The small rebates available starting Monday should not be the primary reason for getting new appliances.
The primary reason should be reducing your energy costs.
The biggest electricity hogs are old refrigerators, freezers, dryers, air conditioners and dishwashers.
So if you have these old appliances – by old I mean more than 10 years old – consider buying new ones. A new refrigerator could save you a ton on your electric bill. The new models use half as much electricity as the old ones.
Do your homework first, though. Check Consumer Reports for its ratings. If you haven’t signed up yet, do so now. For $26 you can use www.consumerreports.org. It’s the best investment you can make.
Check stores for dent and scratch models, but COMPARE prices. Sometimes the dented one cost more than the perfect ones.
Forget the warranties. It rarely pays to buy them. Salesmen push them because they make HUGE commissions, more on a warranty than on the appliance.
Also, when you see the Energy Star ratings, don’t take them for face value. They’re like postings for fuel economy on cars. The testing is done under ideal conditions.
Connecticut, under the federal plan, will distribute $3.4 million in rebates during the next three months. But don’t wait in case the money runs out early.
The rebates range from $50 to $500 (air conditioner systems).
So go and shop wisely.
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Dishwashers do not appear to be eligible for the rebate. You need to correct the third paragraph.
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Don’t always take Consumer Reports as gospel. I think that overall, they offer good advice in most cases. But on automobile tires and coffee with its related topics, they were all wet with their recommendations in at two cases. In those instances, due to intense personal and professional areas of interest and study, I found the comments of the writers to be those who have suddenly decided to study a complex topic and have to make recommendations based on limited experience with the topic involved. That’s tough to do, and those at CU do an excellent job overall, considering the difficulty of their task. Just remember to use additional sources of information to supplement what you read in Consumer Reports.
Get a Kill-A-Watt and see exactly how much energy your old appliances are wasting. My old fridge in the basement (with only a couple of frozen pizzas and a six pack) was costing $600/year. What a waste… I unplugged it and now save $50 on each month’s electric bill!