The goal of upgrading your lighting infrastructure to something more energy efficient is to save money while consuming less energy. However, overhauling your entire lighting system or performing an LED retrofit isn’t exactly cheap, and nonprofit budgets are often limited. As a result, the return on investment (ROI) may seem negligible. That’s where rebates and incentives come in.

Rebate and incentive programs can make the cost of an upgrade much more palatable. The only problem is they can be more difficult to uncover on your own. Partnering with an energy consulting firm can help you find those elusive commercial lighting rebates.

The Three Main Types of LED Lighting Rebates

The price of a monthly electric bill can be staggering for some nonprofit organizations. Using energy efficient practices can help lower energy costs a little. However, you won’t see significant savings unless you make energy-efficient improvements. If you can find rebates or incentives, it can make upgrading more cost-effective.

Three main types of LED lighting rebates are typically offered by utility companies. They include prescriptive lighting, custom lighting, and point-of-sale lighting. Every rebate and incentive program is different, and learning these differences can help you find the right rebate for your agency.   

Prescriptive Lighting

Unlike the other rebate programs, a prescriptive lighting rebate is designed to be claimed over time. With this program, cash incentives are paid per unit installed. For example, you’ll get a rebate every time you replace a fluorescent light bulb with a more energy-efficient option. This type of rebate is widely available and easy to apply for. Some prescriptive programs also offer incentives for labor.

Custom Lighting

The custom lighting program covers lighting projects that aren’t addressed by prescriptive lighting rebates. This type of rebate offers larger potential incentives, more flexibility, and potential labor incentives. On the downside, the process to apply for these rebates is complex and tedious. There’s also a greater chance something could go wrong with incentive disbursement due to all the variables such as deadlines and third-party companies handling the rebate system.

Point-of-Sale Lighting

A point of sale (POS) lighting rebate is centered around specific product types. These rebates are usually used on smaller products you’d use at home. For example, when you purchase a screw-in LED lamp from a lighting distributor, a rebate could be applied to that lamp. The lighting distributor would then charge you the net-of-rebate cost (price after the rebate is applied).  

The benefits of this rebate include instant application, instant savings, and you’ll know exactly what you’re getting. However, POS rebates are only available to certain retailers, and they normally have a short window of availability.

Finding a Rebate in Today’s Market

Lighting rebates and incentives are a great way to keep some money in your organization’s pocket as you improve its lighting infrastructure. Unfortunately, in recent years, LED lighting rebates have decreased as the price of energy efficient solutions have dropped. On the bright side, an energy consulting company can help you identify the rebates you qualify for.

Make Funding Your Energy-Efficiency Project Easy

GreenBee is a full-service energy consulting firm that can help you with lighting rebate solutions. Our experts will assist you not only with finding rebates for your project, but also in applying for those rebates. Make funding your LED lighting project easy and call GreenBee today!

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