By picking up an old refrigerator from a Northumberland County home Thursday morning, PPL Electric Utilities launched its $246 million energy efficiency initiative.
The first of a dozen programs to be rolled out during the four-year initiative is an appliance recycling campaign, in which PPL pays customers for their old equipment.
The initial item to go out the door was a 20-year-old refrigerator at the Dalmatia home of Mary Ann Smeltz. PPL paid Smeltz $35 and took it away.
PPL hopes to collect 70,000 old refrigerators, freezers and room air conditioners from homes across its 29-county service territory.
The company will pay $35 for a refrigerator or freezer, assuming the appliance contains at least 10 cubic feet of space, and $25 for a room air conditioner.
The equipment must work to be recycled. Only two units per household can be recycled.
Future PPL programs include rebates on energy-efficient appliances, lighting, and heating and cooling systems; rebates and incentives for home-energy audits; incentives for cutting electricity consumption; and discounted and free compact fluorescent light bulbs.
PPL's initiative, approved by the state Oct. 15, is intended to put the company in compliance with Act 129, which requires electric utilities to reduce customers' annual electric consumption 1 percent by mid-2011 and 3 percent by mid-2013.
It also requires utilities to reduce customers' peak demand, or peak hourly use, by 4.5 percent by mid-2013.
So PPL is introducing an array of financial incentives to motivate customers to cut back. To pay for the incentives, PPL is raising the average residential customer's monthly bill by $2.
PPL has hired JACO Environmental to handle the appliance recycling program.
To schedule the pickup of an old refrigerator, freezer or room air conditioner for recycling, call (877) 270-3522 or visit www.pplelectric.com/recycle.
Customers will receive a check for $25 or $35 four to six weeks after collection of the appliance.