Evaluation of RWE? KesS Rebate Programme for Efficient Residential Appliances

Stefan Thomas, Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy

Keywords

Abstract

The KesS (Client energy saving Service) programme of RWE Energie AG was the largest single DSM programme implemented so far by a German electric utility. It offered a lOO.- DM cash rebate to any customer of RWE Energie who bought an energy-efficient refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher or clothes washer. It was a pilot programme which started m October of 1992 and ended in 1995. In 1994, the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy evaluated the programme. A combined approach comprising (1) empirical surveys of programme participants (mail survey and group interviews), appliance dealers and utility advisory staft (2) market analysis data on retail prices and sales data of individual appliance models; and (3) technical data on energy consumption of appliances was used for the evaluation.
The programme was cost-effective from the participant and societal perspectives, but not from the utility perspective.

It saved around 450 GWh of electricity, thereby avoiding over 300.000 tons of CO2 emissions; it also saved three million m3 of water. It demonstrated, therefore, that cost-effective DSM programmes for residential appliances are possible in Germany. This result is backed up by other recently evaluated appliance rebate programmes like those of Stadtwerke Hannover and Stadtwerke Soest. Improvements for a follow-up refrigerator/freezer rebate programme could make rt cost-effective from all perspectives, including the utility perspective.