CEE Tier 2 — Consortium for Energy Efficiency Tier 2
Also known as: CEE Tier 2CEE Tier 2 standardqualifying efficiency
CEE Tier 2 is the efficiency rating tier defined by the Consortium for Energy Efficiency, which sets benchmarks above ENERGY STAR for HVAC equipment. The IRS uses CEE Tier 2 thresholds as the qualifying efficiency benchmark for Section 25C federal tax credit eligibility on heat pumps.
Current CEE Tier 2 thresholds for heat pump HVAC (2026): - South region (includes California): SEER2 ≥ 16.0 AND HSPF2 ≥ 9.0 for split systems - North region (cold climates): SEER2 ≥ 15.2 AND HSPF2 ≥ 9.0 for split systems - Cold-climate heat pumps have additional criteria
When you're shopping for a heat pump and want to claim Section 25C, the equipment has to meet CEE Tier 2 (or higher) for South-region eligibility. Most contemporary residential heat pumps already exceed these thresholds. Your HVAC contractor's proposal should explicitly note that the proposed equipment is 25C-eligible — ask if it doesn't.
This is HVAC equipment specification territory. We don't spec equipment. We mention CEE Tier 2 here because it's the gating criterion for the Section 25C credit you can claim, and customers often don't realize the efficiency-rating requirement until they're filing taxes.
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