PECO Customers Kick 50,000 Appliances to the Curb With PECO Smart Appliance Recycling

PECO customers recycle the 50,000^th refrigerator/freezer with PECO Smart Appliance Recycling, and get paid in the process. Part of PECO Smart Ideas, the company’s suite of energy efficiency programs, customers receive a $50 rebate for recycling an old working refrigerator or freezer. PECO also picks up the appliance and recycles it for free. To date, PECO customers have received more than $1.87 million in rebates for recycling their old working refrigerators and freezers.

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PECO celebrated this milestone by presenting Havertown, PA’s Marcus and Amy Besser with an energy efficiency prize package. (Photo: Business Wire)

“We are thrilled to have reached this major milestone and encourage customers who still have old working fridges and freezers to take advantage of this easy, convenient program as well,” said Kathy Lentini, PECO director of Energy and Marketing Services. “PECO Smart Ideas has programs to help every customer save energy and money.”

In addition to the $50 rebate, customers can save up to $150 a year on their energy bill by getting rid of an older, working refrigerator or freezer. The refrigerators and freezers recycled through PECO Smart Appliance Recycling has the same environmental impact as removing more than 5,700 cars from the road or planting nearly 66,000 trees.

PECO celebrated this milestone by presenting Havertown, PA’s Marcus and Amy Besser with an energy efficiency prize package, which included a $500 gift card toward the purchase of an energy-efficient appliance, a certificate for a free PECO Smart House Call energy assessment, LED lightbulbs, smart power strips, and other energy-saving devices and information.

Scheduling a refrigerator or freezer pickup is easy. PECO customers can call 1-888-5-PECO-SAVE or visit peco.com/smartideas. Appliances must be in working order when the crew arrives to pick them up for recycling.

Units picked up through the program are transported to an appliance recycling facility operated by JACO Environmental. JACO safely removes hazardous materials from the old refrigerators and freezers, reclaiming 95 percent of the materials in the appliances for reuse in manufacturing new products. Even the foam insulation is safely incinerated to generate electricity.

PECO Smart Ideas is part of the company’s support of Pennsylvania’s energy efficiency and demand response targets – Act 129. Act 129 required all Pennsylvania electric utilities to develop programs to help customers reduce energy use by 1 percent by May 31, 2011 and 3 percent by May 31, 2013. Act 129 also requires utilities to help customers reduce their energy usage by an additional 2.9 percent by May 31, 2016.

Based in Philadelphia, PECO is an electric and natural gas utility subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC). PECO serves 1.6 million electric and more than 506,000 natural gas customers in southeastern Pennsylvania and employs about 2,400 people in the region. PECO delivered 89.9 billion cubic feet of natural gas and 37.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2014. Founded in 1881, PECO is one of the Greater Philadelphia Region's most active corporate citizens, providing leadership, volunteer and financial support to numerous arts and culture, education, environmental, economic development and community programs and organizations. For more information visit PECO.com, and connect with the company on Facebook and Twitter.

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