NSW LED downlight rebate
NSW LED downlight rebate Sydney: $30 per light installed after rebate
Old halogen or CFL downlights out, new compliant LED downlights in, for $30 per light installed across metro Sydney. That is the price after the NSW Energy Savings Scheme rebate, claimed for you by an accredited provider. The whole fitting is replaced, not the globe, so you get a new sealed LED downlight with a fresh warranty and no transformer left in the ceiling.
Minimum job size is 50 lights. The rebate on each light is small and the compliance and paperwork on every job is fixed, so no accredited installer can quote below that. Count your lights, check your price below, and if you are at 50 or more you can book a site visit straight away.
Emerald HP Eclipse, 50 lights or more
Inc GST, NSW rebate already off, whole fitting replaced
- 5W, 500 lumens, tri-colour 3000K / 4000K / 5000K by switch
- 70mm or 90mm cut-out to suit your existing holes
- IC-4 rated, insulation can sit over it, 3 year warranty
- NSW ESS accepted fitting, licensed electrician, paperwork done
Real Sydney job
Before and after: 50W halogens to 5W LEDs
Same bedroom, same day, same six ceiling points. Old halogens on the left, new tri-colour LED downlights on the right. Drag the handle.
Yellow, uneven pools of light and a hot ceiling on the left. Even, white, cooler light on the right, from 30W total instead of 300W.
Check your price
Count every downlight in the house, including hallways, garage and outdoor eaves.
Any dimmer is replaced with an LED dimmer at $30 each so the new lights do not flicker.
The rebate
The NSW downlight rebate, explained
The NSW Government's Energy Savings Scheme pays accredited providers a rebate for every old halogen or CFL downlight replaced with a compliant LED fitting in a home. Your job is placed with an accredited provider who claims that rebate and takes it off your price up front. You sign one nomination form on the day and that is it: nothing to lodge, no receipts to keep, no waiting for money back.
What the rebate covers
- Existing halogen, CFL or non-compliant LED downlights in a NSW home, replaced with an approved LED fitting
- The fitting has to be replaced, not the globe, and the work done by a licensed electrician under an accredited provider
- Every fitting is photographed before and after and you sign a nomination form on the day, which is how the rebate is lodged
What it no longer covers
- The old $33 whole-house deal. That was a globe changeover under the pre COVID rules. Now the whole fitting is replaced by a licensed electrician, work an electrician outside the scheme charges $100 to $150 a light for, so $30 is still around 70% off
- Small jobs. Under 50 lights the fixed compliance cost is bigger than the rebate, so no accredited provider can quote them
- Homes outside metro Sydney as standard; on the NSW coast, in the Hunter and the main regional centres, jobs of 80 lights or more are taken on where an installer can be found. Deep western NSW is not covered
Halogen vs LED: what your downlights cost to run
A standard 50W halogen downlight replaced with a 5W LED uses 90% less electricity for the same light. Put in your numbers.
Estimate only: 50W per halogen (plus its transformer in reality, so real savings are usually higher), 5W per LED, 365 days, your hours and rate. Jobs under 50 lights are not available at the rebated price.
Not a compromise
5W, and brighter than the 50W it replaces
The 5W Emerald HP Eclipse puts out 500 lumens, more usable light than a 50W halogen, because the LED sends all of it downward instead of losing most of the energy as heat inside the ceiling. The light is cleaner too: no yellow cast, no flicker from a tired transformer, no browning of the ceiling around the fitting, and a sealed unit that keeps dust and insects out.
No heat in the ceiling
A halogen runs at 250 to 300 degrees at the lamp and is the reason insulation has to be cut back around every old fitting. A 5W LED barely gets warm, so the new fittings can sit under insulation, which also fixes the draughty gaps old halogens leave in your ceiling.
Three colours, one switch
The fitting installed is the Emerald HP Eclipse, a tri-colour LED downlight: warm white 3000K, natural white 4000K and cool white 5000K, selected by a small switch on the fitting at install time. Warm for bedrooms and living rooms, natural for kitchens, cool for garages, laundries and workspaces. Tell the electrician what you want room by room on the day, or change it later.
On dimmers? Old halogen dimmers were built for a 50W load and make LEDs flicker, buzz or drop out at low settings. Any dimmer in the house is swapped for an LED dimmer at $30 each on the day, so tell us how many when you check your price.
Emerald HP Eclipse HP G2 series: 5W, 500 lumens, 100 lm/W, CRI over 80, 90 degree beam, dimmable, IC-4 rated, IP40, rated life over 54,000 hours, 3 year warranty, NSW ESS accepted. Available in 70mm and 90mm cut-out so it drops into your existing holes. An 8W 800 lumen version is available for high ceilings.
What you get
What is included, and what is not
Every upgrade covers
- A new Emerald HP Eclipse tri-colour LED downlight in place of each existing fitting, 70mm or 90mm to match your existing cut-outs, fitted by a licensed electrician
- Removal and recycling of the old fitting and any transformer or driver
- Dimmers replaced with LED dimmers at $30 each, so the new lights do not flicker or buzz
- NSW Energy Savings Scheme rebate claimed for you, with the compliance photos and paperwork done on the day
- Warranty on the new fittings and the installation
Not included
- Globe or lamp changeovers into existing fittings. Only whole-fitting replacements qualify
- New light points, moving lights or extra circuits. Extra downlights can be added in the same visit, quoted separately outside the scheme
- Repairs to ceilings or existing wiring faults, which the electrician will point out if found
- Homes outside metro Sydney
Straight answer
Why the 50 light minimum
The NSW rebate for a residential downlight is worth only a few dollars a light, but every job carries the same fixed costs: an accredited installer on site, compliance photos of every fitting, a signed nomination form, and an audit trail that has to be kept for years. On a 12 light house that overhead is bigger than the job. At 50 lights and above it works for the customer and the installer, which is why the line sits there and why you will not find an accredited provider quoting small jobs.
If you have fewer than 50 lights, an electrician can still swap them at their normal rate, and the running cost savings above still apply.
How it works
From count to install
Count and check
Count your downlights and check your price above. Fifty or more, send the form.
Photo and confirm
You get an email and a call to confirm the count and ask for a photo of a typical fitting and the switchboard.
Book
Site visit or straight to booking depending on the ceiling. Most homes are booked within a week.
Install and sign
A licensed electrician removes each old fitting, fits the new LED, tests every circuit and photographs the work. You sign the nomination form, the rebate is lodged, you pay $30 per light.
Book your Sydney downlight upgrade
Your light count and postcode are already filled in if you used the checker above. Add your name and mobile and you will get an email and a call to confirm the count, the dimmers and arrange a photo. About a minute, no cost, no obligation. Jobs under 50 lights cannot be booked. On the NSW coast, in the Hunter or in a main regional centre with 80 or more lights, send the form and we will see if an installer can be found for your area.
Energy Rebate Check is an independent enquiry service, not a government website and not an electrical contractor. Your details are handled under our privacy policy.
Coverage
Sydney suburbs covered
Installs run across metro Sydney, from the Hills and the Northern Beaches to the Sutherland Shire and out to Penrith and Campbelltown. Larger jobs of 80 lights or more are taken on further afield where an installer can be found: the whole NSW coast from the Tweed and Byron down through Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Newcastle and the Hunter, the Central Coast, Wollongong, Nowra and the South Coast to Bega and Eden, plus the main regional centres of Tamworth, Armidale, Bathurst, Orange, Lithgow, Dubbo, Mudgee, Goulburn, Queanbeyan and Albury. Deep western NSW is not covered. Put your postcode and count in the checker and send the form. Recent downlight jobs have been in Blacktown, Baulkham Hills, Northmead, Castle Hill, Eastwood, Chatswood, Ryde, Bossley Park, Cecil Hills, Liverpool, Camden, Campbelltown, Revesby, Bankstown, Hurstville and Sutherland. If your postcode passes the check above you can be quoted. Newcastle, the Central Coast and Wollongong are not covered for downlights at the moment.
Looking for other NSW upgrades? See the NSW hot water rebate, Sydney pool pump rebate and the LED lighting rebates guide.
Before you book
How to work out your cut-out size
Most Sydney homes have 90mm holes; newer builds and small LED conversions are often 70mm. The form asks which you have, and "not sure" is a fine answer.
Measure it
- Turn the light off and let it cool
- Pull the fitting down gently, the spring clips let it hinge out of the ceiling
- Measure the hole in the plaster from edge to edge, not the trim of the old fitting
- Around 70mm or 90mm, pick that. Anything between 85mm and 95mm is a 90mm
Or just send a photo
- Photo of one fitting straight on, with a coin or a tape measure next to it for scale
- Not sure and don't want to pull one down? Take the photo anyway and pick "Not sure" on the form, the size is confirmed from the photo before the job
- Tip: most AI assistants can estimate the cut-out from that same photo if you ask, using the coin for scale
- Odd sizes and old 120mm halogens are handled with a trim ring, so nothing stops the job
FAQ
Sydney LED downlight rebate questions
Most Sydney homes have 90mm holes; newer builds and earlier LED conversions are often 70mm. Pull one fitting down and measure the hole in the plaster, or send a photo with a coin next to the fitting and the size is confirmed before the job. The Emerald HP Eclipse comes in both, and odd sizes are handled with a trim ring.
Yes. The rebate only covers replacing existing fittings, so any new points are quoted outside the scheme at the electrician's normal rate and done in the same visit. Tell us how many extra you want on the form or on the call and the quote will show the two lines separately.
That was the pre COVID version of the scheme, when the job was a globe changeover and the rebate covered nearly all of it. The rules changed: the whole fitting has to be replaced now, by a licensed electrician, with compliance photos on every light. An electrician outside the scheme typically charges $100 to $150 per downlight for that work, so at $30 per light you are still getting around 70% off, it is just no longer $33 for the house.
Yes, and usually brighter. A 5W LED downlight gives around 500 to 600 lumens directed downward, while a 50W halogen wastes most of its energy as heat and loses more light to the back of the fitting. Rooms tend to look brighter and cleaner after the swap, not dimmer.
The fittings are tri-colour and set by a switch on the fitting. Warm white 3000K suits bedrooms, living and dining rooms; natural white 4000K suits kitchens, bathrooms and hallways; cool white 5000K suits garages, laundries and home offices. You choose room by room at install.
Through this site it is $30 per light installed, inc GST, for a whole-fitting replacement on a job of 50 lights or more, with the NSW Energy Savings Scheme rebate already taken off. Without a rebate provider a Sydney electrician typically charges $50 to $90 per downlight replaced, plus the fitting.
Yes. The NSW Energy Savings Scheme pays accredited providers a rebate for each old halogen or CFL downlight replaced with a compliant LED fitting by a licensed electrician. The accredited provider your job is placed with claims it and takes it off the price, so you pay $30 per light installed and lodge nothing.
Not for most homes any more. The rebate reduces the price but does not cover the full cost of a new fitting and a licensed electrician, which is why the price is $30 per light rather than free.
The rebate per light is small and the compliance work per job is fixed: an accredited installer on site, photos of every fitting, a signed nomination form and an audit trail kept for years. Below 50 lights that overhead costs more than the rebate is worth, so no accredited provider can take the job on at a rebated price.
The whole fitting. The old downlight and its transformer come out and a new sealed LED downlight goes in. That is what the rebate requires and it is what gives you the warranty and the safety benefit.
A 50W halogen downlight replaced with a 5W LED cuts that light's running cost by 90%. On a 60 light home averaging two hours a day per light, that is about $700 a year at 36c/kWh. Use the calculator on this page for your own numbers.
Old halogen dimmers do not. They are built for a 50W load and make LED downlights flicker, buzz or cut out at low settings. Every dimmer is replaced with an LED dimmer at $30 each as part of the job, so count your dimmer switches when you check your price and dimming keeps working properly.
Not as standard. Metro Sydney is the install area. A job of 80 lights or more on the NSW coast, in the Hunter or in a main regional centre is worth doing, and we will see if an installer can be found for your area, with the same rebate and $30 a light price once confirmed. Deep western NSW is not covered. Put your postcode and count in the checker and send the form for a straight yes or no.