DLC Premium Incentive Impact
September 6, 2016
Last summer, I discussed some changes to the DesignLights Consortium Qualified Product list, specifically the addition of a new “premium” category. We are now starting to see the impact this has on utility incentive programs.
As with most trends, we are seeing this change take effect on both the East and West Coast. These areas have a tendency to be trend setters with other areas of the country following suit shortly after.
Pacific Gas & Electric in Northern California recently made some changes to their LED troffer qualifications and many that are categorized as DLC standard no longer qualify. The Mass Save program has also added another incentive tier and is offering higher prescriptive rebates for DLC Premium products.
I expect this change to continue to happen throughout the country for the remainder of 2016 and anticipate it will have the greatest impact on programs starting in 2017.
When choosing products for your next lighting retrofit, be sure to consider the use of high efficiency DLC Premium products in order to fully maximize your incentives.
Katie Quam is Energy Management Collaborative's Manager of Customer Incentives. In this role she utilizes her knowledge of incentive programs nationwide to expedite the application process and secure maximum incentive dollars for EMC customers.
