Water-Energy Partnership Pilot Program: PG&E’s Washer Rebate

For the last couple of years, California water and energy utilities have initiated pilot partnership programs to explore the potential to leverage their resources and provide customers with incentives to optimize their water and energy savings.

After the California Energy Commission published its 2006 study on the water-energy nexus, California’s Water-Energy Relationship (PDF), it became clear that water efficiency should be considered by energy utilities as part of their energy conservation efforts. After all, with 19% of the state’s electricity, 30% of it’s natural gas and 88 billion gallons of diesel fuel applied to California’s water use each year, the opportunities to save energy by saving water seem boundless.

In order to assess the true benefits of energy utilities investing water conservation, California launched a series of pilot programs.

One of the pilot programs is a high efficiency clothes washer rebate program that was spearheaded by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) in 2007. Through the program, PG&E is partnering with local water agencies to offer rebates for these water and energy saving devices. As PG&E’s Water-Energy Savings webpage explains:

Your local water agency and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) are collaborating to offer a streamlined rebate process to customers who purchase new high–efficiency clothes washers. Earn a combined rebate for your purchase of a qualified water– and energy–efficient clothes washer and save energy, water, and money for the life of your new appliance.

I am very curious if customer participation increased. There are three reasons that one would suspect customer participation to increase when compared to a conventional high efficiency clothes washer rebate program. First, the program benefits from cross-promotion. Consumers receive information on the program from both their local water agency and PG&E, so there is a good chance that by combining outreach more people ultimately heard about the program than if just one entity promoted it. Second, the rebate process is streamlined and less complicated for both retailers and consumers. Rather than requiring clothes washer retailers to carry multiple forms for various utility rebates, there is just one form that everybody within PG&E’s service area could use. Finally, the rebates are higher and more attractive because water utilities are able to combine their resources with PG&E in order to offer a higher rebate than they could otherwise afford. The higher the rebate, the more attractive it is to consumers.

It is unclear to me if PG&E has filed a full report on the energy savings and other benefits that resulted from the program, but the fact that the program is still in effect seems to imply that it has been a success.

To learn more about PG&E’s high efficiency clothes washer rebate program visit: http://www.waterenergysavings.com/