Utilities Launch New Rebate Programs

Utility rebate programs often prove so popular with businesses and residential customers that they run out of allocated funds by mid-year. That’s why Electrical Marketing’s editors found it so interesting that several new lucrative utility rebate programs have just been launched during the past month.

According to the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE), more than 60 utilities across the nation are now funding new rebate programs. While not all of these utilities are offering rebates for the installation of electrical products in new or existing homes and businesses, programs rewarding the installation of energy-efficient lamps, lighting fixtures, ballasts, lighting controls, variable-speed drives and motors were quite common. Following is some information on several of these programs; for the complete listing of new rebate programs go to www.dsireusa.org and click on “What’s New?”

Memphis, Tenn. The Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) Commercial Efficiency Advice and Incentives Program offers prescriptive rebates for reducing summer peak demand with efficient lighting and HVAC products and systems. According to the www.mlgw.com, the program is offering one-time incentives of $200 per kW reduced for lighting retrofits of large commercial facilities.

Delaware. Under the Efficiency Plus Program, the Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) offers incentives of up to $20,000 to Delaware businesses, non-profits and governmental organizations that make energy-efficiency improvements in existing buildings or new construction.

The program offers prescriptive rebates for the purchase and installation of certain types of energy-efficient lighting equipment, motors and drives in existing buildings, incentives for custom measures that are not eligible for prescriptive rebates, and loans for credit-qualified entities. For details, visit www.energizedelaware.org/business/efficiency-plus-program.

District of Columbia. According to DSIRE, PEPCO, which has 778,000 residential and commercial customers in Washington, D.C., now has a few slate of new lighting incentives designed to encourage the replacement of less-efficient incandescent, T12 fluorescent and standard metal-halide technologies with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), high-performance T8 and T5 fluorescents, as well as metal-halide, pulse-start technologies.

New York. NYSEG’s non-residential customers have access to a variety of lighting rebates, including 50 percent of the cost for upgrading the common area in multi-family complexes with CFLs; $15-$20 per high-efficiency fluorescent fixture; $20-$30/ high-bay fluorescent fixtures; and lighting controls at $40/ballast or $15-$35 per control. Custom rebates are available to customers whose energy-efficiency improvements require site-specific engineering and cost analysis. Any nonresidential NYSEG or RG&E electricity customer with demand of 100 kW or more is eligible, and customers can select their own contractor to install equipment.

San Diego. Multi-family residential building owners and residents of San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) are eligible for rebates on T12 de-lamping $6/lamp;occupancy sensors: $10 per sensor; LED exit signs: $35; photocells: $10/unit; CFLs: $4-$10; and other electrical products.

Check out www.dsireusa.org for updates on these programs and other rebates available for electrical products. Established in 1995, the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) is an ongoing project of the North Carolina Solar Center and the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC). It’s funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).