Prepaid Visa cards for inefficient appliances doesn’t roll off the tongue like cash for clunkers, but retailers hope the stimulus-funded program will have a similar boost for sales.
“I think it should help,” said Gary Gross who sells several qualifying models at Gross Furniture in Trenton, Ga. “Any incentive that the government wants to give will help sales.”
The program, which starts today and comes from a $9.3 million piece of stimulus money, awards rebates of $25 to $199 on purchases of Energy Star certified clothes washers, dishwashers, air conditioners, heat pumps, furnaces, boilers, water heaters, refrigerators and freezers.
Shane Hix, a spokesman for the Georgia Environment Facilities Authority, which handles the program, said the rebates should help customers and retailers, but will also help the environment.
“It’s both — to stimulate the sales of new energy efficient appliances and to recycle the old ones,” Mr. Hix said.