Burbank to offer incentives for HVAC replacement
Burbank Water and Power is looking to help residents save money on their electric bills while reducing the load on the city’s electrical infrastructure during peak periods. A new program approved this month will help achieve those goals, according to city officials.
The Burbank City Council voted 4-0 on March 3 to implement an early replacement program for residential central heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) units to incentivize those property owners with older, high-energy-consuming systems with new, high-efficiency models. Councilwoman Emily Gabel-Luddy was absent.
BWP was given a budget of $400,000 for the 2019-20 fiscal year for the new program, which will include up to $1,500 in incentives to replace an air-conditioning unit, $75 to install a smart thermostat and $50 to have one’s current HVAC system tested.
To qualify for the program, the air-conditioning system must be between 10 to 15 years old and/or operating at a low efficiency.
Launching by July 1, BWP expects the replacement program to assist in the replacement of about 225 residential air-conditioning units over the next year, said Joe Flores, marketing manager for the city-owned utility.
Additionally, residents may also be eligible for BWP’s appliance rebates when purchasing a new HVAC unit, Flores said.
Those who upgrade to an energy-efficient system can see up to $2,500 in savings on their electricity bill over the lifetime of the unit, which ranges between 10 to15 years.
Should the new program sway enough residents into upgrading their HVAC unit, BWP could see a reduction of about 260 kWh during peak hours and about 194,000 kWh in annual energy savings.
During peak demand periods, about 42% is attributed to residential use, with air-conditioning use being the major portion, according to a city staff report.
While the city-owned utility hopes to attract participation from residents, Councilman Jess Talamantes said $1,500 might not be enough to persuade people to make a pricey purchase if it isn’t necessary.
“When you talk about $1,500, it sounds like a lot but when you look at the total for a new system, you’re talking $8,000 to $10,000,” Talamantes said.
He added that residents might be more inclined to utilize the city’s air-conditioning tune-up program to keep their existing unit running for as long as possible. However, that service will be coming to an end.
Within the same March 3 vote, the City Council opted to sunset its air-conditioning tune-up program by July 1. Flores said the cost of running the service is exponentially rising due to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ban on refrigerants such as Freon.
Since the 1990s, the EPA has been phasing out the production and use of ozone-depleting substances, according to the EPA website.
As of the beginning of this year, such refrigerants were banned from production and importation, which has driven up the price of the product, which is still in use for maintaining older existing HVAC systems.
Flores said HVAC contractors have seen the price of Freon skyrocket from $30 per unit to about $800 per unit.
“The A/C tune-up program right now is just not cost-effective,” he said. “It’s only going to get more expensive as it becomes less available.”
BWP performs about 125 HVAC tune-ups annually, Flores said. He added that BWP does not plan to offer discount programs for newer units.
