The rebate scam shield
The Minnesota Department of Commerce is actively warning homeowners about unsolicited energy rebate offers. The confusion around the unlaunched Save Energy Minnesota program is exactly the environment scammers work best in. Here's how to not be the mark.
How the scam works
Someone calls, texts, or knocks: they can "get you the new $14,000 government rebate," but you need to act today — sign here, put down a deposit, or hand over your utility account number and Social Security number to "check eligibility."
Every part of that is backwards. The $14,000 program hasn't launched and has nothing to sign up for. Real rebates never require a deposit to "reserve" them. And no legitimate program cold-calls you — you apply to them, through your utility's website or the state's, after the work is quoted.
Red flags
- They contacted you first — about a program you never applied to.
- Urgency: "funds run out this week," "today only," "I'm in the neighborhood."
- Any request for a deposit, gift cards, or bank details to "claim" a rebate.
- Asking for your Social Security number or utility login to "check eligibility."
- Claims they can enroll you in Save Energy Minnesota — it has not launched.
- No Minnesota contractor license number on the truck, contract, or estimate.
- Pressure to sign before you've seen the official rebate page yourself.
What legitimate looks like
You find the contractor, not the other way around. They give you a written, itemized quote. The rebate goes through your utility's own website (or, later, the state's official portal) — usually as a form you or the contractor files after installation, paid by check or bill credit. The contractor has a verifiable Minnesota license, and for utility rebates that require it, they're on the utility's own participating contractor list, which is public.
Verify a license in the state's free DLI license lookup. Verify any rebate number on the official program page — every figure on this site links to its source for exactly that reason.
Verify-before-you-sign checklist
- Look up the rebate on the official program page yourself (not a link they sent).
- Check the contractor's Minnesota license in the DLI lookup.
- If the rebate requires a participating contractor, find them on the utility's own list.
- Get the itemized quote in writing, with the rebate shown as a line item, not a promise.
- Never pay a deposit to "reserve" a rebate, and never share your SSN to "check eligibility."
- Sleep on it. Real rebates will exist tomorrow.