Custom Measures 

The Consumers Energy Business Solutions electric incentive program is fully subscribed and has been closed. Electric incentive applications received on or after June 2, 2010 will be placed on a waitlist and filled on a first-in basis subject to the availability of funds. Applications for natural gas savings incentives still are being accepted.

For additional information, please review our Frequently Asked Questions.

If your project is not covered by our list of qualifying measures, Consumers Energy will create an energy efficient custom solution and give you an incentive of $.08 per kilowatt hour saved or $5.00/MCF. The more energy you save, the more money you’ll earn back in incentives. Each facility can earn up to $200,000 in custom incentives per program year.

How to qualify for custom incentives

Qualifying custom measures must lower electricity and/or natural gas use due to an improvement in system efficiency. For instance, installing compact fluorescent lighting or T8 lamps and ballasts would be considered for an incentive. Simply installing a lower wattage lamp in place of a higher wattage lamp would not.

Incentives are calculated from the first year’s kWh or MCF savings. To qualify, you must provide sufficient descriptive information, equipment performance data, operating assumptions, measurements and calculations to support energy savings estimates. Look in our Policies and Procedures manual for more guidelines for calculating custom measure energy savings.

Ready to begin your project? View our current Trade Ally Listing.

Below are some examples of eligible and ineligible custom measures as well the equation used to calculate the payback period. For more information, visit our FAQ page, call us toll-free at (877) 607-0737 or email us at ConsumersEnergyBusinessSolutions@KEMA.com.

Eligible Custom Measures 

Custom measures include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Water-side and air-side economizer
• Exhaust heat recovery
• Constant volume to variable volume water or air distribution
• Variable-speed control on non-HVAC motors
• Control upgrades or energy management system programming changes
• CO2 or occupancy-based ventilation controls
• Envelope improvements: Window film, insulation, cool roof
• Process improvements
• Floating head pressure controls for industrial refrigeration
• Upgrade of a refrigeration compressor
• Air compressor improvements
• Boiler and chiller replacement for industrial processes

Ineligible Custom Measures 

Projects that are not eligible for an incentive include the following:

• Fuel switching (e.g. electric to gas or gas to electric)
• Changes in operational and/or maintenance practices or simple control modifications not involving capital costs
• On-site electricity generation
• Projects that involve peak-shifting (and not kWh savings)
• Projects involving renewable energy (although these may be covered in the future)

Payback Period Equation

Use the equation below to calculate your payback period. Minimum payback period is one year, and the maximum is eight years.