How Big Will My Grant Be?

It’s the first question people ask when considering whether to file for a TERP grant be it the ERIG or Rebate Grant program – and with good reason. Filing is an involved process and it should be worth your while.

Here's a brief overview. The two programs take different approaches.

Rebate grants use charts the state updates each round to assign a value. You only need to know the model year and horsepower of the existing unit and its replacement to estimate your grant. Rebate grants are less complicated to file, but they also will usually bring less money. If your machine normally racks up significant operating hours each year the Emissions Reduction Incentive Grant is a better paying option.

Why is that?

The ERIG system takes more factors into consideration. When doing an estimate for this program we plug in the following for both machines: NOx emission factor (determined by EPA tier level rating and range of horsepower), gross horsepower, annual hours of usage and the dollar amount you want to be paid for every ton of emission you DON'T put in the air with your newer, cleaner engine.

As you probably noticed hours of annual use is one of the multipliers. All other factors being equal a machine that operates 2,000 hours a year will receive a grant twice as large as a machine that operates 1,000 hours a year in the ERIG program. Hours of annual use do not affect the size of Rebate Grants.

When estimating what your grant would pay (if approved) you may want to leave no stone unturned and run the numbers for both programs, especially if you are new to this.

I can tell you that normally people who run machines around 600 hours a year do better filing Rebate Grants. People who run machines 1,500 hours or more get more from ERIG. That having been said, it's doesn't hurt to run the numbers on both to be sure, especially if your hours fall somewhere in between.

Again, here is the info you needed to do a TERP estimate:

Rebate Grant
Old/existing unit's (engine) model year
Old/existing unit's gross horsepower
New/replacement unit's (engine) model year
New/replacement unit's gross horsepower

ERIG
Old/existing unit’s (engine) model year
Old/existing unit’s gross horsepower
Old/existing unit’s annual hours of usage averaged over the last two years
New/replacement unit’s (engine) model year
New/replacement unit’s gross horsepower
New/replacement unit’s projected annual hours of usage
NOx rating for both machines*

*This is determined using the model year and horsepower. If taking advantage of our free estimates this is not required - we'll use the other info and plug the rating in.

Finally, sometimes it is helpful to have serial numbers for the estimate. If you aren't sure of a model year or horsepower then a reference guide can help you see where one model year ended and the next began.

If you decide to file you'll need the serials for the unit and the engine anyway.