Commercial Lighting Rebate Trends For 2022

77% of the US has a commercial lighting rebate

This is up from 74% in 2021. Still, some parts of the US have little or no rebate coverage. Notable standouts are Alaska, Kansas, North Dakota, and West Virginia, with no active rebate programs. Ohio is also remarkable. While the major utilities in the state provided rebates for many years, they were forced to discontinue those programs in 2020 due to a ruling in the state legislature, and unfortunately, the incentives have not returned this year.

LED Rebate Amounts Are Flat for a Second Year

For years, LED rebates reliably decreased 10 – 20% annually depending on the product category. A large part of this decline was to match the incentive levels to the falling prices of LED solutions. It left many wondering when it would bottom out.

Last year, for the first time ever, the rebates for LED solutions were flat year over year. That trend continues in 2022, with only a 1% decrease across all product categories. This pattern makes sense when you look at the industry. 2021 saw a record number of price increases due to supply chain issues and inflation, so it’s no wonder rebate amounts have stayed pretty stable. The higher levels are needed to make the project paybacks favorable enough for reluctant customers who have not yet upgraded.

Number of Horticulture Rebates Nearly Triples While Amounts Decrease

Incentives for horticulture lighting have been very strong, with the number of rebates tripling in the last year. These incentives have also become much more standardized in 2022. Previously, most rebates for horticulture lighting were custom, often based on kWh saved. This year, that shifted and now over 60% of the rebates for horticulture lighting are prescriptive.

While the number of rebates for horticultural LEDs grew, the average prescriptive incentive amount decreased by roughly 25% in 2022. This change is primarily due to the introduction of new, lower rebates where no previous rebates existed which brought down the average. Still, at an average incentive of $102 per fixture, horticulture lighting is one of the highest rebate product categories currently available.

Networked Lighting Control Rebates Continue To Grow

Rebates for these NLC systems have been around for several years. It’s exciting to see the number of utilities incentivizing these systems has increased by 16% this year.

In contrast, the average rebate amounts for NLC have stayed the same this year. It mirrors the trends seen in traditional controls like occupancy sensors and photocells. The incentives for all these control technologies have remained remarkably stable over time, with little change in the incentive amounts or availability. While there are a lot of rebate programs out there for NLC, the biggest challenge the programs face is the market’s knowledge of these systems.

Read the full article in Briteswitch.com, here.

David Shiller

David Shiller is the Publisher of LightNOW, and Senior Business Development Consultant at Capacity Consulting, a North American consulting firm providing business development services to advanced lighting manufacturers. The ALA awarded David the Pillar of the Industry Award. David has been co-chair of the ALA’s Engineering Committee since 2010. David established MaxLite’s OEM component sales into a multi-million dollar division. He invented GU24 lamps while leading ENERGY STAR lighting programs for the US EPA. David has been published in leading lighting publications, including LD+A, enLIGHTenment Magazine, LEDs Magazine, and more.

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