Finding the Right Products
Did you know that some refrigerators can literally cost hundreds (in some cases thousands) of dollars more than others to operate over their lifetime? Did you also know that many products qualify for rebates and incentives? Making the right choices when you are upgrading your appliances or purchasing new equipment can save you a very large amount of money. In most cases, you can purchase products with very similar features and appearance, by just understanding how much each item costs to operate annually.
What is Total Cost of Owning Equipment or Appliances?
Quite simply there are three pieces to the puzzle.
- Upfront cost - which most people tend to use as a key criterion for buying
- Ongoing operating costs - which is based on how much energy the equipment or appliance uses and what rate you pay for electricity. Often times the operating costs can be higher than the purchase price, even over short periods!
- Rebates - many products qualify for rebates, which can lower the purchase costs
How Can I Determine the Ongoing Operating Costs?
Most products at retailers have an Energy Guide (the yellow tag) attached to most appliances. It tells how much energy an appliance uses and makes it easier to compare the energy use of similar models. The Energy Guide can also help you understand the annual operating costs, but this is based on the national cost of energy and not your actual utility rates. This can help you compare and find the most efficient products. But this will not show you the actual operating costs based on your actual utility price. We can help you to analyze your energy consumption and make recommendations regarding products or services that could benefit you using your actual utility rates! For example, we might suggest that you could benefit by replacing the refrigerator in the garage with a new energy efficient refrigerator. We then will search through major retailers and can calculate the ongoing operating costs for each product.
How Can I find the Lowest Priced Products?
In addition to calculating the operating costs, we also search and compare prices from the major retailers, including sales, and we locate the best deals.
How Do I Know if a Product Qualifies for a Rebate?
We analyze each product and quickly determine if it qualifies for our rebate program. You can quickly filter down and search on products that qualify to find the right answer for you.
Find the Right Product Features
For major products, we’ve developed buying guides to help you find the best products for your home. We explain the key features and types of products that are available in the market. We then provide you with the ability to find products and to compare product features (including such factors as product price, type, size, brand, total cost of ownership, energy star, etc.). In addition, you can compare them side-by-side to make sure you find the best fit for your needs. You can save products if you are not ready to buy (and still in research mode), or directly link to the lowest cost retailers when you are ready to take the plunge.