ENERGY STAR Appliance Rebate

Get $50 to $250 back from the US Government when you buy new ENERGY STAR qualified appliances

The US Department of Energy announced an ENERGY STAR appliance rebate program in July 2009, setting aside nearly $300 million in Federal stimulus funds to cover consumer reboates on certain high-efficiency home appliances.

"Appliances consume a huge amount of our electricity, so there's enormous potential to both save energy and save families money every month," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said.

The agency asked individual states to provide proposals by October 15, 2009 for how they would use their share of the money. Programs by individual states have been getting approved by the DOU in recent weeks, with several states slated to begin in the first quarter of 2010.

Before buying an ENERGY STAR rated appliance, you may want to know more about how to select the most efficient and suitable appliance to meet your needs. See the following articles on Green Energy Efficient Homes on specific appliances:

ENERGY STAR appliance rebate programs by state

The following programs are in the process of being finalized:

California was allocated $35 million of the $300 million ENERGY STAR appliance rebate funds, and will provide rebates on clothes washers (proposed rebate $100), refrigerators (proposed rebate $75), and room air conditioners (proposed rebate $50).

Ohio will provide up to 90,000 ENERGY STAR appliance rebate payouts to residents who buy ENERGY STAR qualified refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes washers, and water heaters. No trade-in is required, and rebates are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis until allocated funds are gone.

New York received $18.7 million in ENERGY STAR appliance rebate financing. It will provide $75 rebates for ENERGY STAR refrigerators ($105 if an old refrigerator is recycled); $75 rebates for ENERGY STAR clothes washers ($100 if an old washer is recycled); and $50 for ENERGY STAR freezers ($75 with documented recycling of an old freezer). ENERGY STAR Dishwashers are eligible if purchased as part of a three-appliance set: you'll get a $500 rebate (or $550 with documented recycling of all three old appliances) when you buy an ENERGY STAR refrigerator, clothes washer, and dishwasher all at once.

Texas received $23 million for its ENERGY STAR appliance rebates. The Texas rebates are among the most exhaustive and generous, with an extra $75 recycling rebate bonus for recycling an old appliance of the same type as the new appliance purchased. Rebates will vary by efficiency of the new model but are expected to be:

$240 for ENERGY STARrefrigerators
$180 for ENERGY STAR freezers
$45 for room air conditioners
$150-180 for ENERGY STAR clothes washers
$110-140 rebate for dishwashers
$600/800/1000 for central air conditioners, depending on efficiency
$1200/1600 for heat pumps
$255-640 for hot water heaters

Consumers can call a toll free number or register online, beginning in April 2010, to reserve an appliance rebate. Once reserved rebates are awarded, any remaining funds will be allocated to ENERGY STAR appliance rebates on a first come, first served basis. There is a limit of two appliance and two recycling rebates per household.

Florida: The ENERGY STAR appliance rebate program for Florida will be done on a mail-in basis and will be set at 20% of the appliance purchase price. Consumers can also get an additional rebate if recycling an old appliance. The program will start in early April 2010 and will likely find its funds (just under $18 million) exhausted within two weeks. Eligible products include ENERGY STAR qualified refrigerators, freezers, clothes washers, dishwashers, room air conditioners, and gas tankless water heaters.

Illinois has received $12 million in ENERGY STAR appliance rebate funds. The state is aiming for a rebate program to start on Earth Day 2010 (April 22, 2010) and the program is expected to last only a few weeks. Rebates will be in the form of discounts off purchase price for all ENERGY STAR qualified refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, dishwashers, and room air conditioners. Rebates are not retroactive, and there is an additional recycling rebate of $50-100 if you recycle an old appliance that is being replaced with a new ENERGY STAR purchase.

Pennsylvania: Details are still sketchy as of December 2009, but the State of Pennsylvania has qualified for nearly $12 million in DOE funding for their ENERGY STAR appliance rebate program and are expected to offer mail in rebates for purchases of ENERGY STAR qualified gas storage or tankless water heaters, oil or gas furnaces, and oil or gas boilers. Additional rebates are available for recycling the older unit.

Michigan has an ambitious plan that should start earlier than other states - as early as February 2010. In some cases the qualifications are even higher than those for ENERGY STAR, and include:

ENERGY STAR and CEE Tier 2 dishwashers
ENERGY STAR and CEE Tier 3 refrigerators
ENERGY STAR oil furnaces
ENERGY STAR Plus propane furnaces (AFUE 95%)
ENERGY STAR propane hot water heaters (EF>=.67)
ENERGY STAR solar hot water heaters

Rebates will be in the $50-100 range for most appliances, with up to $300 for oil or propane furnaces and up to $1200 (20% of cost) for solar hot water heaters. The consumer receiving this ENERGY STAR appliance rebate will need to certify that the old appliance has been recycled; in the case of refrigerators, which people often tend to keep around as a second basement fridge, documentation will have to be provided from a recycler stating that the refrigerator was collected for recycling.

Georgia residents will be eligible for rebates of up to $1200, starting February 12. The rebates are up to $199 for a hot water heater, and $50 for an ENERGY STAR refrigerator. The rebate will be provided as a Visa prepaid mail card (like a credit card, already loaded up with cash). Rebates cover a wide range of appliances, with rebates in the $25-100 range for fridges, freezers, washers, dishwashers, furnaces, central air, and gas storage water heaters, with rebates of up to $199 for solar or heat pump water heaters, tankless gas water heaters, and some heating equipment.

North Carolina is staging its $8 million ENERGY STAR appliance rebate program, with the first stage set to take place only on Earth Day weekend 2010 (April 22) and to provide a 15% rebate on qualified Energy Star household appliances (clothes washers, dishwashers, refrigerators, and freezers) during Earth Day weekend. The second phase, in June, will match existing rebates on gas storage water heaters, tankless gas water heaters, central air conditioners, heat pumps and gas furnaces offered through electric and gas utility programs.

New Jersey had not yet finalized its program as of this writing, but you can check their Clean Energy website for updates. As with many other states, their program is expected to start in April 2010.

Virginia plans to implement their ENERGY STAR appliance rebate funds by passing the funding through to electric, gas and water utilities and suppliers to supplement existing (or future) appliance rebate programs operated by the utilities. While details of the program have to be developed, Energy Star-rated appliances that may be eligible for a rebate include clothes washers, dishwashers, refrigerators, freezers, room air conditioners, water heaters (gas, electric, solar, tankless), central air conditioners, heat pumps, oil/gas furnaces, and oil/gas boilers.

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