MiHER) program, income-qualified customers are newly eligible for up to $34,000 for a heat pump retrofit - up to $14,000 via the Michigan Home Electrification and Appliance Rebate program and up to $20,000 via the Michigan Home Efficiency Rebate program. (That’s in addition to other energy efficiency rebates and incentives already available through DTE.) Many income-qualified customers are eligible to upgrade to a heat pump at low cost or entirely for free.
You can learn more about heat pumps on DTE’s site: DTE on Air-Source Heat Pumps
And you can get an Instant Estimate for a rebate-eligible heat pump here: DTE Heat Pump Concierge
The opportunity for DTE Electric customers
Put simply… Propane is expensive, and heat pumps are hyper-efficient. As a result, the average propane customer can save money by making the switch.
This chart compares the cost to heat a Michigan home with a propane furnace vs. the cost to heat the same home with an air-source heat pump:
To translate:
A mid-efficiency heat pump - an easy upgrade if you’re in the market for an air conditioning upgrade - provides cheaper heat than a propane furnace down to about 12°F.
A cold-climate heat pump - designed for harsher climates like Michigan - is cheaper to run than a propane furnace at every plausible temperature. It’s about 60% cheaper to run in mild winter weather (~32°F) and about 25% cheaper to run in harsh winter weather (~5°F).
This analysis ignores the degraded performance of an older propane furnace and the impact of other energy efficiency measures - particularly duct sealing and air sealing, which we include in the scope of work for every heat pump retrofit by default.
This is how propane customers can save thousands.
This analysis is representative, and - of course - the details matter. Using DTE Heat Pump Concierge, DTE Electric customers can get a savings estimate that’s specific to their unique home. They can also get an executable scope of work and a price that includes rebates and tax incentives. With today’s MiHER launch, income-qualified DTE customers can realize these savings for free or close-to-free.
The platform shows multiple options - including an option to let customers keep their propane furnace for backup, if they prefer:
Every DTE Heat Pump Concierge customer is assigned a Pearl Edison Advisor to support their project. After delivering the online Instant Estimate, the Pearl Edison Advisor conducts Home Assessment and works with the customer to finalize the scope of the project, to ensure it’s right for the customer’s unique home and goals.
How it works
Through DTE Heat Pump Concierge, DTE customers can:
Determine their eligibility for rebates and tax incentives. This includes the newly launched Michigan Home Energy Rebate program, which provides up to $34,000 for a heat pump retrofit with accompanying weatherization. The Concierge also includes rebates and incentives that are available through local municipal governments, DTE, the federal government, and more.
Get a preliminary quote for a heat pump retrofit online in about five minutes. The estimate includes the price for the job after all applicable rebates and incentives, an itemized scope of work, and an analysis of the heat pump’s impact on operational cost and carbon footprint. The estimate also includes multiple options, to help DTE customers weigh tradeoffs between price, bill impact, and energy savings impact.
Schedule a free Home Assessment. This 90-minute in-home audit is performed by a Pearl Edison Advisor - a BPI-certified home performance expert - to finalize the scope of work and figure out the right path forward.
Obtain a low-interest loan through Michigan Saves, a non-profit energy efficiency lender, to finance any balance that isn’t covered by rebates and tax incentives.
Execute the project through a local contractor. Contractors that are approved for DTE Heat Pump Concierge projects are properly licensed and vetted for their technical qualifications and customer service track record. Pearl Edison is responsible for end-to-end quality assurance - system design, installation, and commissioning.
“Everyone wins” electrification - picking the low-hanging fruit
The term “beneficial electrification” - very much in vogue right now - refers to the replacement of combustion appliances with electric alternatives, in a way that reduces BOTH emissions and energy costs. Reducing emissions and reducing energy costs are sometimes two goals in tension - a technoeconomic reality that matters to customers, and is often not acknowledged explicitly enough in the “electrify everything” discourse.
No such tension between energy costs and emissions exists when we replace a propane furnace with a heat pump.
This chart compares the cost ($ / year) and attributable emissions (metric tons / year) to heat the same Michigan home from our last example:
All to say - it’s a lot cheaper and a lot less carbon-intensive to heat a Michigan home with a heat pump than with delivered propane. This is a happy instance where the kitchen-table economics and the climate math align neatly.
At Pearl Edison, we prefer the term “everyone wins” electrification.
When we swap a propane furnace for a cold-climate heat pump:
The customer wins. The customer saves thousands of dollars per year, among a long list of other benefits - chief among them improved comfort and indoor air quality.
The contractor wins. DTE Heat Pump Concierge isn’t a lead generation platform - approved contractors receive robust design documentation for fully contracted jobs. This saves contractors time and money on marketing, customer acquisition, and customer support, which can collectively total greater than 30% of their cost structure.
Michigan wins. MiHealthyClimate, the state’s comprehensive greenhouse gas reduction plan, called for investment in heating electrification for “cost-effective use cases” such as replacement of propane, fuel oil, and electric resistive heating. This program is a tangible investment against that objective.
The planet wins. The home’s carbon footprint from heating and cooling is reduced by 50% or more today, a figure that will only increase as the grid gets greener. DTE plans to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% by 2040, which is roughly the end of the heat pump’s useful life.
The utility wins. DTE aspires to be a force for growth and prosperity - we believe that this program is an example of making good on that commitment. Plus, DTE Electric also wins economically with the switch from a propane furnace to an electric heat pump.
These “everyone wins” projects are the low-hanging fruit on the path to decarbonization of home heating and cooling.
The economics of propane-to-all-electric are near-universally strong. The economics of switching from natural gas can be challenging to make work for an income-constrained homeowner. This reality makes Michigan communities with high concentrations of propane heating - like the Michigan Thumb region - a great place to get started.
There are hundreds of thousands of Michigan homeowners with propane heating that can save money and reduce emissions. We believe that those of us who work in climate should focus more of our limited human capital (energy from smart people) and financial capital (rebates, incentives, and subsidized financing) on projects where the goals of saving customers money and reducing the impact of our homes on the climate are not in tension.
For instance… The Michigan Home Energy Rebate program will fund energy efficiency retrofits for 10,000-15,000 homes - about 0.3% of the state’s housing stock. Shouldn’t a healthy percentage of that limited money go to those who can benefit the most?
A word of praise for the DTE team
We’ve been working with the DTE Electric team for close to a year, with the shared goal of making the switch from propane to heat pump as easy as possible.
There are countless people on the DTE team who have made important contributions to this launch - but Paul Thomas, Michael Pfannes, Zak Chowdhury, Maisune Rafeh, and Alycia Mellesmoen warrant a special shoutout.
Reach out
If you’re at an electric utility and you’re leading a beneficial electrification push or on the hook for an annual energy savings target, then we’d love to hear from you! We have a pretty full plate - stay tuned for other announcements in the near future - but are open to adding 1-2 additional utility partners in 2025.
Reach out to Pearl Edison Co-Founder Evan Anderson (evan@pearledison.com) to learn more.
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