Contractor guide

Utility rebates for commercial LED upgrades

Commercial lighting retrofits can qualify for utility incentives. Check your utility's program before you price the job. Here is how the programs generally work, how to find yours, and what you need to keep from the job.

Utilities fund these incentives through their energy efficiency programs, and each program sets its own rules. If your fixture qualifies and your paperwork meets the program rules, the utility reviews it for an incentive.

How a lighting rebate works

Utility efficiency programs offer incentives for replacing inefficient lighting, often through a prescriptive rebate path.

Look it upFind the fixture category in the utility's published rebate table.

MultiplyPrescriptive tables list an incentive by fixture or lamp type. Check your utility's current table.

DocumentSubmit counts, invoices and spec sheets. Payment follows approval.

Larger projects can move to a custom or performance path where the incentive is calculated from measured energy savings instead. For a straightforward one for one retrofit, prescriptive is usually the path.

Check the listing first

Prescriptive lighting programs commonly require the fixture to appear on the DesignLights Consortium Qualified Products List. DLC is an independent body that verifies manufacturer claims for efficacy, lumen maintenance and warranty.

Check that the exact model is on the QPL before you buy, since programs that require a listing check it during review.

There are two tiers. Standard covers the baseline requirement. Premium requires higher efficacy and controls compatibility, and some utilities pay a different incentive for it.

Fixtures we list are UL or ETL listed, and DLC listed where the manufacturer holds a listing. Download the spec sheet from the product page for your application.

Finding your program

Programs are often run by the utility that bills the meter, so start with the company that appears on the electric bill for that building. Four ways to find it:

Search the utility name plus "business energy efficiency" or "commercial lighting rebate". Investor owned utilities often publish their prescriptive lighting tables as a PDF.
Check whether the state runs a consolidated program. Some states have pulled the utility programs into one statewide offering rather than leaving each utility to run its own.
Look up DSIRE. The Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency indexes programs by zip code and can help you see programs available at an address.
Municipal utilities and co-ops may run their own. If the meter is not on a big investor owned utility, there may be a program available from a smaller utility.

Rebate tables, budgets and deadlines can change, and some programs close early when funds run out. Confirm current program terms with the utility before you price a job.

What to keep from the job

Paperwork problems are a common reason claims are delayed or denied. Before the old fixtures leave the site, you want:

A pre installation count of what was there, by fixture type and wattage. Photographs help.
The itemized invoice showing model numbers, quantities and unit prices.
The spec sheet or cut sheet for each fixture installed.
Proof of the listing your program requires, such as a DLC listing where the manufacturer holds one.
Licensed contractor information, if your program requires it.
Post installation photographs and a final fixture count.

Several programs also require pre approval before work begins, particularly on larger projects. Starting the install before that approval is issued can affect eligibility, so check the sequence before the crew mobilizes.

Why selectable fixtures help

Our selectable fixtures let one part number cover several wattage and color temperature settings. You can spec a single fixture, then set it in the field to the wattage that matches the incentive tier and the actual space. That reduces the SKUs you carry on the truck and gives you room to adjust after a walkthrough without reordering.

It also gives you room if a program changes tiers mid project. A fixture set at sixty watts today can be set at forty tomorrow without buying anything new. How selectable wattage and CCT work.