Energy program provides incentive grants

By Jonathan Starkey
Staff Reporter

State officials introduced a program to the public this week that will allow businesses and residents to receive grants for being more energy efficient. Earlier this year, the Delaware Legislature approved the $8 million plan that will ease the stress on business people and residents caused by rising energy prices.

“This is the result of the rise in electric rates that occurred last spring,” said Secretary John Hughes of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). “All of these efforts will lower energy demand.”

Anyone paying electric costs in Delaware will receive a coupon this week for two free compact-fluorescent, energy-saving light bulbs, which they can pick up at any participating library, including Selbyville and South Coastal.

The residential portion of the energy plan, which accounts for about half of the spending according to Hughes and the Delaware Energy office, will also allow residents to receive grants for using energy-efficient appliances.

Delaware residents who upgrade to certain Energy Star refrigerators are able to receive a $100 grant from the state. Updating to certain Energy Star freezers can save those same residents up to $50 under the new program. The state is also handing out up to $100 grants to residents who switch to using the environmentally-friendly washing machines and up to $25 for modern window air-conditioning units and electric water heaters.

The biggest grants available for residential customers, however, are those for purchasing certain energy-efficient central air-conditioning units. The state announced this week that residents can receive a grant worth up to $350 if they replace their outdated central air unit with a new, more environmentally-friendly one.

Hughes said he upgraded his house before the state announced the available grants and saved money on his energy cost despite rising rates. The Secretary’s monthly bill went from just under $150 to about $50 after installing the energy-efficient appliances and bulbs, he said.

“I bought all this stuff before the program came along. I can tell you it really works,” Hughes said. “I made a great decision and it shows up every month.

“It’s a real incentive,” he added about the now-available residential grants. “It’s not a lavish incentive, but it’s a substantial rebate.”

Eligible appliances include refrigerators of 15 cubic feet or larger, freezers, clothes washers, window air-conditioner units above 8,000 Btu, electric water heaters and central air-conditioning units with programmable thermostats (professionally installed). All must be Energy Star or GAMA rated and purchased after July 1, 2006 to be eligible. (For details, see the program brochure.)

Residents are not the only ones benefiting from the new program. Businesses can apply for grants up to $100,000 for one facility or up to $200,000 for two or more facilities.

Through the program, the state is providing capped commercial grants of up to 50 percent of the cost of an energy audit or feasibility study and design assistance. The state will also hand out grants for environmentally-friendly HVAC, lighting, refrigeration and motor upgrades, and other measures that reduce kWh usage.

State officials unveiled this part of the plan this week but said that they are still working out details for further commercial, industrial and residential benefits which the state should announce in the next month.

“(We want to) promote energy awareness and energy-efficient products,” said Kevin Yingling, an energy planner with the Delaware Energy Office. “You’re going to lower your cost and get better and more efficient products and decrease the amount of emissions that generate from electricity and energy.”

The Delaware legislature passed the bill to allow DNREC and the Delaware Energy Office to implement an energy plan earlier this year in response to rising energy costs. On May 1, after Delaware’s energy rate caps were lifted, Delmarva Power, a large energy supplier on the Delmarva Peninsula, raised its energy prices from 47 to 117 percent because of rising fossil fuel prices.