WaterSmart Customized Rebates

EBMUD's water conservation rebates encourage businesses and industries to use water more efficiently. Rebates help offset the initial costs of installing water-saving hardware, equipment and systems. Rebate amounts are calculated based on estimated water savings to ensure program cost-effectiveness.

The offer is good for purchases made July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012 and is not retroactive.

Eligibility

EBMUD customers with commercial, industrial, or institutional accounts with EBMUD business classification codes for businesses, manufacturing, government facilities, and non-profit activities are eligible for this program.

Customers must participate in a water conservation survey that identifies water conservation measures and rebate opportunities, and submit a “Financial Incentives for Business and Industry” application form before starting improvements. EBMUD water conservation staff determines eligibility. Conservation measures that meet the following criteria may be eligible:

• Water conservation measures must involve installation of proven and reliable water-saving hardware or systems.
• For complex or untested measures, feasibility must be verifiable.
• The volume of existing water use for the hardware, equipment, or process to which the conservation measure applies must be reliably estimated.
• Expected water savings from a hardware installation, retrofit, or system modification must also be reliably estimated.
• Costs associated with the measure must be reliably estimated.
• Implementation of a measure must reduce existing levels of demand and/or future demand for potable EBMUD water.

Conservation measures that are not eligible: measures that a) rely primarily on behavior change (such as education or employee awareness programs) and do not involve the installation of water-saving hardware, equipment, or systems; b) are routine maintenance procedures; or c) are installed before application approval.

Rebate Amount

Rebate amounts are calculated for each proposed conservation measure based on estimated water savings and a current rate of $0.50 per billing unit (100 cubic feet or 748 gallons) of water saved. The payback period for each water conservation measure must be two years or more. The actual rebate amount may incorporate an estimated project/measure life expectancy. Rebates will not exceed half the installed cost of an approved measure. District staff will calculate rebate amount.

Note: This rebate program will not rebate items which have an ROI of less than two years or more then 50% of the cost of the retrofit item.

Participation

Customers can participate in this program by following these seven steps:

1. Application. Eligible customers must complete, sign, and submit an application form provided by the District. EBMUD Water Conservation staff will review applications for completeness and will evaluate measures based on the above program criteria. Applications that require more information will be returned with comments attached.
2. Mail Application. Review the application check list. Mail application and receipt(s) to:
   EBMUD
   Water Conservation
   P.O. Box 24055, MS 109
   Oakland, CA 94623-1055
3. Water Conservation Surveys. This free service is tailored to the size and nature of your business. To verify conservation measure feasibility, District staff must conduct a water use survey to determine estimated water savings and potential rebates.
4. Participation Agreement. Approved applicants will be sent a notice of approval and a Participation Agreement prepared by the District. The Participation Agreement will state a rebate amount and a time frame for measure completion. A signed Participation Agreement must be returned to the District. Rebate funds will be reserved for the duration of the Participation Agreement. Extensions to the Participation Agreement may be requested in writing, and approved requests will be confirmed in writing by EBMUD.
5. Notification of completion. Upon completed installation of a measure, it is the participant's responsibility to notify the District and submit documentation of costs. This should include an itemized list of costs and copies of receipts for design, purchase, and installation of a measure.
6. Installation inspection. A brief site visit to the facility by District staff will be required to verify satisfactory installation of the approved measure. For smaller rebate amounts and simple technologies, the installation inspection requirement may be waived.
7. Rebate issuance. All rebates issued will be in a form of a credit on EBMUD water metered account(s). Upon successful completion of items 1 through 7 and based on the rebate amount, rebates will be issued accordingly upon verifying completed installation. All rebate procedures and amounts are subject to change.
8. Follow up monitoring. Water consumption will be tracked to monitor actual water savings from measure implementation. Participants may be contacted to better quantify actual savings. Follow-up site visits may be requested in some cases.

The documents below are PDF files which can be viewed and printed with Adobe Acrobat Reader, a free software.

(NOTE: The HET rebate application is a fillable PDF. Just fill out, print, sign and mail it in.)