Portland / Bath

Heat pump installation in Bath, ME - up to $3,000 rebate

Bath in Sagadahoc County

Bath has 8,815 residents (give or take 16) (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B01003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B01003?g=060XX00US2302303355, checked 2026-10-19), about 967 people per square mile.

Bath is about 27 miles from the Census center point for Portland in a straight line and covers 9.12 square miles of land (Census 2024 Gazetteer internal points and land area, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2024_Gazetteer/, checked 2026-10-19).

The quote form takes a ZIP code; for Bath that is 04530 (Census 2020 ZCTA to county subdivision and ZCTA to place relationship files, ZIP areas at least 20% inside the town, https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/rel2020/zcta520/tab20_zcta520_cousub20_natl.txt and https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/rel2020/zcta520/tab20_zcta520_place20_natl.txt, checked 2026-10-19).

Fuel mix

Of the 4,335 occupied homes in Bath, 6% heat with natural gas, 47% with heating oil, 20% with electricity and 20% with propane (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=060XX00US2302303355, checked 2026-10-19).

Heating oil is the largest single fuel in Bath at 47%, ahead of electricity at 20%, so the usual job here is an oil boiler or furnace coming out and a cold-climate heat pump going in, with the oil tank removed.

Bath has 6 points less oil heat than Sagadahoc County as a whole, where 53% of homes burn oil, and 9 points more electric heat than the county's 11% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25040, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25040?g=050XX00US23023, checked 2026-10-19).

Housing stock

Bath has 4,796 housing units, 57% built before 1940 and 79% before 1980, with 8% built in 2000 or later (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2302303355, checked 2026-10-19).

Bath has 30 points more pre-1940 homes than Sagadahoc County as a whole (27%) and 13 points fewer homes built after 2000 than the county's 21% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=050XX00US23023, checked 2026-10-19). An older stock means more insulation upgrades before the heat pump goes in.

The median Bath home was built in 1938 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25035, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25035?g=060XX00US2302303355, checked 2026-10-19) and the median home has 5.8 rooms (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25018, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25018?g=060XX00US2302303355, checked 2026-10-19).

60% of Bath homes are single-family detached, 16% are in two- to four-unit buildings and 21% are in buildings of five or more units (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=060XX00US2302303355, checked 2026-10-19).

36% of Bath homes are rented (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25003, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25003?g=060XX00US2302303355, checked 2026-10-19), so beside the 60% detached houses there is a real share of jobs where the landlord, not the resident, signs the quote.

Bath has 15 points fewer detached houses than Sagadahoc County overall (75%) and 14 points more five-plus-unit buildings than the county's 7% (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25024?g=050XX00US23023, checked 2026-10-19).

57% of Bath homes were built before 1940 and 79% before 1980 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B25034, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B25034?g=060XX00US2302303355, checked 2026-10-19), so insulation is the first sizing question: an older home leaks more heat per square foot, and the installer runs a room-by-room heat-loss calculation to size the system for what the walls and windows actually hold in, not just the floor plan.

Rebate path

No electric utility is on file for Bath on this door yet, so this page does not name one; the name on the bill decides which rebate path applies.

Efficiency Maine whole-home heat pump rebate, run by Efficiency Maine, is a live program for Maine addresses and lists a standard figure of $3,000 (registry row 7 verified 2026-10-15, https://www.efficiencymaine.com/whole-home-heat-pump-rebates/, checked 2026-10-16); confirm eligibility for the Bath address before counting it. With 20% of Bath homes already on electric heat and 73% on gas, oil or propane, the row that applies depends on the name on the electric bill and the fuel coming out.

Median household income in Bath is $69,390 (ACS 2020-2024 5-year, table B19013, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2024.B19013?g=060XX00US2302303355, checked 2026-10-19); many state and utility heat pump rebate programs set higher incentive tiers for income-qualifying households, so the household income on the application, not the town median, decides which level applies.

Cold-day number

Heating design temperature: -2F. Source: ENERGY STAR Design Temperature Limit Reference Guide (2019 Edition), Sagadahoc County row, 99% heating, PDF pages 54 to 55 of 141 (Revised 11/11/2020), https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/Design%20Temperature%20Limit%20Reference%20Guide%20(2019%20Ed)%20-%20ENERGY%20STAR%20Single-Family%20New%20Homes_Rev11.pdf, fetched 2026-10-19, 99%.

That -2F figure is the Sagadahoc County cold-day number a Bath heat pump is sized against, so ask the installer to show the system's heating output at -2F, not at the milder rating-label temperature.

Next step

Ask what happens to the oil tank, since 47% of the 4,335 occupied Bath homes have one and removal is usually a separate line on the quote.

Ask for the heat-loss calculation room by room; a Bath house from before 1940 (57% of the 4,796 units) rarely matches a square-footage rule of thumb.

The form on this page is the follow-up for Bath. The public number is the number the contractor quotes from.

No local contractor is named on this door for Bath yet. A request from this page goes to the first licensed shop that takes the door.

Where should the follow-up go?

We will follow up by email. No calls.

No spam, no sold information. One follow-up about exactly this request.