Utilities Appear to be Making the Right Decisions

A major investor owned utility recently announced a reversal of its original decision to accept products delisted by AHRI on July 15 only through August 1, 2009. This policy would have disqualified previously certified products purchased and stocked by HVAC distributors and contractors from the utility's energy efficiency incentive programs. HARDI and others submitted comments and a recommendation for an extended grandfathering period at least through this year's cooling season to enable the channel to exhaust those inventories. Yesterday the utility informed HARDI via email that they had changed their grandfathering date to October 15, 2009. This date is more in-line with what we've heard from most other utilities across the country. HARDI distributors need to verify that their utility partners have taken similar positions so businesses do not get "stuck" with delisted products.

Please let HARDI know if any utilities in your markets have not adopted grandfathering dates through this cooling season.