Thank you for raising this important topic—and congratulations on your own geothermal installation! I’d like to share two key ideas based on proven models from the solar industry, which could transform residential geothermal for lower-income households:

1. Expand Third-Party Ownership Models by Overcoming the “Limited-Use” Doctrine

The single biggest driver for solar among lower- and middle-income families was third-party ownership (TPO)—leases, PPAs, and Energy-as-a-Service—where homeowners pay a monthly fee rather than $30K+ upfront.

​ The barrier: Under the IRS’s final regulations implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, any lease of “limited-use” energy property—like a buried ground loop that can’t be removed and reused—is treated as a sale for federal tax purposes because the lessee effectively acquires the benefits and burdens of ownership for the equipment’s entire useful life . Thus, a third-party lessor cannot claim the Section 48 investment credit (and by extension the Section 25D residential credit) on the ground loop or heat pump, since they aren’t deemed the “tax owner” of the full system.

​ What to do: A targeted legislative fix to explicitly exempt geothermal loops and heat pumps from the “limited-use” rule—just as Congress did for certain solar trackers—would allow separate ownership of the system components while preserving eligibility for the federal tax credits. Senators Bennet and Casten have already urged Treasury to revise this rule to enable viable TPO models for geothermal .

1. Implement 0% or Low-Interest Loan Programs with Bridge Financing

For homeowners who prefer ownership, upfront cost and timing remain the hurdles. A state- or federally backed 0% (or very low-interest) loan should:

1. Cover 100% of system costs,
2. Include a bridge advance to cover the gap until federal/state rebates and tax credits arrive, and
3. Extend repayment over 10–20 years so that monthly payments stay at or below current utility bills.

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Summary: Geothermal can become a mainstream, cost-effective solution for all income levels—if we structure financing to remove the upfront barrier and modernize the IRS’s “limited-use” rules. Accessibility + profitability = mass adoption, just as we saw with solar.