Lighting Rebate Update

While there’s a lot of excitement about LEDs in today’s lighting market, utility rebates are more plentiful for retrofits of existing lighting systems in offices and other commercial applications.

Lighting rebates are back in the spotlight these days, as electric utilities tweak their existing programs to maximize energy saving for residential, business and institutional customers with a mix of standard and custom rebates. Some of these programs are now blending in newer lighting technologies like LEDs and digital lighting control systems.

Electrical Wholesaling's February issue examines thriving lighting rebate programs. The article gives several specific examples of programs and how contractors can take advantage. For example, Ameren Missouri recently filed a three-year energy plan with the Missouri Public Service Commission that offers a portfolio of energy-efficiency programs that it says will make it the largest such plan in the state of Missouri. The expenditures for the new programs will be approximately twice the size of the utility company's previous energy-efficiency programs and include a broad array of lighting rebates. The programs include energy-efficiency investments of approximately $145 million over three years beginning early Jan. 2013. These investments are expected to result in approximately $500 million in total customer benefits over the next 20 years. Annual energy savings are expected to be nearly 800 million kilowatt-hours — equal to the annual energy consumption of more than 60,000 average Missouri homes.

Over the years, California's utilities have offered some of the more innovative utility-rebate programs. For instance, while some utilities have thus far been hesitant to offer rebates for LEDs in many applications outside of exit signs, Southern California Edison offers a full slate of rebates for LEDs deep within its 90-page “Solutions Directory."

With the amount of money currently fueling lighting rebate programs, they are hardly a secret. But knowing the ins-and-outs of the often tricky rebate process will always be\ a great service that you can offer your customers.