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ENERGY STAR - Appliance Rebate Program

ENERGY STAR - Appliance Rebate Program. John Olthuis Manager of Customer Service Barrie Hydro Distribution Inc. Who are we?. Barrie Hydro is a Local Distribution Company servicing 66,000 electricity customers in Simcoe County, Ontario. Currently employ 112 fulltime staff

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ENERGY STAR - Appliance Rebate Program

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  1. ENERGY STAR - Appliance Rebate Program John Olthuis Manager of Customer Service Barrie Hydro Distribution Inc. Barrie Hydro

  2. Who are we? • Barrie Hydro is a Local Distribution Company servicing 66,000 electricity customers in Simcoe County, Ontario. • Currently employ 112 fulltime staff • Net Book Value -$115.6 million • 11,000 poles • 9,000 transformers • 40 transformer stations • 830 km underground conductor • 690 km overhead conductor • 66,000 meters Barrie Hydro

  3. Barrie Hydro

  4. Project Goals • Increase the awareness of ENERGY STAR qualified appliances • Provide a financial incentive to encourage considering an ENERGY STAR appliance over a conventional appliance • Build a unique program with a limited budget and launch the program in record time. Barrie Hydro

  5. Description • Open to All Residential and Small Business customers. • Rebate based on 8 percent of purchase price to a maximum of $200.00 per household/business • Multiple ENERGY STAR purchases per household encouraged. • Any ENERGY STAR qualified appliance! Barrie Hydro

  6. Description continued • Appliances include ENERGY STAR Qualified Refrigerators, Front Loading or Top Loading Clothes Washers, Dishwashers • We also included LCD/Plasma Televisions/Monitors • Office/Home Entertainment Equipment • Air Conditioners, Dehumidifiers and Furnaces. • Any ENERGY STAR qualified appliance! Barrie Hydro

  7. Description continued • The key to the success of launching the program quickly was to keep it simple. • Keep it simple for the customer, the retailers and for our utility. • The first step was registering with NRCan and registering as an ENERGY STAR Participant. • Forms were drafted and reviewed by NRCan for content and to assure we met their requirements. Barrie Hydro

  8. Barrie Hydro

  9. Barrie Hydro

  10. Description continued • From concept to launch only two and one half weeks transpired. • The media was contacted and press releases regarding the launch were distributed. • Forms were printed and distributed as a bill insert to our 58,000 residential and small business customers over a period of a month. • Retailers were contacted and forms were hand delivered to the retailers and a verbal description of the plan was delivered to the store managers. • To keep administration simple, rebates were issued as a credit directly to the customers active account. Barrie Hydro

  11. Description continued • Program was originally scheduled to run from mid April 2005 to December 15, 2005. • Original Budget was $115,000.00. Due to customer demand budget was expanded to $170,000.00 • Customer demand continued, leading to early termination of the program on November 23, 2005 as we were exceeding budget. • Customer participation was over 4% in just 7 months. Barrie Hydro

  12. Description continued • In order to increase the awareness of ENERGY STAR, Barrie Hydro provided the local Food Bank with 3,500 ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs • The CFLs were distributed 2 per customer in the Christmas hampers. • Comments from the Director of the Food Bank indicated that this gesture was greatly appreciated by all recipients. • Barrie Hydro also contributed 50 strings of LED Seasonal Lights to the local Art Centre’s Festival of Trees event. A gesture once again greatly appreciated by all. Barrie Hydro

  13. Program Analysis • Each application had to be verified and receipts confirmed. • The ENERGY STAR website was an invaluable tool. • Interesting to note that early applications often came from retail sales representatives. • The retailer and sales representative buy-in helped drive the program. Barrie Hydro

  14. Program Analysis • Striking BC dock workers created some issues as appliances were stuck in port causing retailers to bring in stock from the US. • On occasion the US ENERGY STAR site had to be used to confirm qualification as some product model numbers were different than those on the Canadian site. • Rejected applications were set aside and, where possible, customers were contacted. • The key rejection related to failure to provide proof of purchase. Barrie Hydro

  15. Program Analysis • An Access database was built to track the applications. • Data was input upon receipt. One clerk was assigned on a part time basis to process the applications on a daily basis. • Overall over 1,900 or $2.2 million in ENERGY STAR qualified appliances were purchased. • Approximately 290 were rejected due to lack of proof of purchase or were not qualified. • An additional 192 or more qualified applications were rejected due to depletion of rebate funds. Barrie Hydro

  16. Program Analysis Barrie Hydro

  17. Program Analysis • Clearly the number one appliance was a Clothes Washer followed by a Refrigerator and Dishwasher. • The Ontario Energy Board, (OEB) provides a worksheet to determine annual savings. • Even though results from our applications show that the refrigerators were replacements, the OEB only provide an incremental savings of 75 kWh per refrigerator. (75 kWh is the estimated annual savings of an ENERGY STAR qualified fridge over a modern conventional fridge) • The following graph depicts annual megawatts saved relative to volume of products sold. Barrie Hydro

  18. Barrie Hydro

  19. Program Analysis • Customers were asked if the program influenced their buying decision as part of the application. • Customer response indicated that approximately 69% said yes. • Early applications had a lower response rate but we believe this was an awareness issue. • As volumes picked up so did the favourable response rates. • This is a good indicator that approximately 31 percent of the customers would have purchased ENERGY STAR qualified appliances regardless of the financial incentive offered by Barrie Hydro. Barrie Hydro

  20. Observations • Be prepared for overwhelming success and budget for it! • Communication is key. The success of this program is based mainly on our successful communication with NRCan, the retailers and our customers. • Be aware that you will receive some negative responses from customers who do not qualify due to misinformation or tardiness in making application for the rebate. • Be clear that funds are limited and reinforce this. • Keep the press involved. Regular press releases help with the launch, enhance participation and help when winding the program down. Barrie Hydro

  21. Next Steps • We intend to continue supporting ENERGY STAR through our newsletters and website. • Investigating opportunities to work with ENERGY STAR for New Homes. • Investigating a Solar Generation pilot. • Investigating a Solar Water Heating system to supplement our building’s heating system. Barrie Hydro

  22. Questions? Barrie Hydro

  23. Contact information John Olthuis jolthuis@barriehydro.com 705.722.7244 ext 241 Fax 705.722.6168 www.barriehydro.com Barrie Hydro

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