HOW THE FREE LIGHTBULB PROGRAM WORKS
Hello! My name is Will Gallmeyer, President at Green Projects Group. I’d love to share with you how the Free Lighbulb Program works and why I created it. Utility rebate programs exist based on these two premises: 1. Due to the infrastructure required to distribute gas and electricity, utilities are “natural monopolies.” 2. As a trade-off, utilities are heavily regulated by the Michigan government, which has recently required them to implement energy efficiency (aka rebate) programs. Almost all utilities offer programs like this, but so many people don’t know anything about it!
That’s where the Free Lightbulb Program come in, which exists through the magic of something called “third-party payment.” This allows customers to sign the rebate over to a third-party contractor. Third party payment has been used for years with larger household appliances like heating and cooling and energy efficiency upgrades.
For example, an HVAC contractor might include rebate discounts in their sales pitch; say it’s $200 off a $1,000 air conditioner. By signing the rebate over to the contractor, your out-of-pocket cost would only be $800; you wouldn’t have to pay $1000 and then wait for the $200 rebate from your utility. You’d get the savings instantly!
In 2017, a coworker pointed out to me that LEDs were eligible for exactly this kind of instant discounting, but no contractor was using the rebate to make it easy for people. Furthermore, the utilities weren’t advertising this very loudly, so people didn’t even know the LED rebate existed. After three years of working with utilities programs, I branched out to create Green Projects Group and the Free Lightbulb Program to connect as many Michiganders as possible to their utility’s financial resources.
The Free Lightbulb Program is not a charity, it is not directly funded by the government, and Green Projects Group is not contracted to implement it by your utility. We’re a third-party contractor that works with your local utility to provide LED bulbs to you for free, and then we receive the rebate from the utility.
This is a win-win-win situation:
You win: you save money by getting free LEDs and by saving money on your electric bill. Over time, savings from each watt you don’t burn really add up. You also save time by avoiding having to buy bulbs, scan the receipt, and submit the paperwork to your utility.
We win: because we do the paperwork and source and ship bulbs, we collect the rebate from your utility on your behalf (once you give approval), so we generate income for our team to sustain our business.
Utilities win: by getting more LEDs in more homes, utilities save energy, as required by the Michigan legislature.
Some people ask me if they can still submit paperwork and receipts and receive their rebate directly. You can still do it this way if you want, but it’s much easier to let us help! The Free Lightbulb Program is my attempt to democratize this almost-public fund. The Free Lightbulb Program is the embodiment of my desire to help as many Michiganders “go green” as possible.
The more people who sign up, the easier it is for our business to remain sustainable while offering this program completely free. So please share with anyone you know who would benefit from the Free Lightbulb Program!
I love to nerd out about how this all works, so feel free to send me an email if you have any questions.