TL;DR
Idaho Power funds two separate things, and most building owners use neither. The first is a detailed energy assessment, an ASHRAE Level 2 audit, reimbursed at 75% of cost, up to $12,500. The second is the custom project incentive, which pays the lesser of $0.20 per kWh saved per year or 70% of eligible project cost for the upgrades the audit identifies. You pick your own consultant. The audit money is close to free; the upgrade money is substantial. Here is how both work.
Two programs, constantly confused
Almost every write-up on Idaho Power's commercial incentives blurs two distinct programs into one number. They are not the same thing, and understanding the difference is what lets you capture both instead of one.
The detailed energy assessment pays for the study, the engineering work that finds where your building is wasting energy. The custom project incentive pays for the fix, the equipment and measures that actually reduce consumption. One funds the diagnosis, the other funds the cure.
1. The detailed energy assessment (the audit money)
Idaho Power reimburses 75% of the cost of a detailed energy assessment, up to $12,500. In practice this is an ASHRAE Level 2 audit: a comprehensive, on-site analysis of your building's systems that quantifies energy conservation measures with costs, savings, and paybacks.
The important detail most owners don't realize: you choose your own consultant. There is no approved-contractor list to get onto and no competitive bid to win. You solicit a proposal from a qualified energy professional, the assessment gets done, and you submit the report and invoice for reimbursement. Idaho Power also offers a no-cost scoping assessment as a lighter first look, but the detailed assessment is where the real analysis (and the 75% reimbursement) lives.
2. The custom project incentive (the upgrade money)
Once the audit identifies measures worth doing, the custom project incentive helps pay to install them. It pays the lesser of $0.20 per kWh saved per year or 70% of eligible project cost. For low- and no-cost operational measures, the energy management track can pay up to 100% of eligible cost (capped at $0.025 per kWh saved per year).
Custom means exactly that: instead of a fixed rebate for a specific piece of equipment, the incentive is calculated from the verified energy savings of your specific project. That favors buildings with real inefficiency to fix, which is most of them. Pre-approval is required before the work starts, so the sequence matters.
Who qualifies
These programs are for Idaho Power commercial and industrial customers. The detailed assessment reimbursement is available to customers on rate schedules 9P, 19P, and special contracts; rate 9S customers are reviewed case by case. If you don't know your rate schedule, it's on your bill, and confirming eligibility is the first thing to check.
How the money actually flows
The order of operations is what trips people up. Done right, it looks like this:
- Confirm your rate schedule and eligibility with Idaho Power
- Engage a qualified consultant and run the detailed (ASHRAE Level 2) assessment
- Submit the report and invoice for the 75% / $12,500 audit reimbursement
- Get pre-approval for the measures you plan to install, then build them
- Verify savings and collect the custom project incentive
What a qualifying audit looks like
An ASHRAE Level 2 audit is more than a walk-through. It includes a detailed review of energy bills and consumption patterns, an on-site survey of major systems (HVAC, lighting, controls, process loads), and a quantified list of energy conservation measures with estimated savings and payback. That rigor is what makes the report acceptable for reimbursement, and it's what turns the custom project incentive from a guess into a number.
How not to leave money on the table
The most common mistake is treating the audit as the finish line. The reimbursement makes the study nearly free, but the real return is in implementing the measures and capturing the custom incentive on top of the energy savings themselves. The second most common mistake is starting a project before pre-approval, which can forfeit the incentive entirely.
I do this work in Idaho the same way I do compliance work in Washington and Oregon: I run the assessment, handle the paperwork, and stay through implementation so the savings (and the incentive) actually show up. Tell me about your facility and I'll tell you what's likely worth pursuing.
Idaho Power customer with a mid-size facility?
Most eligible buildings never use these programs. Let's see what yours qualifies for.