Commercial Lighting Rebates and Utility Incentives by Program
Commercial lighting rebates change by utility, by facility size, and sometimes by postal code, and the rules that decide whether you get paid are rarely about the fixtures. They are about contractor status, pre-approval, product lists, and deadlines. This page compares the major lighting incentive programs across Canada and the US from the perspective of the person writing the quote. Each program below links to a full contractor guide covering eligibility, incentive rates, what must be confirmed before you put a number in a proposal, and the dates that decide whether a project qualifies this year or not at all.
Program details last verified: August 6, 2026
Start here
Lighting rebate programs at a glance.
The table below is the fastest way to see which program applies to a job. Bolded cells are the details most likely to change a quote.
Utility · Region · Program type · Contractor requirement · Key 2026 date
Save on Energy Ontario Instant Discounts + Retrofit (Custom) None specific Controls cut to $0.30/kWh June 30, 2026
BC Hydro British Columbia BESI (under 500 MWh) + Self-Serve (over 500 MWh) Must be Alliance of Energy Professionals member 30% bonus live, submit by Feb 11, 2027
Con Edison NYC + Westchester Instant Lighting + C&I Must be approved Participating Contractor Complete by Oct 15, 2026 for 2026 rates
National Grid Massachusetts Mass Save C&I + Instant DLC products, pre-approval Large C&I: no controls, no incentive
National Grid Upstate New York Large C&I + On The Spot QPL products 25% lighting bonus live
ComEd Northern Illinois Standard (Track 1/2) + Instant Discounts ICC certified installer at $300/measure $10,000 splits the two tracks
Efficiency Manitoba Manitoba Business Lighting Program Must be registered supplier 50% bonus live through Mar 31, 2027
Efficiency Nova Scotia Nova Scotia Business Energy Rebates In-store, mail-in, or pre-approval Small biz funding committed for 2026
NB Power New Brunswick Business Rebate Program None specific 25% back, $250,000 lifetime cap
A note on Alberta. Alberta doesn't appear in the table above because it has no utility-run commercial lighting rebate program. Energy Efficiency Alberta was disbanded in 2019, and nothing province-wide has replaced it. See what's actually available in Alberta before quoting a rebate that doesn't exist.
A note on New York. Con Edison serves NYC and Westchester. National Grid serves Upstate New York. They are different utilities running different programs, and mixing them up is the fastest way to quote the wrong incentive. See the Con Edison guide or the National Grid New York guide, whichever matches the building's actual utility.
Credibility check
The four things that decide whether you get paid.
Every program in the table above gates on the same four things, regardless of state, province, or utility name.
1
Contractor status. BC Hydro requires Alliance membership. Con Edison requires approved Participating Contractor status, and pays the contractor, not the customer. Sort this out before you quote, not after.
2
Pre-approval. Nearly universal. Work started before approval is usually work with no rebate.
3
Product eligibility. DLC or ENERGY STAR, and on the program's qualified product list. A fixture that beats the spec but is not on the list still fails.
4
Timing. Programs update semi-annually and deadlines are real. Con Edison's October 15 date is three months out as of this writing.
The distinction most contractors miss
Instant discounts vs application-based rebates.
Instant / midstream
Save on Energy Instant Discounts, Con Edison Instant Lighting, National Grid On The Spot, Mass Save Instant.
Discount applied at the distributor. Fast, no application, lower ceiling.
Application-based
Retrofit Custom, Con Edison C&I, Mass Save prescriptive.
Pre-approval required, bigger payouts, more paperwork.
The trap.
These usually do not stack. National Grid Upstate states outright that On The Spot incentives cannot be combined with other National Grid offerings. Mass Save blocks equipment that already took a midstream incentive from claiming a downstream rebate. Picking the wrong path can cost your customer more than the discount saved.
The trend
Controls are becoming mandatory, not optional.
Massachusetts. No incentive for uncontrolled fixtures for large commercial and industrial customers.
Ontario. Networked lighting controls incentive cut to $0.30 per kWh.
National Grid, New York. Controls raise total savings and total incentive under the same application.
In a growing number of programs, a bare LED swap either earns nothing or earns much less. If you are still quoting fixture-only retrofits, your incentives are shrinking under you.
LumaQuote keeps LED and controls as separate, comparable cases rather than one blended number, so you can show a client exactly what adding controls changes about the incentive and the payback, before a program forces the question. See the lighting audit software workflow, including the dedicated controls layer.
Proposal wording
How to show a rebate in a proposal without overpromising.
Eligibility depends on program, location, product list, contractor status, pre-approval, and available funding. Con Edison states plainly that incentives are first come, first served and not guaranteed until a Preliminary Incentive Offer Letter is issued. Every program in this comparison works the same way in spirit, even where the paperwork differs.
Estimated · Pending Approval · Confirmed
A rebate figure in a proposal should always carry one of these three labels, never a flat "rebate available." LumaQuote tracks rebate assumptions per project and flags every estimate as an estimate in the exported PDF or Word proposal.
Build a rebate-ready lighting proposal.
Canada and US utility rates built in, rebate assumptions tracked, PDF or Word out.
FAQ
Commercial lighting rebates: common questions.
What lighting rebates are available for commercial buildings?
It depends on the utility. Ontario's Save on Energy offers Instant Discounts and a Retrofit Custom stream. BC Hydro offers BESI for smaller facilities and a Self-Serve program for larger ones. Con Edison offers Instant Lighting and a C&I program for NYC and Westchester. National Grid runs Mass Save programs in Massachusetts and its own Large C&I and On The Spot programs in Upstate New York. Efficiency Manitoba runs a Business Lighting Program currently offering a 50 percent bonus. Efficiency Nova Scotia offers in-store, mail-in, and pre-approval rebates. NB Power pays a flat 25 percent back up to a lifetime cap. Alberta has no equivalent program. Each has different rates, contractor requirements, and deadlines.
Do I need to be an approved contractor to claim lighting rebates?
Depends on the program. BC Hydro requires the contractor to be a registered Alliance of Energy Professionals member. Con Edison requires approved Participating Contractor status and pays the contractor directly rather than the customer. Save on Energy in Ontario does not have a specific contractor credential requirement. Confirm this before quoting, not after.
Can I combine instant discounts with an application-based rebate?
Usually no. National Grid's On The Spot incentive in Upstate New York cannot be combined with other National Grid offerings on the same equipment. Mass Save blocks equipment that already received a midstream incentive from also claiming a downstream rebate. Picking the wrong path can cost a customer more than the discount saved.
Do LED fixtures need controls to qualify for rebates?
Increasingly, in some programs. Massachusetts no longer offers a fixture incentive at all to large commercial and industrial customers without controls. Ontario still allows LED-only projects under Instant Discounts, though the separate Network Lighting Controls incentive rate was cut. National Grid in New York treats controls as adding to total savings and total incentive rather than a requirement. The trend across programs is toward rewarding controls more, and fixture-only projects less.
Can I show the rebate amount in my customer's proposal?
Yes, but label it clearly as estimated, pending approval, or confirmed, never as a flat guarantee. Con Edison, for example, states incentives are first come, first served and not guaranteed until a Preliminary Incentive Offer Letter is issued. LumaQuote tracks rebate assumptions per project and flags every incentive figure in the exported proposal as an estimate.
Growing this list
Programs we have not covered yet.
Hydro-Quebec, Eversource, Xcel, PSE&G. Working through these next. If your market isn't listed above, tell us which one to build first.
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All programs: Ontario · BC Hydro · Con Edison · National Grid MA · National Grid NY · ComEd · Manitoba · Nova Scotia · New Brunswick · Alberta