Do I need to be low income for the Consumers Energy rebate?

No. There is no income test of any kind. The only requirement is that Consumers Energy provides your natural gas or electric service, verified by your account number.

What if Consumers supplies my gas but not my electric?

Either service qualifies you. The agreement asks for a natural gas or electric account number with Consumers Energy and you indicate which applies.

When are the rebate funds reserved?

When you and your contractor sign the Homeowner Agreement, which can only happen after a full diagnostic assessment. The agreement expires after six months, so signing early protects the funds.

Does this work on a condo?

Yes. Single-family homes including condominiums are eligible, as long as the home is existing and occupied rather than new construction.

The Consumers Energy Rebate With No Income Limit

Almost every energy program in Michigan asks what your household earns. This one asks who sends your gas bill. If the answer is Consumers Energy, you are eligible — and that is the whole test.

Home Performance with ENERGY STAR is Consumers Energy’s own rebate program for making an existing house more efficient. It is implemented for them by ICF, and it is the most overlooked money in the Lansing area, because it does not come with the publicity a federal program gets.

The eligibility test is your utility bill

The program agreement is explicit: incentives are only for measures installed at a home that receives service from Consumers Energy and has a natural gas or electric service account number. The account number goes on the form.

Either service qualifies you. If Consumers supplies your gas and somebody else supplies your electric, that is fine.

The home has to be existing and occupied rather than new construction. Single-family homes are eligible, including condominiums.

There is no income verification, no documentation of earnings, and no waiting on a state approval.

What it pays for

Air sealing at several performance tiers, duct sealing and duct insulation, attic and roof insulation, above-grade wall insulation, kneewall, basement wall, crawlspace, floor and rim joist insulation. Also window and patio door replacement, natural gas furnaces, furnace and boiler tune-ups, Wi-Fi thermostats, and central air conditioning.

The published maximum is $3,750, depending on which improvements are done.

The order that matters

Rebate funds can only be reserved after a full diagnostic assessment has been carried out. That is not bureaucracy — the assessment produces the list of improvements the rebate pays against.

Once it is done, you and the contractor sign a Homeowner Agreement. That agreement reserves your rebate funds as of the date it is signed, and it expires after six months. Signing early is worth something real.

Funding is limited and allocated first come, first served, so availability is worth confirming before committing to anything.

The incentive is paid after the work, following a post-inspection and verification by somebody other than the contractor.

Why this one matters more than its size suggests

$3,750 is smaller than the state rebate ceilings. But those ceilings only reach households under particular income lines, and this one reaches everybody in Consumers territory. It is the program that catches the households the others turn away.

It also stacks. A Consumers rebate and a state rebate can both apply to the same project, up to 100% of its cost.

What we need from you to start

How old the house is, how it is heated, and whether Consumers bills you. We do not need to know what you earn, and we will not ask.