Appliance rebate is more like a lottery

[peejay 327]

Loren Steffy: Appliance rebate is more like a lottery

By LOREN STEFFY - 2010 Houston Chronicle

Nov. 25, 2010, 7:21PM

It may be time to pull the plug on Fred.

Fred, in case you've forgotten, is the old refrigerator in my laundry room, the one my wife and I bought some 25 years ago, just before we got married.

Earlier this year, when the "Money for Maytags" program was under way, I vowed that no government handout would encourage me to replace Fred.

That was then. More recently, my primary fridge, which is about 10 years old, developed a leaky ice maker and rust on the front door from a poorly designed water dispenser.

Refrigerator surgery

I was just about to do a little home surgery when I heard the Texas Comptroller's Office was renewing the rebate program for purchases of energy-efficient appliances. Should I should buy a new fridge, disconnect the ice maker, move the primary Maytag to the laundry room and put Fred on the junk pile?

The result would be an overall boost in the energy efficiency for refrigeration in the Steffy household.

You may wonder why the state is doling out more money to entice us to buy appliances.

It seems that Texas, which got $23 million in federal stimulus, has about $10 million left over from its poorly run program in the spring.

Overwhelmed

The first time around, customers reserved a rebate, got a coupon from the comptroller's office and then took it to the store. Unprepared for the flood of calls and online requests, the office's phone lines were clogged, and its website for printing coupons crashed. Frustrated consumers dialed for hours and couldn't get through.

So, on Dec. 20, the comptroller's office is going to try again.

It is touting the appliance stimulus as a "rebate," but this time around, it's being run more like a lottery.

You buy your appliance, file for your rebate, and if there's still money left in the $10 million pool, you get your share. If not, too bad.

"There's no guarantee once you get toward the end of the funds being used up," said R.J. DeSilva, a spokesman for the comptroller's office.

The office has a monitor on its website so you can see how much money is left. Early buyers may not have to worry, but as the pool is drained, the chance of losing the lottery increases.

Feel-good politics

I'm not a fan of the appliance-as-stimulus program no matter how the rebates are structured. It's the sort of instant gratification of which feel-good politics is made. It's not going to provide a meaningful boost to the economy any more than did Cash for Clunkers, last year's car-buying stimulus gimmick.

"How does that incentivize anyone to buy the energy-efficient appliance over the cheapest appliance?" asked state Rep. Scott Hochberg, D-Houston. "This is sort of saying, 'We've got this money, let's spend it.' That's the worst tendency there is in government."

It also brings out one of the worst tendencies in consumer spending — buying something we don't need because of the promise of "savings" even though we're actually spending hundreds of dollars.

DeSilva said the comptroller's office sent out about 28,000 rebate checks the last time around, and it expects similar interest this time. The rebate offer will continue until the money is gone.

Earlier this year, I vowed Fred was staying put because even though as a 25-year-old fridge, he costs a lot to run, the electricity savings and the rebate combined wouldn't offset the cost of buying a new appliance.

What has changed?

Now, even though my primary fridge has a glacier slowly building in the bottom of the freezer from the leaking ice maker, I'm not sure anything has changed.

With a little surgery, I can probably get the ice maker back in working order. Keeping the appliances I already have would still be cheaper than buying a new one.

Who knows? The ice maker could be a quick fix.

The economy, on the other hand, is going to need more than cheap political gimmicks.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/steffy/7311702.html

[SuperDuper! 230]

And what was your motive in posting this?

[peejay 327]

And what was your motive in posting this?

What is your motive in responding?

[SuperDuper! 230]

What is your motive in responding?

Answering a question with a question....

Good luck with that.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Earlier this year, I vowed Fred was staying put because even though as a 25-year-old fridge, he costs a lot to run, the electricity savings and the rebate combined wouldn't offset the cost of buying a new appliance.

Of course it would. The electricity savings alone will do the trick. Not in a year or two but over the lifetime of the appliance most certainly.

Just bought a new HE washer. The old piece I had uses an average of 1,000 kwh/year while the new one uses 120 kwh/year. Savings @ $0.15/kwh = $132.00/year. Having paid $529.00 for the new appliance, it will be fully paid for in 4 years - much less than it's lifetime. And that doesn't take into account the 75% less water that the new one uses. Pop that into the calculus and it'll be less than 3 years that the appliance has earned it's cost. Done the same thing on my A/C unit for which there was a tax credit available. With that and considering that the old unit needed repairs, the A/C unit that we installed last year will break even by next summer. Then I still have 7.5 years worth of full warrant left on the piece and will continue to save.

Keeping old appliances is not a smart thing to do if there's any way you can afford to replace it with a energy efficient unit.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

The government knows how to get you to buy a refrigerator, or a car, or a house...but their brain completely locks up at the thought of how to prevent employers from hiring illegal aliens and ending the economic incentive for them to be here.

Amazing.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Of course it would. The electricity savings alone will do the trick. Not in a year or two but over the lifetime of the appliance most certainly.

Just bought a new HE washer. The old piece I had uses an average of 1,000 kwh/year while the new one uses 120 kwh/year. Savings @ $0.15/kwh = $132.00/year. Having paid $529.00 for the new appliance, it will be fully paid for in 4 years - much less than it's lifetime. And that doesn't take into account the 75% less water that the new one uses. Pop that into the calculus and it'll be less than 3 years that the appliance has earned it's cost. Done the same thing on my A/C unit for which there was a tax credit available. With that and considering that the old unit needed repairs, the A/C unit that we installed last year will break even by next summer. Then I still have 7.5 years worth of full warrant left on the piece and will continue to save.

Keeping old appliances is not a smart thing to do if there's any way you can afford to replace it with a energy efficient unit.

Yep, gotta go with you on that. Alla picked up one of the HE washers on clearance at Lowe's for $200 (!!!!!!) because the side was dented. It goes in the basement, so who cares? But the biggest savings is now our electric dryer runs only 20 minutes compared to 40-45 minutes per load. The dryer is our biggest electric user (we have no AC and have gas water heater and cooking) and our electric bill is no-shyt HALF what it was. We then took the old Kenmore and sold it for $100...so much for imaginary global warming, but someone else can pay the electric bill and I got a new washer for $100!

Wish they would apply the same sense to eliminating illegal aliens. Make it economically unviable to hire them and no one will. They will be as desirable as old refrigerators.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Yep, gotta go with you on that. Alla picked up one of the HE washers on clearance at Lowe's for $200 (!!!!!!) because the side was dented. It goes in the basement, so who cares? But the biggest savings is now our electric dryer runs only 20 minutes compared to 40-45 minutes per load. The dryer is our biggest electric user (we have no AC and have gas water heater and cooking) and our electric bill is no-shyt HALF what it was. We then took the old Kenmore and sold it for $100...so much for imaginary global warming, but someone else can pay the electric bill and I got a new washer for $100!

Wish they would apply the same sense to eliminating illegal aliens. Make it economically unviable to hire them and no one will. They will be as desirable as old refrigerators.

My sweet chinese wife never had a dryer in china. So out on the clothes line it goes. In her head it is a waste of good money to have and run one. Now if we could get more "green " people to do the same life on earth would be great. This sacrifice however is not theirs to make.

[peejay 327]

My sweet chinese wife never had a dryer in china. So out on the clothes line it goes. In her head it is a waste of good money to have and run one. Now if we could get more "green " people to do the same life on earth would be great. This sacrifice however is not theirs to make.

For some reason, clothes dryers are not included in the rebate program. There are no "energy efficient" gas or electric clothes dryers that have the energy star rating.

I grew up in the late 1950's and early 1960's in Houston. Just about every house in our neighborhood had clothes lines in their back yards back then and they were used. You hardly see that anymore. My old house I live in now does have aged clothes lines behind the garage. They were there when I moved into the house. It was built in 1959.

We use the clothes line rarely though. First of all, it is seasonal and dependent on the weather. However, sunny and hot Houston is more suitable a climate to dry clothes outside than many places. Second of all, clothes dried in a dryer come out soft and fluffy while clothes from a clothes line dry stiff. Not a big deal, but it would bother some people. The biggest reason we rarely use the clothes lines is convenience. Our gas dryer is sitting right next to the washer. This is much easier than walking out back with a basket of wet clothes and spending time hanging them.

On another note...I remember as a kid in the early 1960's that my Belorussian grandparents that lived here in Houston had a wash shed next to their garage. My grandmother washed the clothes on a scrub board by hand and ran them through a hand crank wringer to get most of the water out of them. Then she hung them on the line to dry weather permitting or left them hanging on lines inside the wash shed if the weather was unsuitable. They also lived without air conditioning in hot, humid Houston, but they did have electric fans. I wonder how many Americans would live that way today?

[Peikko 1,575]

My sweet chinese wife never had a dryer in china. So out on the clothes line it goes. In her head it is a waste of good money to have and run one. Now if we could get more "green " people to do the same life on earth would be great. This sacrifice however is not theirs to make.

My sweet English mum uses a clothes line and I would too if I had the space. Not only are electric driers a waste of fuel and money, they are also less healthy (allegedly) well, if you are addicted to adding those smelly, anti-static chemical soaked pads to your drier. There is nothing that smells better than air dried linens - and if they catch a frost before they dry, so much the better

[one...two...tree 2,762]

My sweet chinese wife never had a dryer in china. So out on the clothes line it goes. In her head it is a waste of good money to have and run one. Now if we could get more "green " people to do the same life on earth would be great. This sacrifice however is not theirs to make.

Actually, there's a lot of "green" people using clothes lines instead of a dryer. In fact, they are lobbying to get HOA rules to allow clothes lines because most HOA's won't allow them. Same with most rental apartments and condos. But hats off to your sweet Chinese wife and I sure hope you are being sweet American husband and hanging out the clothes to dry as well since it isn't just a woman's job.

[scandal 951]

I sure hope you are being sweet American husband and hanging out the clothes to dry as well since it isn't just a woman's job.

It isn't? Dang. I thought we had a really fair division of labor in our house: She does the dishes, cooking, laundry, vacuuming, ironing. I do my part by keeping up with the VJ posting. It's a chore, but somebody's gotta do it

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It isn't? Dang. I thought we had a really fair division of labor in our house: She does the dishes, cooking, laundry, vacuuming, ironing. I do my part by keeping up with the VJ posting. It's a chore, but somebody's gotta do it

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My sweet chinese wife never had a dryer in china. So out on the clothes line it goes. In her head it is a waste of good money to have and run one. Now if we could get more "green " people to do the same life on earth would be great. This sacrifice however is not theirs to make.

We do not have a dryer in Ukraine either, it got hung over the tub on clothes lines and then ironed. Alla said she didn't need a machine to dry clothes. Then she tried one. Now she doesn't have to iron everything and is a happy camper. Alla is a capitalist at heart and says "lets make enough money to pay for this"

There is no global warming we can do anything about so I don't care about that at all. I DO care about saving money for MY family and since we have decided we will PAY for a dryer, since it is worth it to US, then why not pay LESS? I am pro-choice and applaud your wife's choice to hang her clothes on the line outside.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

My sweet English mum uses a clothes line and I would too if I had the space. Not only are electric driers a waste of fuel and money, they are also less healthy (allegedly) well, if you are addicted to adding those smelly, anti-static chemical soaked pads to your drier. There is nothing that smells better than air dried linens - and if they catch a frost before they dry, so much the better

So after cutting through all the BS you STILL have a dryer. So I do more for the enviroment that you do and I do not even want to. Jeeezum, at least get a an HE washer so you can cut down on the energy you are wasting. Your English mum will love you for it.

Edited November 27, 2010 by Gary and Alla