A government program aimed at cutting energy usage by encouraging consumers to get rid of old and inefficient home appliances and replace them with energy-saving models has met with a lukewarm response and a senior executive at a home appliance chain also questioned the logic of promoting energy-saving air conditioners in the middle of winter.
The Bureau of Energy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced late last year that from Jan. 1, a NT$2,000 subsidy would be given for each purchase of an air conditioner, refrigerator or washing machine carrying the EER Class 1 or Class 2 marks.
However, the incentive program, scheduled to end on March 31, has only resulted in about 90,000 purchases so far, less than 30 percent of the number the government had hoped to achieve.
Bureau officials reckoned 300,000 appliances would be sold during the three-month subsidy period, with the number of air conditioners — the leading electricity consumer among the three categories — topping the list.
The officials had hoped that with 300,000 appliances replaced with energy-efficient versions, about 116 million kilowatt-hours of electricity would be saved per year, or more than 1.1 billion kWh saved throughout the lives of the appliances, worth nearly NT$3 billion (US$100 million).
However, half of the purchases under the scheme were for washing machines, and air conditioners came bottom of the list, drastically reducing potential savings from the scheme.
Hsieh Ming-you (謝銘祐), a vice president of E-Life Mall, one of Taiwan’s major electrical appliance and electronics chain stores, said the incentive program failed because refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners are not appliances that consumers often replace.
Besides, consumers did not know about the program, the procedures for obtaining the subsidies were troublesome, appliances with EER marks are expensive and it is now winter so few people are thinking about air conditioners, Hsieh said.
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