Rising energy costs could be a ‘surprising positive’ for energy-efficient home appliances

Mainstay clean energy and home energy efficiency tax credits are being phased out by the “Big Beautiful Bill” signed into law by President Trump, and some green tech business owners are reminding consumers that their products can save money without subsidies and help insulate them from rising energy prices.

That’s certainly Cala Systems CEO Michael Rigney’s approach when it comes to marketing his company's smart heat pumps amid industry changes. In an interview with Tech Brew, he explained that because Cala’s smart water heaters optimize how much water is heated based on personalized home needs, they use less energy.

“The next generation of appliances in the world are going to have a design where they have sensors to better understand what’s taking place and improve actual physical components that let them control whatever it is they’re doing,” Rigney said. “It leads to better efficiency.”

And as energy costs rise as a result of less wind and solar power generation from tax credit cuts, so can potential savings from energy-efficient appliances, he said.

“A homeowner going to buy their next water heater in 2026, ’27, ’28, they’re going to be seeing rising electricity prices and therefore rising savings,” he said.

According to Rigney, it would likely take consumers three to four years of using the Cala heat pump for the savings they’re seeing on their electricity bills to overcome the initial price of the product—without the added discount of the 25C energy efficient home improvement tax credit, which will be phased out at the end of the year.

And in terms of Cala Systems in particular, Rigney said that rising energy prices, incoming foreign entity of concern tax excises, and increasing tariffs on international goods could be a “surprising positive” for their heat pumps, which are manufactured domestically.

“A variety of actions that the administration is taking are expected to drive up prices, and in ways that have the potential to be pretty significant,” Rigney said. “That’s going to make the savings even bigger.”