@Yoyoguy
Right now, the heat pump specifications were last updated in 2018. Some types of heat pumps have a tier 1 and tier 2, and some types of heat pump have a tier 1, tier 2, and an Advanced Tier.
https://cee1.force.com/sfc/servlet.shepherd/document/download/0692R00000C1mY5QAJ
For example, tier 2 on a heat pump water heater is an efficiency greater than 3.10, and the advanced tier is an efficiency greater than 3.75. Any heat pump that meets or exceeds the advanced tier automatically exceeds tier 1 and tier 2.
I think the statute means the unit must meet or exceed the highest regularly numbered tier, and that if there is an advanced tier, it is not considered to be the highest tier. Reading the statute in that way means that under the current efficiency standard, a heat pump water heater must have an efficiency of greater than 3.10 to qualify. If the statute were read to mean that advanced tier products did not qualify, then that would mean that a heat pump water heater with an efficiency greater than 3.75 would be ineligible (even though it exceeds the tier 2 standard), and that doesn’t make sense.
however, I am not an attorney. The requirement that an energy efficient appliance must meet or exceed CEE requirements was added to the law and takes affect January 1, 2023, so you won’t see it in the IRS instructions for form 5695 until December 2023. Appliances installed in 2022 would use the old qualifying rules, which I do not have at my fingertips.
