George Washington Toma

State's appliance rebate program starts smoothly

This time around, local merchants said the state Department of Energy Resources learned from its mistakes. “It’s much more orderly. They’ve done a very good job this year,” said Ken Parker, a manager at Hancock TV and Appliance in Quincy.

The 2011 program, launched Thursday, is more limited than last year’s $5.5 million project, which included dishwashers, refrigerators and washing machines.

This time, only air conditioners and fridges are involved, and the budget is only $2 million. Consumers can receive $50 toward a new air conditioner and $150 for a new refrigerator, as long as they trade in their old units for Energy Star models.

“We wanted to make sure that this was a simple program,” DOER commissioner Mark Sylvia said.

George Washington Toma sales manager Mark Scheuren also attributed this year’s civility to the program’s revamped rebate system. Under the new rules, customers must buy the appliances before collecting the rebate, preventing a repeat of last year’s mad rush of customers securing the cash online before heading out to the store.

“I never saw the site last year, because it crashed so fast,” Scheuren said.

By late afternoon Thursday, about 40 customers at Hancock TV and Appliance had taken the state up on the rebate offer, Parker said, and most had bought refrigerators. George Washington Toma had sold around 28 refrigerators to rebate customers by that time, a sharp increase from a normal day – but only one air conditioner.

“If you need an air conditioner this summer, you probably already have it,” Scheuren said.

As of 4 p.m. on Thursday, the DOER said it had issued 1,915 refrigerator rebates against 406 for air conditioners.

Consumers living in areas affected by last month’s tornadoes do not have to recycle an old unit to participate in the program, which will last until the $2 million allotted for the rebates runs out.

Sylvia couldn’t predict when the state’s coffers will be depleted, but said the program could run for a few more days or even weeks. That would be a definite improvement from last year, when customers drained the entire $5.4 million budget in a matter of hours. As of 11 p.m. Thursday, there was still $1.5 million remaining in the $2 million fund.

GLOBAL: US appliance rebate program starts smoothly »

US: Last year’s Mass Save Great Appliance Exchange rebate program was so fraught with problems, employees at George Washington Toma TV & Appliance in Weymouth dubbed it “Mass Fiasco.”

This time around, local merchants said the state Department of Energy Resources learned from its mistakes.

“It’s much more orderly. They’ve done a very good job this year,”  Quincy based Hancock TV and Appliance manager Ken Parker said. The 2011 program, launched Thursday, is more limited than last year’s US$5.5 million project, which included dishwashers, refrigerators and washing machines.

This time, only air conditioners and fridges are involved, and the budget is only US$2 million. Consumers can receive US$50 toward a new air conditioner and US$150 for a new refrigerator, as long as they trade in their old units for Energy Star models.

“We wanted to make sure that this was a simple program,” DOER commissioner Mark Sylvia said.

The medallic history of the United States of America, 1776-1876

A tour in America in 1798,1799, and 1800, exhibiting sketches of society and manners, and a particular account of the America system of agriculture, with its recent improvements

George Washington University bulletin

Letters from Jonathan Boucher to George Washington

LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON