Utility economic development programs

O&R's economic development rate comes with an instruction that is easy to miss: apply before signing a lease or buying the property. The program takes 20 percent off the delivery portion of the bill for five years, and an application filed after the deal closes does not qualify. Each utility program in the region carries a timing rule of this kind, and the rules differ.

Programs that pay for infrastructure

National Grid's Electric Capital Investment Incentive offsets customer costs of utility upgrades tied to an expansion or new build. Eligible costs include line extensions, feeder or transmission upgrades, conduit and trenching, customer-owned substations, and engineering or feasibility studies capped at $50,000. Awards run from up to $50,000 for projects under $1 million of capital investment to up to $750,000 above $25 million, and funds cannot exceed 30 percent of the investment. The facility must be on a demand-metered or larger service classification, and the project needs support from an industrial development agency or similar public body. A developer using the program as part of an incentive offer must send a written request to National Grid's Economic Development Department before the project is announced.

Central Hudson's Infrastructure for Manufacturers program pays up to $200,000 for utility infrastructure at an undeveloped site and up to $100,000 for a vacant or severely underutilized one. It is limited to manufacturers in NAICS codes 31 through 33. Funding cannot exceed 33 percent of project cost, the owner must cover at least half, and the project must create or keep at least 20 full-time jobs paying over $40,000. Written approval comes before work starts, and work begun earlier is not reimbursed.

Programs that discount the bill

O&R's economic development rate requires at least 65 kW of added, separately metered load, a qualifying NAICS code and a package of state or local incentives. The project must be a new building, an expansion, or a building vacant at least three months, and an energy audit is required.

United Illuminating's economic development rate takes 15 percent off distribution rates on new or incremental load for five years, or 20 percent in distressed or environmental justice communities. The discount is capped at 50 percent of the incremental distribution revenue. The customer must reach 80 percent of its projected load within three years, and 90 percent after that, or repay the discount pro rata over 24 months.

Con Edison offers a business incentive rate on delivery charges. The state's utility program summary lists it without terms.

None of these discounts pays for the extension, the transformer or the study.

What the timing rules imply

The infrastructure programs ask for contact before an announcement or before work. The rate programs ask for an application before a lease or purchase, and UI's attaches a load commitment to the discount. A site chosen before any of those conversations may have used up the window in which the program was available.

The programs also route through a different door than a load inquiry. National Grid's program page directs written requests to its Economic Development Department, so a developer may be talking to two parts of the same utility, one about incentives and one about capacity.

What the published pages do not say

None of the pages read states whether a utility treats an inquiry from an economic development office differently from one by the property owner. The programs ask for evidence that other public support exists, and they do not publish how the application describes the site's power need.

Program terms change. These pages were read October 22, 2026, and the program documents govern.