Thurston County launches Energize Thurston workshop to expand heat‑pump installations, subsidies

Thurston County hosted an educational workshop to launch the 2025 Energize Thurston campaign and outline a group‑purchase program for heat pumps, financing options, installer selection, and limited subsidized installs for income‑qualified homeowners.

Energize Thurston is a county‑led heat‑pump group‑purchase program open to residents of Thurston County and its partner cities Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater and Tenino. Julia Downing, community energy fellow for Thurston County, said, "Energize Thurston is a heat pump group purchase program for Thurston County residents." The program will offer a free site assessment from vetted installers, a dedicated customer‑support team, access to financing and utility rebates, and free or reduced‑cost installations for households that meet income eligibility.

Why it matters: Thurston County staff said residential energy use accounts for 26% of the county's greenhouse gas emissions and that local campaigns can reduce emissions while lowering operating costs for homeowners. Puget Sound Energy (PSE) data cited at the workshop reported more than 9,000 heat‑pump units supported through rebates since 2018, which presenters said eliminated roughly 17,000 metric tons of CO2 in PSE's service area.

Program design and partners: Rebecca Harvey, Climate Mitigation Senior Program Manager with Thurston County, said the county competitively selected four installation partners through a request‑for‑proposals process that evaluated qualifications, pricing and…