The design and planning stage of a building offers the greatest opportunity for ensuring energy-efficiency and cost-efficiency. Well-designed projects save energy dollars, are more comfortable for occupants and demand less from the environment.

Tacoma Power’s incentives are designed to pay for most of the added costs of your efficiency improvements beyond the Tacoma Energy Code. Our expert assistance on new and major renovation commercial projects will help you identify and prioritize top efficiency opportunities including lighting and controls, mechanical systems, building shell improvements, motors and related equipment.

We offer three types of incentives to support a range of project types. We have equipment rebates, prescriptive incentives and custom incentives.  

Equipment rebates
Equipment rebates help offset the upfront cost of specific energy-efficient equipment and are ideal for smaller buildings. Eligible equipment includes:

• Three-phase AC motors
• Air conditioning equipment
• Heat pumps and chillers

Prescriptive incentives
Prescriptive incentives help save energy in small office buildings. They are available for the installation of specific packages of measures that can save more energy than equipment rebates alone. Different incentive levels are based on the office building’s floor area. Incentives are:

• Efficient lighting and lighting controls
Incentive of 25 cents per square foot

• Mechanical system and glazing improvements
Incentive of 25 cents per square foot

• Combination of the above two packages
Incentive of 50 cents per square foot

Custom incentives
Custom incentives are intended for larger buildings; they are:

• Efficient lighting fixtures, lamps and controls
• Efficient mechanical systems, such as heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC)
• Efficient building shell – insulation and glazing

Tacoma Power’s custom incentive is 20 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) of first year energy savings. We'll pay up to 100 percent of the incremental cost of the efficiency improvements (the cost of the improvements beyond the cost of a baseline Tacoma Energy Code installation). To qualify, the efficiency improvements must result in energy performance at least 10 percent more than achieved when building to Tacoma’s code.

Design team and commissioning incentives
Tacoma Power may provide additional cash incentives for building designers and owners whose efficiency projects save 30 percent or more beyond the Tacoma Energy Code. To qualify, projects must be at least 30,000 square feet.

Get started
Download the application and contact us at (253) 502-8619 or power@cityoftacoma.org for more information and to get started on your new construction energy-efficiency project.

Download the New Construction fact sheet.

Program requirements and rebate amounts are subject to change without notice. Tacoma Power does not endorse any particular contractor, manufacturer or product. Tacoma Power makes no express or implied warranties of these products.