LED savings calculator
Most lighting quotes give you one savings number. I will give you the range, and show you every number behind it.
Pick what is up there now, how many, and how long they run.
Published wattage tables for the old fixtures
Real prices, the same ones I put on a quote
No rebate field, because Alberta does not have a rebate
Dmitry Naboka, Master Electrician #13824, 14 years in the trade.
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What business customers say
Nobody has left us a review on a lighting retrofit yet, so I am not going to show you one. These two are real, from a business customer and a repeat electrical customer.
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Why a range
The four numbers that move the answer, and the one everybody gets wrong
The one people get wrong is the power rate. The energy line on your bill is not what a kilowatt hour costs you.
The difference is these four
Distribution
Transmission
Rate riders
Municipal franchise fee
The four options
The cheapest option is not the one I recommend, and I will tell you why in writing
| Option | Load after | Per fixture | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tube on the existing ballast | 7.3 kW | $105 to $135 | The ballast stays in and keeps drawing. It is also still the part most likely to fail. Saves the least. |
| Tube, ballast removed | 6.2 kW | $179 to $215 | More labour up front. Nothing left in the fixture to fail. Usually the right answer. |
| New fixture, one for one | 4.2 to 5.7 kW | $241 to $275 | Best light quality and the biggest cut. Costs the most and the old fixtures go in the bin. |
| Fewer high bays | 6.0 kW on 40 fixtures | $490 to $540 | Only works over 18 ft of ceiling. Under that you get dark aisles between the fixtures. Can raise your bill on small fixtures. |
I price four options on the same 104 fixtures, from $11,443 to $26,242. All four go on one page with the load and the payback beside each, and the middle one is usually the right answer. That is the point of showing all four.
Dmitry Naboka, Master Electrician #13824What other quotes leave out
Five things that are true, cost money, and are missing from most lighting quotes
There is no rebate to apply for
Energy Efficiency Alberta wound up in 2020. The Emissions Reduction Alberta Energy Savings for Business program is fully allocated. SEMI is industrial only. What is real is the capital cost allowance, Class 8 at 20 percent, which your accountant claims, not me.
ERA Energy Savings for Business program overview ERA Energy Savings for Business FAQ CRA capital cost allowance classes EnergyRates.ca on the wound up Alberta business program
HID to LED needs a permit
It is an improvement to the installation, not maintenance. In Edmonton a stand alone electrical permit runs $160 on a job up to $3,000 and $405 from $10,001 to $50,000, plus a 4 percent Safety Codes Levy. Those are the fees effective January 1, 2026.
City of Edmonton commercial electrical permits Edmonton 2026 Planning and Development Fee Schedules, Appendix D
Your municipality may force a more expensive fixture
Your municipality may force a more expensive fixture. Four different answers inside an hour of Edmonton:
Strathcona County Land Use Bylaw s.3.10 St. Albert Land Use Bylaw 18/2024 s.3.24 Parkland County Land Use Bylaw, consolidated Spruce Grove Land Use Bylaw C-824-12 Part 6 s.37 Edmonton Zoning Bylaw 20001 s.5.120
347 V is not the same fixture
Most Alberta commercial exterior is 347 V and a 347 V capable wall pack costs about 22 percent more. On tube retrofits, STANDATA 24-ECB-030 restricts double ended lamps at 347 V outright.
The old ballasts might be hazardous waste
Ballasts made before 1980 can contain PCBs, which makes them Class 9 dangerous goods under UN2315. They go to Aevitas in Edmonton under EPEA approval 134-05-00 and the Certificate of Recycling goes in your turnover package. The Eco Station will not accept them from a business.
Environment and Climate Change Canada, PCB rules for electrical contractors Aevitas Edmonton, EPEA approval 134-05-00 Alberta PCB checklist Edmonton Eco Station accepted items and fees
Straight answers
The questions I get asked on every walkdown
Why does the calculator give me a range instead of one number?
Because until I meter one of your fixtures I do not know where inside the wattage band it sits. A four lamp T8 draws 110 W on a normal ballast factor and 132 W on a high one. Same fixture, same tubes, 20 percent apart. A single number would mean I picked one and hid the guess. The range is the honest version, and it narrows to a number on the walkdown.
Is there an LED rebate in Alberta?
No. Energy Efficiency Alberta was wound up in 2020. The Emissions Reduction Alberta Energy Savings for Business program is fully allocated and closed to new applications. SEMI is industrial only. Anyone quoting you a rebate on a commercial LED retrofit in Alberta right now is either working off old information or hoping you do not check. What is real is the capital cost allowance write off, Class 8 at 20 percent.
Does an LED retrofit need an electrical permit?
Going from HID or fluorescent to LED changes the installation, so yes, it takes a permit. Swapping a lamp for the same lamp is maintenance and does not. That distinction is where a lot of cheap lighting quotes live, and it is the customer who inherits the problem at resale or insurance time, not the installer.
Why is the ballast bypass option more expensive than leaving the ballast in?
Because somebody has to open every fixture, remove the ballast, rewire the sockets and relabel the fixture per CSA C22.2 No. 250.1. That is labour. Leaving the ballast in is faster and cheaper on day one, and then the ballast keeps drawing power and stays the part most likely to fail. I will install either one. I just will not pretend they are the same product.
My building is 347 V. Does that matter?
It matters a lot, and most Alberta commercial buildings are 347 V. Alberta STANDATA 24-ECB-030 restricts double ended LED lamp retrofits at 347 V. If somebody quotes you a Type B tube retrofit on a 347 V system without mentioning that bulletin, they have not read it.
What happens to the old tubes and ballasts?
Tubes have mercury and ballasts made before 1980 in Canada can contain PCBs. PCB ballasts are Class 9 dangerous goods, UN2315. They go to Aevitas in Edmonton under EPEA approval 134-05-00 and you get the Certificate of Recycling in your turnover package. The Eco Station will take tubes at a dollar each and will not take PCB ballasts from a business at all.
By building type
The same calculator, with the parts that only matter on your kind of building
Every one of these pages carries the wattage tables, the code notes and the price bands for that building type, plus the questions I actually get asked on it.
Next step
Book the walkdown
Free. About an hour.You get a written scope with the option prices side by side.
What I measure while I am there
- 1
I count the fixtures
- 2
I meter one
- 3
I meter the load you have now
- 4
I confirm your supply voltage
- 5
I hand you a written scope with the option prices side by side
The calculator gives you a range. The walkdown is what turns it into a number I will stand behind.
Booked. I have your number.
I will call you within 24 hours to set the time. If you want it sooner, call or text me at (780) 904-3462.
I do the walkdown myself. I meter a fixture, count what is actually up there, read your municipal lighting bylaw before I show up, and hand you a written scope with the option prices side by side. No pressure, and no rebate that does not exist.
Dmitry Naboka, Master Electrician #13824, 14 years in the trade