LED retrofits and utility rebates for shops and commercial buildings

Walk through most older shops, warehouses and offices and you'll notice the same thing: lighting that was installed once and never thought about again. Old fixtures, buzzing ballasts, a few dead tubes and a general dimness that everyone has stopped seeing.

An LED retrofit replaces that lighting with modern fixtures. For a business owner, the appeal is usually a mix of lower power use, brighter and more even light and less time spent on replacing lamps. Wattsmart Electric does lighting retrofits for businesses across the Yakima Valley and Kittitas, and here's how those projects tend to go.

Fewer fixtures, more light

One customer who had us retrofit their shop described the result this way: we installed fewer lights and they use less power, but the space is brighter than before. That surprises people, and it makes sense once you know why.

Old fixtures lose a lot of light inside themselves. Aging lamps dim, lenses yellow and the reflectors get dirty. A modern LED fixture sends more of its light where you need it, which means you can often do the job with fewer fixtures. Where that lands in your building depends on ceiling height, layout and what kind of work happens underneath.

What kinds of buildings are good candidates

• Shops and warehouses with high bays, where high-output fixtures are a big part of the monthly bill.
• Offices and medical and dental clinics, where lighting runs for long hours and quality of light matters to staff and patients.
• Restaurants and fitness studios, where lighting affects both mood and operating cost.
• Parking lots and building exteriors, where lights run all night and a burned-out fixture is a safety problem.
• Classrooms and meeting spaces, where even, glare-free light helps people see and concentrate.

Our commercial work includes LED lighting retrofits, exterior building lighting, parking lot lighting and interior lighting, along with dimming controls for office settings that include motion sensors. Controls are an easy way to cut waste further, because lights that turn off in an empty room cost nothing to run.

About utility rebates

Here's the part that gets business owners' attention. We can work with multiple lighting vendors to see if your commercial building qualifies for a rebate. That means a portion of your project could be paid for by the utility company. Sometimes up to 70 percent of costs are covered.

A few honest cautions go with that. Rebates depend on your utility, your building and the products involved. They have rules, and those rules change. We won't tell you in an article what you'll receive, and you shouldn't trust any article that does. What we can do is check your building with the vendors and give you a straight answer in the quote.

One practical point: ask about rebates before you buy anything or start work. Many programs expect certain steps to happen in a certain order, and a project that's already done can be hard to claim.

How a retrofit project runs

• A walk-through of your building. We look at what's there, how long the lights run and what the space is used for.
• A proposed fixture count and layout, so you can see the plan before you commit.
• A rebate check, if your building might qualify, so the numbers in your quote reflect it.
• Installation scheduled around your business. For a shop with a crew on the floor, that can mean working early, late or in sections.
• A final check, with old fixtures removed and everything working.

Ask about scheduling when you call. A lot of businesses can't afford to shut down for a lighting project, and we'd rather plan around you than around us.

Beyond the fixtures

A lighting retrofit is a good moment to look at the rest of the electrical system. Is the panel serving the building in good shape? Do you have room for a Level 2 vehicle charger for staff or customers? Is your exterior lighting doing its job after dark? These are cheaper to fix when the ceiling is already open.

We've worked on projects for restaurants, medical and dental clinics, fitness locations and orchard operations, so we know what different kinds of businesses need from their lighting.

Curious what a retrofit and a rebate could look like for your building? See our commercial services at /commercial, or call Wattsmart Electric at (509) 902-8040. You can also send a message through /contact.