From rebates to VPP rewards: Use grid incentives to sell more energy devices

For customers considering a battery, EV charger, smart thermostat, or other energy technology, discounts and other incentives can make the difference between a purchase that feels out of reach and one that makes financial sense.

But timing matters. An incentive can only influence a buying decision if the customer knows about an offer before they make their decision.

If you've ever talked to Leap about growing customer participation in virtual power plants (VPPs), then you've heard this before: introduce the value when the customer is most engaged. When customers encounter a VPP offer at the point of sale, during installation, or early in the sales process, they sign up at substantially higher rates than after their device is already installed.

We’ve built our partner playbook around getting VPP enrollment into the sales conversation itself, not bolting it on afterward. The Leap Incentives Gateway is the next step in that strategy.

The point-of-sale advantage

Most customers don’t purchase a smart energy device because they’re actively looking for ways to support the grid. They’re trying to lower their energy bills, add backup power, charge an EV, improve their comfort, or upgrade equipment in their home or business.

Signing up for a VPP makes that purchase more compelling by adding ongoing rewards for grid participation. Future grid services revenue can also be baked into the device offer as an upfront product discount, turning VPP participation into an immediate, tangible incentive for customers. When VPP rewards are incorporated at the point-of-sale, they can contribute to the overall value package presented to customers. 

Plus, once a customer has already bought and installed their device, re-engaging them to sign up for a VPP gets harder, slower, and more expensive.

We’ve seen this play out directly with Leap partners. Samsung SmartThings and Leap identified an opportunity to increase participation in Samsung’s Flex Connect VPP program by introducing the sign-up incentive much earlier. By moving their VPP offer to the initial device setup process and reducing the number of sign-up steps, Samsung streamlined VPP enrollment into an organic part of device configuration for customers. 

The result was a 5X increase in daily and weekly meter authorizations, a reduction in onboarding drop-offs, and a more direct journey from device setup to grid participation.

Beyond VPP incentives

VPP participation is valuable, but it's not the only money on the table that can improve the economics of a smart energy purchase. 

Electric utilities across the U.S. offer ratepayers more than 16,000 active incentives and rebates for smart energy devices. Yet, these incentives often aren’t being used at the point-of-sale to influence purchase decisions. 

The overarching challenge is making customers aware of available incentives when they are deciding to buy – not after. A rebate discovered several weeks after installation may be a welcome benefit, but it doesn’t help the customer justify the original purchase. If these opportunities were instead incorporated into the sales process, providers could show customers a more accurate picture of what a product will actually cost, as well as the value it can continue to generate after installation.

Leap Incentives Gateway: Streamlined access across incentive types

The Leap Incentives Gateway pulls relevant incentives, rebates, and VPP opportunities into a single view that can be put in front of a customer by a sales team or in an online shopping path at the moment they are making the purchase decision. Using address and device type, Incentives Gateway can display available programs and calculate the incentive value for that specific customer. Instead of asking customers to piece together and apply for separate offers, providers can package available energy incentive value into a clearer financial story.

Partners who use Incentives Gateway can also leverage Leap’s rebate application filing capabilities to help customers claim the incentives available to them and capture as much potential value as possible. 

One API integration can support these offers across supported programs and sales channels, without requiring technology providers to build and maintain separate workflows for every incentive category. Sales teams can put more compelling offers in front of more customers, while reducing the operational burden of navigating program rules and application processes.

We’ve also extended Leap Connect to support the additional data collection commonly required for rebates, managed charging, and utility demand response programs. This allows those opportunities to live alongside Leap’s VPP programs and helps carry customers from initial qualification through enrollment and claim completion.

Making grid value mainstream

The point-of-sale model has already shown that VPP participation increases when the benefits are shown to the customer early in the buying decision process.

Incentives Gateway applies that lesson more broadly. By bringing the full range of available incentives into the sales process, technology providers can make purchases more affordable, increase conversion, deliver a better customer experience, and connect more devices to programs that support the grid.

It also gives VPPs a new role in the customer journey. Rather than appearing as a specialized program introduced after installation, VPP participation can become a mainstream smart energy benefit among rebates, credits, managed charging offers, and other incentives.

There is already significant funding available to accelerate the adoption of smarter, more flexible energy technologies. The next step is making that value visible when it can matter most.

Learn more about Incentives Gateway and sign up for the beta.