HVAC marketing in San Antonio: replacement quotes with a city-owned utility rebate

San Antonio is the simplest of the four big Texas markets to explain. The season is long and hot, more homes are owner-occupied than in Dallas, Houston or Austin, and one community-owned utility serves the city with a published HVAC rebate. Here is how we would run it for a replacement-first contractor.

Why is HVAC marketing in San Antonio different?

Because one utility and one rebate program cover the city. CPS Energy, a community-owned utility, serves San Antonio's homes and publishes heat pump rebates of up to $310 per cooling ton. Add 122.4 days a year at 90°F or more and a 52.2% owner-occupied rate, and replacement ads have a clear offer and a large audience of owners.

Sources: NWS San Antonio monthly normals and NWS San Antonio July records.

The trend is up, too. The NWS San Antonio temperature rankings list 2024 as the warmest year on record, with 2025 and 2023 next. The record high is 111°F, set on September 5, 2000. September heat is normal here, which stretches the replacement season past Labor Day.

What housing do San Antonio contractors work in?

More owners than the other big Texas cities, at lower home values. Census QuickFacts puts the owner-occupied rate at 52.2% in the City of San Antonio and 58.8% across Bexar County, with median owner-occupied values of $235,700 and $262,200. Financing matters more in the ad when a system is a large share of the home's value.

Sources: Census QuickFacts for San Antonio city and Bexar County.

We do not have verified data on the age of San Antonio's installed systems or how homes split between heat pumps and gas furnaces. CPS Energy supplies gas as well as electricity, so both are in play. Your replacement history decides which one the ads lead with.

How does CPS Energy change HVAC marketing in San Antonio?

It gives the ad a real, checkable rebate line. CPS Energy calls itself the nation's largest public power, natural gas and electric company, with more than 996,000 electric customers in San Antonio and parts of seven adjoining counties. Its heat pump rebate page lists up to $310 per cooling ton for current CPS residential customers.

The details matter for the ad and for the comfort advisor. The page lists replace-on-burnout and early-replacement options. For early replacement, the existing system must be working, central systems under 25 years old and heat pumps under 20. New central AC, heat pump or mini-split systems must meet minimum efficiency ratings, and the rebate cannot exceed the project cost.

Because CPS is community-owned, San Antonio sits outside the competitive retail market that covers much of Dallas and Houston. The Public Utility Commission of Texas explains that municipal utilities choose whether to join it. For marketing, that means one utility, one rebate program and one set of rules across the city, with an address check for the outlying suburbs.

We checked the CPS pages in September 2026. We recheck before any ad goes live and link the source in the landing page.

How would we run Meta and Google in San Antonio?

Google heavier from May to September, Meta the rest of the year, with the CPS rebate in both. Meta reaches owners in Stone Oak, Schertz or Helotes whose system is getting old, with a replacement assessment and the rebate. Google Search catches "AC replacement" and "AC not cooling" searches in July, August and September.

What changes in San Antonio:

• The rebate in the headline. "Up to $310 a ton back from CPS Energy on a new heat pump" is specific and checkable. Ads only use it where the address is a CPS residential customer.
• Financing next to the rebate. With median home values in the mid-$200,000s, a monthly payment option, if you offer one, sits beside the rebate on the landing page.
• Targeting by band. North (Stone Oak, Live Oak, Selma, Universal City), northeast (Converse, Schertz, Cibolo, New Braunfels), northwest (Helotes, Leon Valley, Boerne) and the inner loop (Alamo Heights).
• Budget flip. From May to September the US$4,000 minimum splits Google $2,500 and Meta $1,500. The rest of the year it is Meta $2,500 and Google $1,500.

The reasons for running both channels are in Google Ads vs Facebook ads for HVAC. The six questions that decide who gets a quote are in how to qualify HVAC leads.

These are planning assumptions from how we plan in Australia. We have no San Antonio data. Your first month replaces them.

Is the San Antonio territory available?

Yes. San Antonio is open, with one HVAC client per service line in the metro. We have no US clients yet, and we are based in Sydney, working Texas business hours remotely.

The fee is US$3,000 a month, with half of the first 90 days paid only after 3 won jobs or day 60. See US pricing for the full maths, or the Texas overview for the other metros.