Frequently Asked Questions

Your monthly energy demand is published on the facility’s monthly energy bill. You can also contact us for assistance in determining eligibility.

Energy Savings for Business offers a variety of programs to meet your business’s needs.

• Small Business program
• Combined Heat and Power program
• Medium/Large Business programs:
  • Prescriptive program
  • Custom program
  • Building Tune-up program
  • New Construction and Major Renovations
  • Energy Efficient Communities program
• Business Instant Discounts program
• Operations & Maintenance Training

Energy efficiency is a more effective and less expensive way for the Maryland utilities to meet the growing electricity demands of the state. The Maryland General Assembly recently established a new goal structure for the EmPOWER Maryland Energy Efficiency Act, which requires electric utilities to achieve a certain amount of energy savings annually.

To learn more about EmPOWER Maryland, contact:

Maryland Energy Administration
1800 Washington Blvd. Suite 755
Baltimore, MD 21230
Main line: 410-537-4000

Or visit the Maryland Energy Administration.

The Pepco Energy Savings for Business program offers organizations of all sizes financial incentives for upgrading to energy-efficient equipment.

If you’re unsure where to start, call our Customer Care team at 1-866-353-5798 or email a program energy expert:

For Small Business, Quick Energy Check-up, and Combined Heat and Power Projects:

Email: Pepcobusiness@mdenergyadvisors.com.

For Medium and Large Business, Building Tune-up, Business Instant Discounts, Energy Efficient Communities, New Construction, and Major Renovation Projects:

Email: pepcobusiness@icf.com

Our energy experts will help you determine what equipment upgrades will make the most impact for your facility. Your Service Provider can also help you identify which equipment is right for your facility. Pepco’s approved Service Providers received training on all equipment included in the Energy Savings for Business program and can help guide you through the application and installation process. Click on the appropriate program to connect with a Service Provider – Small Business program | Medium and Large Business program

You can find a list of equipment and incentives by visiting the Small Business program or Medium to Large Business program incentive pages.

Taking advantage of the Pepco Energy Savings for Business program is a more effective way to start lowering your facility’s operating costs. The program offers generous cash incentives that can cover 50%-70% of project costs. View our program offerings here.

The size of your business is determined by your monthly electric energy demand over a 12-month period. Small businesses have a monthly energy demand of 100 kW or less and medium/large businesses have a monthly energy demand greater than 100 kW. If you are unsure whether you are a small or medium/large business, please contact us for help in determining your building size.

Our energy efficiency experts can help you determine eligibility and incentive information. Contact us for more information regarding the Energy Savings for Business program.

No. All project applications must be submitted prior to purchasing energy-efficient equipment. Contact the Pepco Energy Savings for Business team to evaluate other energy-saving opportunities for future projects.

Small Business program: Contact the program team for further direction- pepcobusiness@icf.com

Medium and Large Business programs: Prescriptive and custom measures cannot be combined on the same application. Applicants must submit a prescriptive application for any prescriptive measures, and a separate custom application for any custom measures. If installing measures that fall into different prescriptive programs (for example, lighting fixtures that are covered under their own Prescriptive program), submit one application per program, as needed. Each application should contain only the equipment listed as eligible for incentives under that program.

Yes, as long as the following conditions are met:

• You will need authorization from the Pepco account owner, and the owner needs to sign the application terms and conditions form and provide the Pepco account number.
• All Service Providers, including contractors, distributors, energy service companies (ESCOs), architects and engineers, and others who have been trained on the Pepco Energy Savings for Business Program must submit a Service Provider application and wait for approval prior to submitting incentive applications. You will receive an email notification once your Service Provider application is approved, at which point you can proceed by selecting your desired incentive application.

Contact us. We can have an energy expert discuss options with you about how to handle custom projects.

Yes, as long as they are also electronically time-stamped and dated. Customer contact information is required and the customer may be contacted to verify the project.

No. You may cancel your project at any time.

Yes. Please submit a written request indicating the reason for the extension and new expected completion date to the appropriate program email address below. Please include the project ID in the subject line of the email.

• Email: pepcobusiness@icf.com

Pre- and post-inspections may be required and are determined on a project-by-project basis by the Pepco Energy Savings for Business team.

No; however, any customer and/or Service Provider receiving an incentive payment may be contacted by an evaluator to verify service/equipment installation or be asked to complete an optional written, oral, or electronic survey.

Yes. The customer will indicate in section III of the terms and conditions (titled “Payment Information”) which party will receive the incentive payment for the project. Program incentives will be granted to only one party.

You should receive your incentive check four to six weeks after final approval.

You are welcome to submit the application and/or install the equipment yourself, or have one of your employees perform the installation. However, if someone other than yourself or your employee will be submitting the application or installing equipment, you are required to use an approved Service Provider. Pepco-authorized Service Providers must meet certain criteria and standards to be approved to participate in the Energy Savings for Business program. Authorized Service Providers participating in the Energy Savings for Business program allow you to find experienced contractors, distributors, and other professionals with ease. If you are interested in using a Service Provider not found on our list of authorized Service Providers, have them apply here. Service Providers will provide technical support and can assist you with the application process and/or the installation of your energy-efficient upgrades.

Please review the Service Provider requirements and apply here to get started.

Select your approved Service Provider by viewing the Service Provider Directory.

All current Pepco business customers located in Maryland are eligible to participate in the Business Instant Discounts program. Equipment must be installed at the facility of a Pepco business customer.

The Pepco Business Instant Discounts Program has teamed up with participating local distributors to provide instant discounts right at the point of sale. Simply call or visit a participating local distributor. Your discount will be applied automatically to the purchase price – no application required! Visit pepco.com/BID for a current list of participating distributors.

Pepco’s Business Instant Discounts program offers instant discounts on lighting and HVAC measures to business customers through local distributors. Find participating distributors by visiting pepco.com/BID.

Yes. Lighting and HVAC equipment must be purchased through a participating distributor in order to be eligible for Business Instant Discounts. In addition to competitive pricing on energy efficient lighting and HVAC equipment, participating distributors can also provide you with a sales representative to offer personalized advice and technical expertise on eligible products that meet the needs of your business. Approved distributors may also offer convenient service drop-shipments of your lighting or HVAC products right to your facility.

No. Neither an application nor an electric account number are required. The equipment installation address and the customer contact information is required at the point of sale. A Pepco program representative will verify the customer's eligibility, installation address, and receipt of the indicated equipment post-purchase.

Yes. The Building Tune-up program offers cash incentives to businesses for maintaining existing equipment.

Building Tune-up is a systematic process that optimizes energy use and overall energy efficiency in existing buildings. Similar to tuning up a car, the process improves operational efficiencies, yielding energy savings and extending the life of your equipment. The Building Tune-up process also provides non-energy benefits such as improved comfort, enhanced air quality, and increased occupant satisfaction.

Pepco business customers that meet the following criteria are eligible to participate:

• Have higher-than-average electrical intensity (kWh/sq. ft.), based on analysis using the EPA ENERGY STAR^® Portfolio Manager1 or DOE CBECS Data2
• Be more than 2 years old (this requirement recognizes that building less than two years old may not have one entire year of utility data to reflect a “fully occupied” building and consistent operating pattern)
• Have a minimum of 75,000 sq. ft. of conditioned space
• Have mechanical equipment in relatively good condition
• Have unusually high number of occupant comfort complaints

CHP projects will reduce the use of electricity delivered via the power grid to Pepco customer facilities in Maryland. CHP projects also help meet the EmPOWER Maryland energy savings goals.

Yes, but the study must be comprehensive, identifying and analyzing all electricity-saving measures, and not be limited to only CHP.

CHP projects that are cost-effective have a nearly constant electrical and thermal load at a moderate temperature. Facilities that often benefit from these projects include:

• Hospitals and nursing homes
• Farms
• Multifamily developments
• Fitness centers, especially those with swimming pools
• Hotels
• Universities
• Three-shift industrial plants

Incentive payments typically take two to three weeks to arrive once the final inspection is completed and all project documentation has been submitted for approval.

• CHP-generated electricity must be used by the host facility and the host facility must be energy-efficient. Pepco will require all efficiency measures with a payback period of less than three years to be implemented.
• The CHP system must be at least 65% efficient.
• A 5-year warranty is required, as is a plan for performing all needed system maintenance activities.
• The facility must satisfy all utility, regulatory, and environmental requirements.

Communities program customers are eligible for incentives offered through any of Pepco’s Energy Savings for Business programs. Communities program customers will receive assistance in developing an implementation plan, one complimentary registration to an Operations and Maintenance Training Course, and locked-in incentive rates. To learn more about the program, visit pepco.com/communities.

• Examples of Prescriptive, or standard, projects include, but are not limited to:
  • Street lighting
  • Interior/exterior lighting and controls
  • Chillers
  • Commercial appliances and kitchen equipment
  • HVAC units
  • Variable frequency drives
• Examples of non-Prescriptive projects include, but are not limited to:
  • Compressed air measures
  • Data center equipment
  • Building envelope measures
  • Building control systems
  • Building Tune-up
  • Monitoring-Based Commissioning
  • Combined Heat and Power

Any city, municipal, county, or town government agency paying into the EmPOWER Maryland fund with an active Maryland Pepco business electric account and a monthly demand greater than 100 kW over a 12-month period.

Yes. As a participant in the Energy Efficient Communities program, Pepco is happy to help assist you through the process of identifying potential projects and walking through the applications. You will need to provide a main point of contact who is responsible for managing your project(s). The point of contact, or Energy Champion, will be the person responsible for getting pre-approval for the project, participating in an O&M Training course, and meeting regularly with the Pepco team to check on status and compliance.

All participants in the Communities program must take the following actions:

• Identify an Energy Champion, or the person that will be the main point of contact for the program team, attend required meetings and trainings, and assist with program applications
• Meet with the Pepco program team quarterly to review program details and goals
• Develop an implementation plan to identify goals, facilities, measures, and a timeline
• Submit a minimum of one application per year over the three year cycle (2024–2026), including at least one non-prescriptive program application
• Receive pre-approval for each project
• Send at least one employee to complete an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Training during the 2024-2026 Program cycle
• Complete all project work by November 19, 2027

Street Lighting is a great project that falls under the prescriptive portion of the program. Additional information on eligible street lighting can be found here. It is important to note, though, the Communities Program is designed to develop a comprehensive program plan over three (3) years. We are happy to work with you to identify additional projects, but if you decide that this will be a one-time initiative, we can work with you to submit this project under another Energy Savings for Business program. For additional information on our other programs, please visit pepco.com/business.

The Communities program is designed to help your organization identify projects that will work together to help you save energy and money. By enrolling in this program and committing to working with us on multiple projects, we agree to lock in the current incentive rates for the duration of the MOU agreement. If incentives decrease during that time, your project will still be held to the higher incentives that were part of the pre-approval process. If the incentives are increased, we will honor the higher amounts. As an added bonus, we will also cover the cost of one (1) O&M Training course that is required for this program.

Pepco has already found quality energy efficiency training courses that you can trust. The list of pre-qualified courses can be found on pepco.com/EnergyTraining. Customers have the option to submit a course that does not appear on our website for pre-approval. The program will consider applications for non-listed courses on a case-by-case basis, and pre-approval is required. Please be sure to provide a detailed description of the non-listed course in your application.

The applicant must be assigned to work at a commercial and/or industrial facility within the Pepco Maryland territory and be present at that facility at least 50% of his or her working hours. They must also be employed in a position of responsibility for the energy management of the facility or have the potential to influence the building’s energy performance. In cases where the applicant is a contractor and not a direct employee of the Pepco customer, a representative of the Pepco customer must sign the application to confirm that the applicant is assigned to work at the customer’s facility as indicated above and that the customer supports the applicant’s participation in the program.

Pepco’s Operations and Maintenance Training offers cash incentives for training courses which have a focus on reducing and conserving electrical energy within your facility. An application must be submitted in advance and receive approval by the Pepco Energy Savings for Business team. Learn more about the program by visiting pepco.com/EnergyTraining.

The Prescriptive program offers a wide range of pre-qualified “standard” measures to choose from. This means that from the start you will know how much energy you are estimated to save and the incentive amount you will receive in return. The Custom program provides a path for customers involved in more complex and creative projects, offering financial incentives for energy-efficient projects and measures not included in the Prescriptive program.

Pepco Maryland business customers with a monthly energy demand greater than 100 kW over the last 12 months can apply for the Prescriptive and Custom programs. Pepco customers with a monthly energy demand of 100kW or less may participate in the Custom program as well if they are not also applying for the same measures through the Small Business program.

The Small Business program was specifically designed to help smaller businesses, non-profits, and government organizations reduce their energy usage with new energy-efficient equipment and technologies. We understand businesses like yours have limited resources and time to deal with equipment upgrades, so your Service Provider will handle nearly all the work, leaving you more time to focus on your business.

The Small Business program is open to commercial, non-profit, and government customers who use an average of 100 kW or less per month. Simply check your monthly bill or contact us to confirm your average usage.

Incentive payments typically take two to three weeks to arrive once the final inspection is completed.