Pilot Programs
Consumers Energy Business Solutions pilot programs are uniquely designed to offer energy efficiency solutions to select market segments and specific customer needs. Due to the nature of these program offerings, they are limited in size and scope. Program funding is limited for these programs. Rebates and incentives are paid on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted for the program year.

Building Performance with ENERGY STAR®
The Consumers Energy Building Performance with ENERGY STAR pilot program offers opportunities to assist organizations with multiple buildings improve their energy efficiency and reduce energy usage. This program aims to accomplish this by helping organizations understand their current energy use for each building and provide recommendations to help reduce usage and costs, while improving the comfort and efficiency of their buildings.
    What we provide
  • ENERGY STAR Benchmarking of all eligible facilities utilizing Portfolio Manager
  • Coaching on creating an Energy Team, Goals, Policies and Procedures
  • Building assessment identifying behavioral and energy improvement opportunities
  • Recommendations for advanced system audits
  • Create provisional energy efficiency implementation plan based on BPwES process findings
  • Additional incentives from the Consumers Energy Business Solutions Large Business program
    Who can participate
  • Consumers Energy electric and/or natural gas customers on an eligible rate code
  • Customer must be an organization with multiple buildings
  • Customer commitment from the business management, facilities and financial departments
Industrial Continuous Improvement
The Consumers Energy Industrial Continuous Improvement pilot program is designed to help industrial customers integrate Energy Management Systems (EnMS) into continuous improvement processes to help reduce energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and operational costs. This program supports development of an energy management system, a set of organizational tools, systems and processes necessary for a holistic and systematic approach to achieve continuous improvement of energy performance, i.e. energy efficiency, use, consumption and intensity. By adopting this holistic approach to energy, the organization will take control of energy performance and consumption costs.
    What we provide:
  • Energy Audit
  • EnMS assessment
  • Training on ENERGY STAR® Challenge for Industry, ISO 50001, and/or SEP
  • Technical assistance
  • Financial incentives
    Who can participate
  • Customers interested in achieving ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry, ISO 50001 Certification, or Superior Energy Performance (SEP)
  • The company must be an industrial facility and is a customer of Consumers Energy
  • Electric only or electric/gas combination customers with annual electricity consumption of at least 1,000 MWh/yr
  • Gas only customers of Consumers Energy with 30,000 MCF or greater annual consumption
Municipal Facilities Program
The Consumers Energy Municipal Facilities pilot program provides an opportunity to engage local governments in implementing energy efficiency measures and encourage them to demonstrate energy and environmental leadership. Program funding and participation is limited.
    What we provide:
  • CEBS walk thru assessments guiding the customer towards those energy projects that will get them off to a quick start.
  • Qualifying Assessments to determine the level of additional service most appropriate for the customer
  • Building Benchmarking identifying buildings most in need of deeper dive into efficiency improvements
  • Outdoor Lighting Assessment including all types of exterior lighting
  • A limited number of more in depth building and wastewater facility assessments
    Who can participate
  • Consumers Energy electric and/or natural gas municipal customers (Cities, townships or counties)
  • Facilities with a building larger than 50,000 square feet and/or a wastewater facility with a facility manager on staff to qualify for the limited number of in-depth assessments
Project of the Year
The Consumers Energy Project of the Year pilot program will showcase three energy efficiency projects per year in three building categories.
  • Small Commercial – Consumers Energy electric accounts smaller than 400,000 kWh annual usage or 6,000 MCF annual usage
  • Large Commercial– Consumers Energy electric accounts greater than 400,000 kWh annual usage or 6,000 MCF annual usage
  • Industrial – Consumers Energy electric or natural gas accounts classified as Industrial by SIC or NAICS code
These projects must demonstrate one or more of the following attributes:
  • Energy savings
  • Innovation
  • Repeatability
  • New technology or new use of existing technology
    What we provide:
  • Honorariums will be awarded to the selections in the amount of $15,000 for the customer and $5,000 for the trade ally, for each of the 3 projects selected, to compensate them for their time to present in forums throughout the year.
    Who can participate
  • Anyone can nominate an eligible project
  • Eligible projects must be new projects received on or after January 1, 2014, and completed and paid on or before September 30th, 2014. Awards will be announced in early December 2014.
  • Consumer's Energy electric and/or natural gas customers participating in the Large Business or New Construction program


Specialty Programs
Consumers Energy Business Solutions (CEBS) Specialty programs are designed to offer energy efficiency solutions to select market segments and specific customer needs. These specialty programs offer solutions for business like cash incentives, training, and energy information services to help commercial customers to improve energy efficiency and reduce demand.

Agriculture
The Agriculture program assists Michigan farmers, growers and producers by offering incentives for the completion of energy efficiency audits and energy efficiency projects. This program will incentivize the customer portion of an MSU/REAP energy audit payment, a USDA Tier II audit. The customer will not only receive an audit but access to incentives through the Consumers Energy Large Business program. The Consumers Energy Business Solutions team will review the results of the audit to provide guidance to the customer on energy efficiency projects. This program is available to both commercial customers and residential customers on an eligible farm rate code.

    Who can participate
  • Consumers Energy electric and/or natural gas customers
  • Customers on a commercial rate code ora residential farm rate code
  • Operating a full time agricultural operation where the measures are being installed
    What we provide
  • Audit incentive for completion of MSU/REAP USDA Tier II energy audit
  • Evaluation of audit results
  • Energy efficiency incentives through the Consumers Energy Business Solutions Program
Building Operator Certification
Building Operator Certification (BOC) is a competency-based training and certification program for operations and maintenance staff working in commercial, institutional, or industrial buildings. BOC achieves energy savings by training individuals directly responsible for the maintenance of energy-using building equipment and day-to-day building operations. Participants achieve certification by attending the training courses, passing each course exam, and by completing the hands-on projects using their own facilities. Upon successful completion of the course, Consumers Energy customers may be eligible for a rebate of up to $950 from Consumers Energy.

For more information and current class registration, please visit boccentral.org

Buy Michigan
Consumers Energy is dedicated to helping stimulate the growth of Michigan based companies as part of their efforts to attract and expand business opportunities throughout the state. Right now, Consumers Energy Business Solutions is offering a 15 percent bonus in addition to the current measure incentive when you install an energy efficient product that is manufactured by a Michigan based company. The Buy Michigan program is available to Consumers Energy Business Solutions program participants (owners, contractors and Trade Allies). Incentives from Consumers Energy make energy efficient upgrades more affordable and easier to implement. This program allows you to support the local economy in Michigan and promote sustainable buildings.

    Who can participate:
  • Consumers Energy electric and/or natural gas customers
  • Applications must be submitted to the Consumers Energy Large Business program
    Participating Manufacturers

    The following manufacturers have submitted affidavits to the program verifying their products meet the "Made in Michigan" requirements
  • AbsolutAire, Inc.
  • Applegate Insulation
  • Armstrong International
  • Detroit Radiant Products
  • Duro-Last Roofing
  • Ecologic (ESM)
  • Electro-Matic Products, Inc.
  • EverLast Lighting, Inc.
  • Great Lakes Air Products, Inc.
  • Johnston Boiler Company
  • LightCorp
  • Lumecon
  • Lumerica
  • MACAIR, Inc.
  • Marshall Engineered Products
  • Munters
  • Rapid Engineering, LLC
  • Reihl Efficient, LLC
  • Relume Technologies
  • Sky Blade
  • Toggled
Compressed Air
Multiple Measure Bonus
Dive deep into your energy efficiency projects and save more with the Consumers Energy Multiple Measure Bonus Program. Consumers Energy has designed a new program to offer you increased rebates on multi-faceted energy efficiency projects .The Multiple Measure Bonus program offers an additional bonus incentive of 15 percent of the total application incentive when a customer submits a single application to the Consumers Energy Business Solutions Program with measures in more than one category. Deep dive energy efficiency projects help the customer to realize a more significant reduction in energy usage, as well as promote a variety of energy efficiency measures across an entire facility. With the bonus incentive you have the opportunity to implement a greater number of energy efficiency projects.

    Who can participate
  • Consumers Energy natural gas and/or electric customers
  • Customers must submit a single application with energy efficiency projects in more than one category
  • Customer final applications submitted from December 3, 2013 through November 30, 2014 may be eligible to participate in the program
New Construction
The CEBS New Construction program provides an array of electric and natural gas incentives for business and/or industrial customers to reduce the amount of energy required by a building. Customers who design and construct their facilities with energy-efficient equipment that exceed standard building practices may be eligible for incentives. . Through early involvement in new construction or major renovation projects the program team can assist in design decisions which can impact the overall building energy efficiency. Program staff will provide an engineering review of projects that are currently in the design stages to target financial incentive opportunities for customers and design teams. The program works with design professionals to influence prospective building owners and developers to construct high-performance buildings that provide improved energy efficiency, systems performance, and comfort. Incentives can be pursued through either a Prescriptive/Custom application or a Whole Building Design application.

    Incentive Options
  • Prescriptive/Custom Application
  • Customers can choose from a prescriptive menu of measures with set incentives
  • Incentives available for only the facility owner
  • Whole Building Design Application
  • Performance energy modeling analysis demonstrating significant improvement in the proposed building design compared to the program baseline standard
  • Incentives available for both the facility own and design team
    Eligibility
  • The facility must be a commercial or industrial customer of Consumers Energy with at least one meter that is on an eligible rate code
  • Projects must result in a facility improvement with a permanent reduction in electrical (kWh) and/or natural gas (MCF) usage above baseline practices
  • The project MUST be in the design phase when submitting the pre-notification application
  • The new construction/major renovation project must meet the following definition – New building projects wherein no structure or site footprint presently exists; addition or expansion of an existing building or site footprint; or major tenant improvements that change the use of the space
Smart Buildings
The Consumers Energy Smart Buildings Program utilizes Operations and Maintenance (O&M) reviews in combination with enhanced energy audits that draw upon existing building commissioning techniques to assist Consumers Energy customers to optimize the energy efficiency of their facilities. The focus of the Smart Building Program is to optimize the existing HVAC systems, including the Building Automation System and individual heating, cooling and ventilation components, to meet their Current Facilities Requirements The O&M reviews are particularly effective at identifying no - or low - cost improvements that can provide short paybacks. Additional measures that could provide deeper savings and qualify for custom or prescriptive incentives through the Consumers Energy Business Solutions Large Business Program are also identified. The Smart Buildings program also utilizes and educates the customer on the ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager benchmarking tool for energy management.

    Eligibility
  • Consumers Energy provides electric service only or electric and natural gas service to your location
  • 75,000 SF of conditioned space (Heated and Cooled)
  • Modern Building Automation System with a majority of the building Direct Digital Controls
  • No major maintenance issues or building system upgrades planned
  • Management commitment and resources to support engineering study
  • Willing to commit at least $5,000 to implement recommended low/no cost measures with less than 1.5 year simple payback
  • Completion of the Consumers Energy Business Solutions Smart Building Application
    What we provide
  • Report with actionable Facility Improvement Measures, including potentials savings and payback
  • ENERGY STAR rating and instruction on how to use the Portfolio Manager tool
  • Recommendations on how to improve ENERGY STAR rating
  • Identification of potential measures qualifying for Consumers Energy Business Solutions Large Business program custom or prescriptive incentives