Multifamily HVAC incentives in NYC.

Buildings of five or more dwelling units, end to end.

This page covers the multifamily track in depth: who qualifies, what each track pays, what the rules actually require, and what commonly kills a project. The rates were verified against Con Edison's published multifamily schedule on September 25, 2026, and the program rules come from the NYS Clean Heat Program Manual Version 3, effective September 1, 2026. A building with one to four dwelling units belongs on the residential track instead; the Clean Heat conversion guide carries those rates and rules.

Who qualifies on the multifamily track

Con Edison's multifamily heat pump incentives cover owners and managers of buildings with five or more residential units on a Con Edison electric account. Co-op corporations, condominium associations, and rental owners all file through this track. Two programs sit under it. Market-rate buildings file under MFEEP-E, the Multifamily Energy Efficiency Program-Electric. Affordable housing buildings file under AMEEP-E, the Affordable Multifamily Energy Efficiency Program-Electric, which pays substantially higher per-dwelling-unit rates under a higher cost cap. Which program applies changes every number in the project budget, so confirm the building's status with Con Edison or the program administrator in writing before the board votes.

The boundary is dwelling unit count, and it is worth stating precisely because it is the most common filing error we see. One to four dwelling units runs on the residential track. The program manual defines a single family building, detached or attached, as a building with one dwelling unit, and a project that electrifies individual apartments in a building with two to four apartments draws an incentive equal to the number of apartments multiplied by the relevant per-apartment rate, up to four apartments. A mixed-use building with commercial space on the first floor and four or fewer dwellings above stays on the residential track, and those dwellings qualify only for apartment incentives. Five or more residential units runs on the multifamily track with the rates in the next section.

What the measures cover

The multifamily schedule pays by measure, not by building. Space heating covers the heat pump plant that replaces the fossil fuel heating, and it comes in three filing shapes. Prescriptive is the flat per-dwelling-unit rate for a project where the heat pump takes the full building load. Custom prices per MMBtu on engineer-modeled projects. Phased load is the lower per-MMBtu rate for a project that does not take the whole heating load at once. Domestic hot water has its own measures, prescriptive per dwelling unit or custom per MMBtu, and a building that converts heating and hot water together files both. The full table is below, and every rate on it publishes on the Con Edison multifamily page. The affordable track uses a different shape again: per-dwelling-unit rates for non-comprehensive and comprehensive scope, plus attic insulation where the building does not already have it.

What the rules actually require

• The heat pump equipment must appear on the NEEP Cold Climate Air Source Heat Pump Product List. That is not the ENERGY STAR list, and ENERGY STAR certification does not prove NEEP listing. NEEP wildcards model numbers, so a full model number search returns nothing; the prefix is the search term. Air-to-water heat pumps use a separate NYS Clean Heat AWHP Qualified Product List.
• The application carries ACCA Manual J 8th edition heating and cooling loads and ACCA Manual S equipment sizing. Sizing a multifamily plant to a rule of thumb instead of to the building is a filing failure, not a paperwork detail.
• A participating contractor files the application and the incentive comes off the invoice as an instant discount. The owner does not apply and does not wait on a rebate check.
• Decommissioning the old fossil fuel plant counts either as removal or as permanent disabling in place. The prescriptive space heating rate is keyed to a heat pump that takes the full building load; a project that electrifies in phases files at the phased load rate of $70 per MMBtu instead.

What commonly disqualifies a multifamily project

• Equipment picked off the wrong list, or swapped at delivery to a model outside the listed prefix. The incentive follows the listed model, not the brand on the truck.
• A fossil fuel plant left operable while the scope claims the full-building-load prescriptive rate. The filing has to match the installed reality, and a boiler that still runs is not decommissioned.
• Miscounted dwelling units. A four-unit building budgeted on the multifamily track, or a five-plus-unit building budgeted at residential per-apartment rates, fails review and has to be refiled.
• A mixed-use building that picked its own track. At five or more units, the dominant use type is determined on a case-by-case basis. Get the determination before installation, not after.
• Budget math that ignores the caps. Market-rate incentives are capped at $1 million per project or 50% of project costs, whichever is less, and the affordable track caps at $1 million per project or 85% of project costs, whichever is lower. On a tight scope the percentage cap can land below the table rate, and the cap governs.
• Assuming affordable housing eligibility. AMEEP-E pays the highest rates on this page, but the program page does not publish a self-qualification definition. Get confirmation before pricing the project on that column.
• No Manual J. An application without the load calculation and the Manual S sizing documentation is incomplete, and an incomplete application does not pay.

How a filing runs with Vinco

Step one is a free site survey: the existing boiler or steam plant, electrical service capacity, dwelling unit count, and the placement options for outdoor equipment, whether roof, rear yard, or courtyard. Step two is the engineered proposal, with the track (MFEEP-E or AMEEP-E), equipment selected from the NEEP list, the incentive line, and the net price after the discount. For a co-op or condo, step three is the board package: the scope letter and the engineer documentation the alteration agreement needs. Vinco then files the Clean Heat application as the participating contractor, coordinates the Con Edison review, pre-inspection, and Notice to Proceed, and pulls NYC DOB permits under license #022359. After install and post-inspection, the incentive shows as a discount line on the final invoice. The owner never files anything and never waits on a check.

For co-op and condo boards, the decision package matters as much as the price. Boards ask for the alteration agreement language, the certificate of insurance, the engineer-stamped scope, the noise data on the outdoor units, and a written incentive line so the reserve draw is net instead of gross. Vinco prepares the scope letter and the engineer documentation for the board vote, answers owner questions at the meeting when the board wants it, and shows the discount line on the contract and the final invoice so the treasurer reconciles the project without chasing a receivable.

What a conversion looks like in the field

The rates decide what a project pays; the physical scope decides whether a building is a good candidate. Pre-war steam buildings usually convert apartment by apartment: one or two indoor units per dwelling, refrigerant piping run to shared outdoor units on the roof or in the rear yard, and the old radiators abandoned in place or removed. Buildings that already have ducted air distribution, and new construction, can run centralized VRF instead. Either way, three things dominate the site visit. Electrical service: an all-electric heating plant adds serious load, and a service upgrade is a common line item that adds cost and utility coordination. Outdoor unit placement: roof capacity, rear-yard setbacks, and noise distance to neighbors and to bedroom windows. And the fate of the existing plant: whether the boiler is removed or permanently disabled, how domestic hot water is handled after the conversion, and what happens to the chimney and the gas piping. All of it goes into the written proposal, so a board votes on the real scope, not a concept.

Local Law 97 and the program changes running to 2030

Most multifamily filings in NYC are driven by Local Law 97 as much as by the incentive. The penalty for a covered building over its annual emissions limit is (actual emissions minus the limit) times $268 per metric ton of CO2e, per year, in the Department of Buildings' formula. A conversion that takes fossil fuel out of the heating plant cuts that exposure at the source while Con Edison money is still on the table. The Local Law 97 HVAC compliance page carries the compliance detail and the electrification pathways.

The statewide program is also restructuring for the 2026 to 2030 program years under Public Service Commission orders. The Clean Heat branding narrows toward residential buildings of one to four units, and buildings with five or more units move into utility-specific energy efficiency and building electrification program implementation plans. The practical consequence for a board or an owner: scope the building against the current Con Edison program documents, and re-verify the rates at contract signing. This page reflects the published schedule as verified on September 25, 2026.

What the two tracks pay, verified.

Every figure in this section was verified against Con Edison's published multifamily schedule on September 25, 2026. Market-rate buildings file under MFEEP-E. Affordable housing buildings file under AMEEP-E. The caps are quoted from the program page verbatim.

In Con Edison's words, market-rate incentives are capped at $1 million per project or 50% of project costs, whichever is less.

Attic insulation pays $5 per square foot and is required where not already present. In Con Edison's words, affordable-track incentives are capped at $1 million per project or 85% of project costs, whichever is lower.

The program page does not define eligible affordable housing beyond the program name. Confirm your building's eligibility with Con Edison or the program administrator before budgeting either column. Rates verified 2026-09-25 against Con Edison's published schedule.

The questions that decide the filing.

Every answer leads with the fact that decides the job, and every figure links to the source that publishes it.

What is the cutoff between residential and multifamily?

Five dwelling units. One to four dwelling units runs on the residential track, where the incentive equals the number of apartments multiplied by the relevant per-apartment rate, up to four apartments, and a one-unit building draws the single-family rate. Five or more residential units runs on Con Edison's multifamily track with the MFEEP-E or AMEEP-E rates above. Count dwelling units, not floors, not meters, not commercial tenants. The residential rates and rules live on the Clean Heat conversion guide.

What does the affordable housing track pay and do we qualify?

AMEEP-E pays per dwelling unit: space heating at $12,000 non-comprehensive and $14,000 comprehensive, water heating at $2,400 and $4,400, and space plus water heating combined at $14,400 and $18,400. Attic insulation pays $5 per square foot and is required where not already present. The cap is $1 million per project or 85% of project costs, whichever is lower, against 50% on the market-rate track. On the qualifying question, the program page does not define eligible affordable housing beyond the program name, and we will not guess it for you. Bring the building's program status to the site visit, or ask Con Edison and the program administrator to confirm it before the board prices the project on the affordable column.

Is our mixed-use building multifamily or commercial?

At five or more dwelling units, neither answer is automatic. In Con Edison's words, mixed-used buildings with both multifamily and commercial spaces can apply to the program with the dominant use type, determined on a case-by-case basis. Ask the program to make that determination before installation, because the track decides the rate table, the cap, and the filing. At four or fewer dwelling units the building stays residential and the dwellings qualify only for apartment incentives, with the manual asking you to confirm residential eligibility with the program administrator before installation. If the determination comes back commercial, the commercial incentives page carries the C&I and small business rate tables.

Do we have to remove the boiler?

No. Removal or permanent disabling in place both count as decommissioning. What decides the money is the load the new plant carries. The $5,000 per dwelling unit prescriptive incentive is for space heating that takes the full building load. A project that electrifies in phases files at the phased load rate, $70 per MMBtu. And a plant left operable with no decommissioning in the scope puts the full-load filing at risk, because the application has to match what was actually installed.

Which equipment list applies?

The NEEP Cold Climate Air Source Heat Pump Product List at ashp.neep.org. It is not the ENERGY STAR list, and ENERGY STAR certification does not prove NEEP listing. NEEP wildcards model numbers, so search the model prefix, not the full model number. Air-to-water heat pumps use a separate NYS Clean Heat AWHP Qualified Product List, and the two lists are easy to confuse on a hydronic retrofit. Vinco specs equipment from the NEEP list at proposal time and verifies the listed prefix again at filing, so the incentive follows the equipment that actually ships.

Cost transparency, before the visit.

Multifamily proposals are free. The labor rate sheet and the financing terms are published, so a board can see our pricing before it sees our proposal.