Rebates and incentives

Rebate application cost benefit calculator

Enter the payout, your odds of approval, and how many hours it'll take. Get a straight effective hourly rate and a plain verdict.

Your program

1 Project details Optional
2 Program name Optional
3 Payout and odds
Use 100% for programs that approve any qualifying application. Lower this for budget-limited or competitive programs.
4 Effort and cost
Include document gathering, form filling, and any follow-up communication.
Include fees for an appraisal, inspection, or notarized document if the program requires one.
Use your actual hourly wage, or a comparable rate for how you'd otherwise spend this time.

How it works

Three steps to your verdict

Step 1

Get an honest hours estimate

Include everything: locating old bills, filling out the form, submitting photos, and any back-and-forth if the program follows up with questions. Underestimating this step is the most common mistake people make here.

Step 2

Check the program's real approval odds

A budget-limited program with a history of running out of funds early deserves a lower probability than a program that approves every qualifying application. Check the rebate deadline tracker if timing affects your odds of getting in before funds run out.

Step 3

Compare the verdict against your other options

A marginal verdict on one program doesn't mean skip solar incentives altogether. Check the rebate stacking tool for other programs that might be a clearer win for your specific situation.

Why this calculation is worth doing before you apply

Not every rebate is automatically worth pursuing

Most solar rebate applications are quick and clearly worth the time, but some smaller or more complicated programs genuinely aren't, especially once you count the hours honestly. Treating every available incentive as automatically worth chasing can mean spending disproportionate time on a $75 rebate while a bigger, easier opportunity sits unclaimed.

Probability-adjusting the payout matters

A rebate that pays $3,000 but only funds 1 in 3 applicants due to a limited annual budget has an expected value closer to $1,000, not $3,000. Multiplying the payout by your realistic odds of approval, rather than assuming certainty, gives a more honest picture of what your time investment is actually worth. Check historical approval rates on the program's site or ask your installer, who often has direct experience with local programs. The rebate deadline tracker can help you spot which budget-limited programs are worth prioritizing. Before you count on any incentive, check the DSIRE database of state incentives for your state's current programs.

Time is a real cost, even without a paycheck attached

Even if you're not giving up billable work hours, time spent gathering documents and filling out forms is time not spent on something else you value. Using a personal time-value figure, even a rough one, makes the comparison more honest than assuming your time costs nothing. This is the same logic professionals use when deciding whether a task is worth doing themselves or outsourcing. See the rebates and incentives hub for the full list of programs worth weighing against each other. The IRS instructions for Form 5695 set out which costs qualify and how to claim them.

When the paperwork clearly isn't worth it

The clearest case for skipping an application is a small, uncertain payout that requires an out-of-pocket cost to even apply, like a paid appraisal or an engineering report. If the out-of-pocket cost approaches or exceeds the probability-adjusted expected value, the math rarely works out. Combine this with the federal ITC calculator to make sure you're not missing a bigger, easier incentive elsewhere first.

With your rebate total in hand, the combined loan and rebate timing tool shows the monthly payment on the amount you still need to borrow. If you may qualify for low-income solar programs beyond what's covered here, the community solar for low-income households tool is worth checking too.

Questions

Frequently asked

Divide the expected payout, adjusted for your odds of approval, by the hours the application will realistically take. A $500 rebate that takes 2 hours to apply for works out to $250 an hour, which is worth pursuing for almost anyone. A $75 rebate that takes 4 hours of document gathering works out to under $20 an hour, which is a much closer call depending on what your time is worth.

Yes. A program with a large payout but a low approval rate, due to a small annual budget or strict eligibility screening, has a lower expected value than the sticker payout suggests. If a program has historically funded only a fraction of applicants, weighting the payout by that approval rate gives a more honest picture of what your time is likely worth.

Include gathering documentation, filling out forms, any required photos or inspections you coordinate yourself, and follow-up communication if the program requests more information. People commonly underestimate this by only counting the time to fill out the form itself, missing the hours spent locating old utility bills or tax documents.

Rarely, since most rebate applications take under an hour once you have your documents ready. The exception is a small, uncertain payout requiring specialized paperwork like a professional appraisal or engineering report, where the out-of-pocket cost to apply can exceed the expected value of the rebate itself.

Related tools

Keep checking your incentives

Rebate deadline tracker Rebate stacking tool Low income program eligibility Federal ITC calculator Rebate plus ITC combined calculator SREC value estimator California incentive estimator All rebates and incentives tools