Savings from new oil furnaces: A study conducted as part of Washington State's Oil Help Program

The Washington State Energy Office (WSEO) has been running the Oil Help program for three years. Originally operated as a loan program, Oil Help switched to rebates during the 1987 and 1988. Rebates for oil furnace replacements made up over 70 percent of rebate funds, which totaled about $1.3 million. WSEO Evaluation started research in summer of 1988, with the goal of including 100 new furnace households (with a control group of similar size) in the study. Our intention was to look at long-term oil consumption comparing each household with itself over the two periods. The final study group consists of 43 households and a control group of 87 households. The report begins with a review of related research. A discussion of research methodology, weather normalization procedure, data attrition, and important descriptive details follows. Changes in consumption for the new furnace and control groups are reported and are tested for significance. Finally, we discuss the implications of the results for the cost effectiveness of an oil furnace replacement.