In an effort to reduce energy consumption 3 percent by 2013, PPL Electric Utilities is going forward with a statewide energy initiative, rolling out several programs in the new year to help customers reduce their costs by reducing energy use.

Many programs will provide rebates, discounts and incentives for customers to purchase energy-efficient products, get home-energy audits and recycle old, inefficient appliances, according to George Lewis, PPL spokesman.

One program, which rolled out this month, is a refrigerator- and freezer-recycling program. Under that program, customers will receive a $35 rebate plus free pickup of old, energy-wasting refridgerators and freezers and a $25 rebate for old air conditioners, according to Donald Stringfellow, PPL spokesman.

Removal of that type of energy-wasting appliance may save customers about $150 a year on their electricity bills because units built before 1990 use more than three times as much energy as their newer counterparts.

"Customers have a great deal of control over their electricity use, and PPL Electric Utilities is giving them options, tools and programs to exercise that control, which in the end will save them money," Lewis said.

Aside from the regridgerator discount, all other programs will roll out after the new year, with an exception of a few that will not be made available until 2011.

There also will be programs for those who choose to go with renewable energy solutions.

Those who have photovoltaic solar panels will qualify for a rebate of $2 per watt. Customers with geothermal systems will be offered rebates of $217 per ton for the ground-source energy, according to Stringfellow.

Other programs include $50 walk-through energy audits, cash rebates for undertaking energy conservation measures, free compact fluorescent light bulbs or rebates if purchased from a local store, and an equipment rebate program for all customers, according to Stacy Richards, director of the Energy Resource Center for SEDA-Council of Governments.

There will be incentives for new homes that meet Energy Star construction standards, variable electricity rates for peak and off-peak hours, rebates for energy-efficient electric equipment and installation of the equipment, free energy assessments and weatherization measures for low-income households, among other programs.

"It's a pretty big topic. Act 129 set all of this in motion. All utilities are expected to reduce energy consumption 1 percent by May 31, 2011, and 3 percent by May 2013," Stringfellow said.

The energy-reduction programs are not being offered as a result of deregulation. They are a result of Act 129 passed in October 2008, which requires all major electric utilities to reduce customers' energy use the next few years, according to Richards.

Information will follow when the programs are rolled out.