It’s not been in place for a real long time, but so far, the Wichita water-saving appliance rebate program isn’t experiencing a rush of rebates.
According to a presentation on July 22, less than one percent of the available rebate money had been claimed. KSN News reports the bureaucratic explanation for what seems to be a tepid response by citizens:
“Part of the reason we wanted to do this rebate program in the last six months of this year is to get a feel for how the program would be received,” said Joe Pajor, Wichita Public Works Deputy Director.
Hmm: I thought the purpose of the program was to save water.
This low participation in the rebate program is potentially good news. The rebate program is a very expensive way to save a very small amount of water. The good news that might emerge would be if the city uses the money not spent on rebates to either reduce water rates or retire water system debt.