If you lived in the northwest San Fernando Valley in the winter of 2015–2016, you don't need this story explained. The blowout at SoCalGas's Aliso Canyon storage facility above Porter Ranch released roughly 100,000 tons of methane over nearly four months — the largest methane leak in U.S. history — sickening residents, displacing thousands of families, and shaking the Valley's trust in the gas system under its feet. What you might not know is that money from the aftermath is now coming back to Valley homeowners, in a very practical form.
Penalties became a recovery fund
The legal fallout from the disaster produced settlements and penalties against the Gas Company, and a portion of that money was placed in what the state calls the Aliso Canyon Recovery Account — funds earmarked for the communities that bore the impact.
In 2024, state law AB 157 directed $40 million from that account to TECH Clean California, the state's heat pump incentive program, specifically to fund home electrification in the Aliso Canyon and San Fernando Valley area. Valley legislators — Senator Henry Stern and Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo — announced the broader package (roughly $71 million for Valley homes, schools and community buildings) in December 2024, framing it plainly: money from Gas Company penalties, going back into the neighborhoods the leak affected. In June 2025, the California Public Utilities Commission finalized the rules (Decision 25-06-034), and the program is expected to open to residents in late summer 2026.
Why the money buys heat pumps, of all things
It's not random. The point of the program is to reduce how much the Valley depends on the natural gas system — including the Aliso Canyon facility itself, which is still operating and which state officials have long discussed closing. Every home that swaps a gas furnace and water heater for electric heat pumps needs less gas. Enough homes doing it, and the case for keeping the facility open gets weaker. That's why the incentives cover exactly the appliances that burn gas in your home: furnaces (replaced by heat pump HVAC), water heaters, dryers, and stoves.
For homeowners, the pitch is simpler: equipment you'd eventually have to replace anyway, paid for in part — or for income-qualifying households, potentially in full — by settlement money that exists because of what your neighborhood went through.
Who the money is for
Eleven priority communities: Porter Ranch, Granada Hills, Northridge, Chatsworth, North Hills, Canoga Park, Reseda, Winnetka, West Hills, Van Nuys and Lake Balboa — the areas closest to the facility and hardest hit in 2015. Eligibility runs by ZIP code (91303–91436, specific designated ZIPs). Not sure about your ZIP? Ask us and we'll check it against the official list for you.
The catch: funds like this run out
California rebate history is blunt on this point. TECH Clean California's statewide single-family heat pump fund was fully reserved by November 2025 — months after it opened. When this Valley fund opens in late summer 2026, the homeowners who already have an assessment and paperwork ready will claim it first. That preparation is free: get on the waitlist, we'll assess your home now and file the day applications open.
Bottom line
The Aliso Canyon money is one of the rare cases where a community disaster produces a direct, tangible benefit for the households that lived through it — but only for those who claim it. If your home is in the eligible area, this is worth fifteen minutes of your attention before the rest of the Valley hears about it on the news.