The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (NH-PUC) has announced improvements in its rebate program for furnaces and wood pellet boilers during the early part of this summer and considered the inclusion of central heating systems that are put up outdoors.
Earlier, NHC-PUC was demanding a minimum of 85% efficiency ratings for outdoor kept central heating systems and subsequently brought it down to 80% or more. The introduced amendments will enable the clients to have a wider range of systems to choose thus assuring the benefit of using more efficient biomass heating systems.
The new program will allow the consumers to get a rebate of 30% on the cost of such heating systems subject to a maximum of $6,000 if they complete the installation of an authority approved, efficient and automatic wood feeding furnace or pellet boiler before February 2012. To remain eligible for the rebate, the submitted applications need to be approved by the PUC before the completion of installation.
Presently, pellet boilers are available with automated feeding facility and storage for pellets. The consumer installing such boilers will immediately receive a rebate of 30% rebate on the price. According to an estimation provided by the savings calculator at WoodPellets.com, a normal house owner located in Northeast who participates in the program with an estimated use of 6 t of pellets per year in place of oil will save more than $1,000 on costs of heating. It is estimated that the consumer can reach the break even stage within a span of six years or lesser if the oil prices continue to increase and it will be only savings afterwards.