TVs to Be Northwestern Utilities’ 2010 CE Efficiency Focus

TV rebate programs will dominate utilities’ 2010 efforts to promote the sale of energy-efficient CE products in the northwestern states, said Stephanie Fleming of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. TV power use in the region is a “pretty big deal, because right now there are more televisions than people,” she said, referring to estimates of 12.5 million TVs in use. The alliance, with 120 utility members, will also seek to devise programs for set-top boxes and will “research” videogame consoles in 2010, said Fleming, senior manager for the residential business.

The programs developed by the alliance direct rebates to retailer partners, including Best Buy, Sears, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Costco, Fleming said. The emphasis on TVs comes because they account for 4 percent of energy use in the home, and “if you add home theater, DVRs and the set-top boxes you are going to get up to 10 percent of the energy use,” she said. TVs that qualify for the rebate will have to be 30 percent more efficient than Energy Star requires. The reason that rebates are provided to retailers and manufacturers is that the financial incentive, which Fleming declined to disclose, “may not impact a consumer as much as it could to someone who is able to add that money to their bottom line."

The alliance is negotiating contracts with retailers for promoting Energy Star 4.0 specifications for TVs in 2010 and 5.0 for 2011. It’s “very excited” about Energy Star 5.0 because it “starts capping energy use” of large TVs, she said. “If someone wants to buy that large a TV it needs to have much less energy usage,” Fleming said. “We don’t think it limits consumers’ choice -- we think it will spur technological advances.” The Northwest met energy savings “targets for 2009 thanks to retailers promoting” TVs that were 30 percent more efficient than Energy Star 3.0, she said, citing “early results.”

The alliance is “keeping an eye” on whether California TV regulation affects utility rebate programs, she said. For now, “we are working with Energy Star, so we are really tagged with the Energy Star process.” The group will work with utilities in the U.S. and Canada to examine “what is the best solution” for set-top boxes, Fleming said. “That is going to be a different strategy because customers don’t go to a store to buy a set-top box.” So it will be important for utilities to work with service providers to “deploy the more efficient boxes that we want them to purchase.” The alliance is hopeful of adding independents and online retailers as partners this year, she said. The group plans to work with all “market operators,” including the CEA, this year, she said.