If you’re a customer of Portland General Electric or Pacific Power, Energy Trust of Oregon can help out with rebates and other financial incentives when you upgrade or make improvements to equipment.

Eligible items include installing a variable frequency drive on your pump or doing a green rewind on a motor that’s gone kaput rather than replacing it. Upgrading light fixtures and lighting controls, such as replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs, will pay dollars per fixture when replaced. The list is long for irrigation-related improvements: from simple replacement of regulators, sprinklers, or gaskets to going to scientific irrigation scheduling, which uses soil moisture monitors, weather station data, and evapotranspiration rates to apply water only when it’s really needed.

Energy Trust of Oregon is an independent, nonprofit organization whose funding comes from utility customers (that may include you!) via the public purpose charge on their monthly bills.