The PSEG Rebate Program

PSEG has a rebate program that can pay for a substantial portion of your cost to upgrade to LED lighting-typically about one third of the cost of the project. It’s called the Commercial Efficiency Program.

Although it may sound counterintuitive, PSEG will subsidize your energy-efficiency project to help you reduce your electric bill. PSEG is investing this money to reduce electricity demand during peak hours, in order to save on the exorbitant cost of building new power plants on Long Island. This is called Demand Side Energy Management.

Your rebate is neither a gift nor a loan. The money PSEG uses is collected from every commercial customer on Long Island. It appears as a line item on your monthly bill entitled, “Efficiency and Renewable Charge.” You pay into this fund every month. PSEG then redistributes the funds collected to those customers who are savvy enough to take advantage of the program.

The rebate program is an opportunity to take some of the money you (and others) are already paying to PSEG every month and use it to cut costs and improve your bottom line. In the process, you obtain brand new, safer, healthier and higher quality lighting that will last for 15-30 years. And you help to improve the local environment.

Ongoing savings are typically 40-75% of your lighting-related energy costs, depending on the type of lighting you currently have installed, and your own usage schedule.

Combining your energy savings, your rebate, and federal tax incentives, your breakeven usually arrives in less than two years, and in some cases can take as little as six months. For most customers, the Return on Investment from upgrading their lighting is significantly higher than the return on their regular business.

The Commercial Efficiency Program is scheduled to last a few more years, but that is no reason to put off your decision. In each year’s budget, the rebates have been reduced. During the year, rebates can be reduced without notice. As a result, it is definitely in your interest to consider upgrading your lights sooner rather than later. In addition, your savings are real and immediate, so there are risks and costs involved in waiting.