The Bright Energy Solutions (BES) program cut about 3.9 megawatts (MW) of peak load in 2025 with a total program cost of $758 per kilowatt (kW). Since 2008, BES has reduced peak demand by almost 100 MW, averaging about $574 per kW.
Similar to previous years, commercial and industrial (C&I) programs accounted for 92% of peak demand savings and 84% of total incentives. The impact of lighting projects continued to decline due to near-saturation of LED lighting in existing buildings. Lighting projects made up about 41% of total demand savings in 2025, down from about 73% in 2017.
The C&I HVAC, Custom, and Compressed Air programs each accounted for about 13% of 2025 demand reductions.
Residential HVAC (8.5%) and ENERGY STAR® products (1.5%) combined to make up 10% of total demand savings in 2025, while accounting for 17% of incentive dollars and 69% of total projects.
Since the inception of the BES program in 2008, MRES has processed about 59,000 rebate applications and paid nearly $30 million in rebates to members’ retail customers.
Beneficial electrification incentives totaled $72,156 in 2025, adding nearly 20,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) of load over the lifetime of the equipment. About 54% of electrification incentives went toward air-source heat pumps, while 36% was for electric forklifts and infrared heaters in industrial applications. BES rebated 49 home electric vehicle chargers in 2025, bringing the total number of home chargers rebated to 173 since rolling out that program in 2020.