SPANISH SPEAKING

A Saturday afternoon shopping trip inspired Paul Reid, general manager of , to launch a new rebate program.

Reid was strolling through the electronics department of a department store and noticed that the plasma screen televisions were giving off a lot of heat. Further down the aisle, he realized that there was no heat coming off of another flat screen model. “I assumed it was an LCD (liquid crystal display) screen, which it was,” Reid recalled. “But it was also LED backlit.”

It was about the same time the state of California was considering efficiency standards for TVs. Reid decided that this was a great application for a .

LCD screens come in two formats—cold cathode fluorescent backlit or LED backlit. The LED screens use about 90 percent less energy than plasma screens, and about 25 percent less than cold cathode LCDs. That efficiency comes at a price, however, and Reid designed the rebate to help offset the price difference.

Customers send the municipal utility proof of payment and the box label for a 25 percent rebate (up to a maximum of $750). “It works out to splitting the difference in price between the LED and the cold cathode TVs,” said Reid.

The rebate also applies to computer monitors, including iMacs which have the computer built into the LED screen. Reid prorates the average rebate for a TV screen based on the diagonal inches of the computer screen.

Simplicity also applied to program marketing. Azusa announced the rebate in bill inserts and placed an ad on a calendar put out by a local recycling company. “Bill inserts are super-effective,” said Reid, “and the calendar worked really well. We didn’t need to do more than that.”

Since the program debuted last July, Azusa has paid out about two dozen rebates, and receives two to three requests weekly. Reid includes the program in his state energy savings reports and has determined that it is more cost effective than cool roof or window replacement incentives. Now, that’s efficiency.