Con Edison's 2026 C&I incentive program expires December 31. What NYC building owners should know

The dates that matter

1. October 15, 2026 (passed): the 2026 rate guarantee. “All projects must be completed (all documents received, and project is ready for post inspection) by October 15, 2026, to be guaranteed for 2026 incentive rates. Incentives for projects completed after this date may be reduced.” (Manual section 1.5, page 9) The program page gives the same date under Installation Deadlines: “Please complete installation and submit the required paperwork by October 15, 2026.”
2. October 31, 2026: gas bonus inspections. The 2026 gas bonus on the program page took applications from May 1 to September 30, 2026, so it is closed to new projects. Projects already in it must “receive a pass or cured result by October 31, 2026.”
3. December 15, 2026: the next manual. Con Edison's program tools page, under “2027 Tools”: “Incentive rates will be effective with the release of the Program Manual, scheduled for December 15, 2026, and remain subject to change.”
4. December 31, 2026: program expiration, or earlier if funds are depleted or the program is terminated. (Manual page 40)
5. Windows only: October 15, 2027. “Customers may request 2026 incentive rates to be guaranteed through 2027 for Window Replacement and Secondary Window System projects completed by October 15, 2027. To apply for consideration, Customers must submit a Project Installation Plan.” (Manual section 1.5, page 9)
6. Jamaica, Southeast Queens only: apply by December 31, 2026, finish by May 1, 2027. For the Non-Wires Solutions Neighborhood Bonus, “Project applications must be submitted to the C&I Program no later than December 31, 2026, and installed and ready for post-installation inspection no later than May 1, 2027, to be eligible.” (Manual section 1.9.4, page 15) The bonus is $2,000 per kW saved, “up to 100% of each measure cost, and 100% of the total project cost, including all offers through the C&I Energy Efficiency Program.” Conditions: the site must be in the Jamaica electric network (page 14), and custom measures need at least 15 kW of peak demand savings.

One ceiling per account, not one per measure

The cap language, in full:

“Prescriptive and custom incentives cannot exceed 50% of the customer's project cost for eligible measure(s) and 100% of each measure cost. Total incentives are capped at $1,000,000 for all projects, per account per year.”

Manual section 1.2, page 8

“For all projects, per account per year” means one ceiling per Con Edison account, not one per project or per measure type. A building automation upgrade, envelope work and a heat pump retrofit on the same account in the same year all draw on the same $1,000,000. Each one also stays within 50% of project cost and 100% of each measure's cost.

2026 rates, for reference

These are rates applied to savings Con Edison approves. They are not dollar amounts, and nothing here should be added up into a building total. Con Edison says “All measures and incentives listed below are subject to change at the discretion of Con Edison without prior written notification” (section 2.0, page 16), and “Con Edison's determination of incentive amounts is final” (section 9.0, page 39). For projects completed after October 15, 2026, these rates “may be reduced” (page 9).

Any project that adds electric load needs a Master Case ID (MCID), and “Con Edison requires that all non-residential building electrification projects have adequate service before they are eligible to receive incentives” (page 17).

Who is eligible

1. A directly metered Con Edison commercial or industrial account. “Commercial or industrial accounts include all non-residential accounts, except for those associated with multifamily buildings.” (Section 1.4, page 8)
2. For electric saving and electrification measures, “a Con Edison nonresidential account over 100 kW average peak demand on a rolling 12-month basis.” Commercial customers between 100 and 300 kW “may also choose to participate with Con Edison through the Small Biz and Non-Profit Program.” (Section 1.4, page 9)
3. For gas saving measures, any Con Edison commercial account “except customers with a service class of SC-14 or customers receiving service via a negotiated contract.” (Page 9)
4. Multifamily buildings are not eligible. In a mixed-use building, “only the commercial or industrial portion of the building is eligible.” (Page 8)
5. Existing buildings only, as a retrofit or gut renovation. “New construction is not eligible for this program.” (Section 1.5, page 9)
6. No second incentive for the same project: the customer “must not have applied for or received an incentive from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), Con Edison or another utility for the same project.” (Page 8)

What to do before December 31

1. If you already hold a Notice to Proceed, finish inside its time limit. “Con Edison will honor all written commitments made in the Notice to Proceed sent to customers prior to the date of any change, modification or termination of this program, provided that project installations are fully completed within the time specified in the Preliminary Incentive Offer and Notice to Proceed.” (Page 40) The Notice to Proceed “allows 90 days to complete your project and submit your completion paperwork” (page 7). Completion paperwork means the signed Completion Certificate and itemized final invoices, plus decommissioning checklists for full-load electrification (page 7).
2. If you have not applied, do not buy, sign or install anything yet. “Qualifying projects do not include any electric or gas energy-efficiency measures or energy-efficiency equipment or services purchased, contracted for, or installed prior to the date of Con Edison's Preliminary Incentive Offer, the date of any required pre-installation inspection or the date of customer's receipt of a Notice to Proceed.” (Page 39)
3. Follow the sequence in section 1.1 (pages 6 to 7): submit the application package (program application in the account holder's name, a statement of work with material and labor split out, the Con Edison Excel tool where one applies, cut sheets, a W-9, and an MCID for any project that adds electric load); sign and return the Preliminary Incentive Offer Letter, which “expires in 30 days if not returned to Con Edison”; allow the pre-inspection; wait for the Notice to Proceed; install; submit completion paperwork; pass the post-inspection.
4. Ask which year's terms your project gets, and get the answer in writing. The manual's cover says “Submitted applications will be eligible for the rates and conditions in effect on the date of application to the program” (page 1). The completion deadline says incentives for projects completed after October 15 “may be reduced” (page 9). The sources do not say how those two fit together for a project applied for in late 2026 and finished in 2027. Since Con Edison honors what the Notice to Proceed commits to in writing, that is where you want the answer.
5. Replacing windows? Submit a Project Installation Plan with the application to ask for 2026 rates through October 15, 2027 (pages 9 and 16).
6. In the Jamaica network? Apply by December 31, 2026 (page 15).
7. Electrifying? Start the MCID early, because adequate electric service is a precondition for the incentive (page 17).

What we do not know

1. How much lower the incentive is for projects completed after October 15, 2026. The manual says only “may be reduced,” and the program page gives no figure. Unverified.
2. Whether funds run out before December 31. The manual lets the program expire “when funds are depleted.” Neither Con Edison source we read publishes a remaining balance. Unverified.
3. Whether a Notice to Proceed whose time limit runs past December 31 is covered when the program expires. The commitment clause names “change, modification or termination”; expiration is its own clause. Unverified. Ask, and get it in writing.
4. What 2027 pays, what its ceiling is, and when it ends. Unverified. It stays that way until Con Edison publishes the manual it says is scheduled for December 15, 2026. Con Edison has already posted 2027 versions of its savings calculators on the tools page. We are not quoting any 2027 rate or cap from them, because Con Edison says the rates take effect only with the manual and “remain subject to change.”

What replaces it

The manual says Con Edison runs this program under the New York State Public Service Commission's “May 15, 2025 Order Authorizing Non-LMI Portfolios for 2026- 2030” (section 1.0, page 5). The 2026 manual is the first program year of that cycle. Con Edison's tools page lists “2027 Tools” and a Program Manual “scheduled for December 15, 2026.”

So December 31 ends the 2026 terms. Con Edison's own pages point to a 2027 program year, but the 2027 terms are unverified until that manual is out. We will update this post when it is published.

How IncentEdge treats these programs

In an IncentEdge building estimate, the three counted Con Edison C&I lines (electric efficiency, gas efficiency and building electrification) carry the December 31, 2026 end date. They use the low end of each published rate range and share one $1,000,000 per-account ceiling and one 50% project-cost limit, as the manual's section 1.2 reads. The custom pathway is listed but not counted, because its published rates equal the low ends already counted on the same savings. We cannot see an account's 12-month peak demand, so we screen with a 25,000 square foot proxy for the 100 kW test. It is a stand-in, not the real test, and your bill history decides. We never print a combined total across programs, because stacking between programs is not adjudicated.

Sources

1. Con Edison, C&I Energy Efficiency and Electrification Program Manual, Program Year 2026, Version 1.1 (issued and effective July 1, 2026). Read October 25 and October 26, 2026.
2. Con Edison, Savings for Commercial & Industrial Customers (program page, undated). Read October 25, 2026.
3. Con Edison, Commercial and Industrial Program Tools and Technical Guidelines (undated). Read October 25, 2026.