There are 165+ active commercial LED rebate programs across the United States. They cover 20 percent to 80 percent of project cost depending on the utility and the scope. For a typical $100,000 commercial LED retrofit, that's potentially $20,000 to $80,000 in captured incentive money.
Most commercial property owners never see a dollar of it. The programs aren't the problem. The timing is.
The pre-approval requirement
Nearly every substantial utility LED rebate program requires pre-approval. You submit an application with fixture specifications, quantities, and an expected install date. The utility reviews, calculates the estimated rebate, and issues a pre-approval letter. You install. You submit the final invoice. You get paid.
If you skip the pre-approval step — if you just install the fixtures and then try to claim the rebate afterward — most utilities will deny the application. The incentive existed. The money was available. You left it on the table because you didn't know the timing requirement.
This is the single most common mistake in commercial LED retrofits, and it happens because the property owner trusts the contractor to handle it and the contractor doesn't know the program exists.
The best programs in the Southeast
Not all utility programs are equal. Some offer token rebates of $5 to $10 per fixture. Others cover most of the project cost. If you're in the Southeast, these are the ones worth knowing:
**TVA EnergyRight (North Alabama, Tennessee, parts of Kentucky)** — The strongest commercial program in the region. $0.13 per kWh saved, up to 50 percent of project cost. A 15 percent bonus was available through December 2025 that pushed effective coverage closer to 65 percent on qualifying projects.
**Entergy Mississippi (Small Business)** — Covers up to 80 percent of project cost for small commercial customers under 100 kW peak demand. This is the best small-business program in the Southeast.
**Georgia Power (Custom Savings)** — $0.10 per kWh saved with a $75,000 per building per year cap. Requires pre-approval before installation.
**Duke Energy (Smart $aver Prescriptive)** — Covers the Carolinas with $27 to $264 per fixture rebates and a 75 percent of project cost cap.
**Cleco (Louisiana Power Wise)** — Up to 100 percent of project cost for customers under 100 kW. Remarkable program for small commercial.
**TECO Tampa Electric** — Prescriptive lighting rebates up to $264 per fixture. Best for large exterior fixture counts.
What disqualifies you
Beyond the pre-approval issue, here's what knocks projects out of rebate programs:
1. **Non-DLC qualified fixtures.** Most commercial rebate programs require DesignLights Consortium (DLC) qualification. If you pick fixtures that aren't on the DLC list, you don't qualify — even if the fixtures are technically equivalent.
2. **Missing energy baseline.** You need documented pre-retrofit conditions (fixture count, wattage, burn hours) to calculate the savings. Some projects start before this is documented and can't produce the paperwork at closeout.
3. **Install before pre-approval.** Every serious program requires pre-approval. Some regional co-ops are more lenient, but the majors are strict.
4. **Wrong customer class.** Some programs only cover specific rate classes. Small commercial programs exclude industrial. Industrial programs exclude non-profits. Make sure you qualify for the program you're applying to.
5. **Project exceeds cap.** Most programs have per-project or per-year caps. Large projects may exceed them, leaving money on the table.
The economics of a properly captured rebate
A typical commercial parking lot retrofit runs roughly $400 per fixture all in. A 300-fixture property project is about $120,000.
With TVA EnergyRight coverage at $0.13 per kWh saved, that 300-fixture project with typical exterior burn hours saves about 300,000 kWh per year. The rebate value is $39,000 — roughly 32 percent of the project cost.
Without rebate capture, the 3-year payback is straightforward math. With rebate capture, the payback drops to 2.0 years — a 33 percent improvement just from knowing the program exists and applying before install.
Who should handle the application
Every serious commercial LED contractor should be handling rebate identification and application as part of the project scope. If your contractor doesn't mention rebates in the proposal, that's a red flag. If they mention them but say "you'll need to apply for those separately," that's a yellow flag. If they include rebate capture in the project timeline and commit to the paperwork, that's what you want.
A contractor who has done 30 or more commercial projects in your utility territory has navigated the programs. They know the forms, the contacts, the processing timelines, and the common rejection reasons.
How to check your options
Before signing any commercial LED project proposal:
1. Ask your contractor which specific utility programs apply to your property.
2. Ask for the estimated rebate amount in the proposal.
3. Ask what happens to the rebate money (direct to you, or pass-through to the contractor).
4. Confirm the pre-approval timeline is built into the project schedule.
5. Ask whether the contractor submits the application or whether you need to.
If the contractor can't answer these questions in detail, they're not the right contractor for a rebate-intensive project. Find one who can.
The real cost of ignorance
Across the commercial LED projects we've audited for clients considering us vs competitors, we consistently find that 40-60 percent of available rebate money never gets captured. Not because the programs don't exist. Because nobody asked, nobody applied, and the pre-approval deadline passed.
For a multi-property owner planning a portfolio retrofit, the cumulative effect can be six or seven figures in left-behind money. It's worth knowing the programs. It's worth working with contractors who know them.
The rebate isn't a bonus. It's a line item in your project financial model. Treat it that way.