Chicago Tax Rebates Fuel Energy Savings and Appliance Upgrades

Feb. 3, 2011 - PRLog -- With the cost of gas inching upward in Chicago, homeowners have an opportunity to offset certain household utility expenditures made possible by the Chicago Natural Gas Savings Program (CNGSP). The green-focused rebate enables customers to upgrade to an energy savings appliance, such as a gas water heater, furnace, boiler, and other high efficiency products.

The customers of Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas are ultimately financing the Chicago Natural Gas Savings Program (NGSP). Dubbed as the ‘Enhanced Efficiency Program’, under a line item of ratepayers’ utility bills, the environmental conservation project endeavors to promote the emission reduction by marketing high efficiency products with a tax rebate.

The Department of Energy says, “...more-stringent energy efficiency standards for residential furnaces and boilers will result in energy savings.” The Chicago rebate program is only five-years old and managed by a confluence of organizations: Peoples Gas, the Environmental Law and Policy Center, the City of Chicago, Illinois Attorney General's Office, Department of Environment, and the Citizen's Utility Board. The initiative is ‘green’ because it supports energy savings and decreases utility costs, simultaneously benefiting the ecosystem.

Eligibility qualifications are generally straightforward. Customers of Peoples Gas have a May 30, 2011 deadline to buy an ENERGY STAR qualified product. The tax rebate depends on the appliance’s annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE), a rating system determined by the Department of Energy (Energy.gov). A furnace with an AFUE of 93 percent would be eligible for up to $200 in tax rebates. The calculation of the tax incentive hinges on efficiency of the appliance. Sponsors of the CNGSP afford different expiration dates and tax rebate incentives.

Even though the CNGSP features scores of qualifying products (water heaters, furnaces, hot pipe insulation, boilers steam trap, wall insulation and even wall insulation), experts recommend that consumers do the due diligence in product selection. When analyzing the cost of replacing an older appliance with a new one, research the Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE), product warranties and installation requirements. (ChicagolandRebates.com maintains a list of high efficiency products).

In communities, such as Oak Park, Hinsdale and Chicago neighborhoods, where single-family homes are generally more than 30-years old, the CNGSP may be just the incentive to upgrade to high efficient, energy savings products.

Thus far, the CNGSP has been a resonant success. A press release documented that at present—Chicago participants actualized an energy savings of 800,000 therms of natural gas. That’s more than $2 million in rebates, and an interruption of more than 7.7 million tons of carbon emissions from filtering into the planet’s atmosphere.

The average American household burns through $2,200 per year in energy utility bills, according to market research, published by ENERGY STAR. The same report also documents that space heaters and water heaters are attributable to 72 percent of a domicile’s entire energy utilization in the Midwest.

In the interim, Chicago homeowners need not skim on proper installation of these high efficiency appliances. Instead, commission the services of an authorized contractor or heating and cooling company. For more information, visit ChicagolandRebates.com

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