Appliance rebates limited to disabled Alaskans

In an effort to increase the spending power of $658,000 in federal stimulus money, the state will offer purchase incentives for energy-efficient appliances only to disabled Alaskans, rather than all residents.

The funds will be available as rebates for Alaskans who toss their old, energy-hogging appliances and replace them with models that meet Energy Star criteria. Alaska's share is being managed by the Alaska Housing Finance Corp., which worked closely with Gov. Sean Parnell's administration to craft eligibility and terms and is the official state energy agency designated to manage American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

The program total for Alaska -- $658,477 -- works out to less than $1 for each of the state's estimated 686,293 people. Members of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee last month urged AHFC staff to find a way to make the money stretch a bit more, possibly by making a smaller group of people eligible or offering rebates on an income-based sliding scale. Those lawmakers also emphasized the higher costs of obtaining energy-efficient appliances in remote rural areas.

AHFC listened. An estimated 10,000 disabled Alaskans -- loosely defined as those receiving Social Security disability benefits -- may be eligible for the program. Under the proposed rules, disabled Alaskans can apply for a $500 rebate for refrigerators and freezers in rural areas, and a $300 rebate in urban centers. Rebates for washers and dryers would be $300 in rural places and $150 in urban areas. Eligible appliances must meet Energy Star efficiency guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy.

Not a dime will come out of the allocation for administration costs, AHFC spokesman Bryan Butcher said.

"With that small amount of money, we wanted to make sure it focused on the neediest Alaskans as well be simple enough to administer that we didn't have to take any administrative cut out of it," Butcher said. "We could very quickly eat a giant chunk of this up just trying to administer this program."

Instead, they kept the details simple. The rebate will apply only to "white goods" -- refrigerators, freezers, washers and dryers -- and not to furnaces, boilers and water heaters already eligible for rebates under other state programs. Rebates destined for rural residents will be higher to help compensate for shipping costs. And the total rebates allowed to residents in each state region are capped based on population, costs of energy and heating degree days.

Program details, including application information, will be available after the state gets DOE approval for the plan, probably in December, Butcher said.

The Obama administration's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed by Congress in January, was estimated to cost just shy of $800 billion. In all, the Department of Energy received $36.7 billion for a variety of programs.

Almost $300 million of that was doled out nationwide in rebates for efficient appliance trade-ins, much in the same vein as the cash-for-clunkers auto rebates. Initially the millions were to go only to states with existing appliance rebate programs, but in the end the funds were divided among all 50 states based on population, Butcher said. Alaska was fortunate in that it already had program frameworks in place for allocating the dollars. AHFC received $360 million from the Legislature in 2008 for weatherization and home energy efficiency, and was able to feed related federal stimulus money into that framework, Butcher said.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Alaska has received $18.1 million for weatherization programs; $28.2 million for state energy programs; $14 million for the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program; $262,969 for state and local efforts; and the $658,477 for the appliance rebates. In addition, Alaska took in $28.2 million for state energy programs -- that's the controversial chunk of stimulus spending former Gov. Sarah Palin denounced.