Built by an attorney who reads the fine print for a living
My name is Dan Swenson. I am a data nerd who is also a Minnesota workers' compensation attorney and a city council member. Public information should not be hard to use, so I build this network of sites as a hobby: I pull scattered public records out of PDFs and government databases and turn them into tools regular people can actually use. I do not use these sites to find legal clients, except for MN Comp Buddy which is my actual day job. The tools are free. The sites pay for their own hosting through clearly disclosed referral links and a few optional paid guides.
The attorney habit that runs this site: every dollar figure links to the official source, and every program status shows the date we last verified it. When a program hasn't launched (like Save Energy Minnesota), we say "not launched, no date" in plain sight, because the Department of Commerce is actively warning about scammers who claim otherwise. When federal rules change and make published amounts uncertain, we flag the figures as provisional instead of letting them look settled.
The rebate checker itself never stores what you enter. Your answers are used only to filter public program data, and the shareable results link keeps those answers in the URL on your device: not in our database. (If you subscribe to a launch alert or request a contractor contact, that's a separate, explicit step.)
Where the data comes from
- Utility rebates: the official rebate pages of Xcel Energy, CenterPoint Energy, Minnesota Power, and other Minnesota utilities, checked by hand and re-verified on the date shown with each program.
- State and federal programs:the Minnesota Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the IRS: cited directly, including when the honest answer is "expired" or "not launched yet."
- Your electric utility:determined from the State of Minnesota's official electric service area boundaries (MnGeo), not guesswork by ZIP code.
What this site is not
MN Rebate Buddy is not affiliated with the State of Minnesota, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, or any utility, and nothing here is legal or tax advice: reading this site doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. No utility or contractor pays to appear here or to look better than the official source says. If we ever refer you to a contractor, we'll disclose it plainly. Some results pages also show optional Amazon product links for DIY energy items (weatherstripping, thermostats, LEDs, and similar); those are Associates links and are disclosed next to the products. See our privacy policy for what happens to anything you submit.
Spotted an error?
Detail-oriented is a promise, not a boast. If a rebate amount, deadline, or program status here doesn't match the official source it links to, I want to know: dan@mnbuddynetwork.com. Corrections ship fast here.
The Buddy family
MN Rebate Buddy is one of a family of free Minnesota public-data tools I build and maintain: same approach on every one: official data, plain-English explanations, honest framing about what the data can and can't prove, and no charge to homeowners or workers.
MN Property Tax Buddy
Your Twin Cities metro property assessment, how much it jumped, and whether an appeal is worth it: from county data.
MN Hail Buddy
Free NOAA radar hail history for any Minnesota address, storm archive, and licensed-contractor lookup.
MN Comp Buddy
Minnesota workers' compensation calculators and plain-English benefit guides. Nothing you enter leaves your computer.
MN Public Tools
Minnesota local government meetings, budgets, and public records.