Time for a new refrigerator? Save 6% sales tax during Virginia’s Sales Tax Holiday Aug. 7-9

Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative encourages Virginians who need a new refrigerator to purchase one marked with the ENERGY STAR label during the commonwealth’s Sales Tax Holiday, Aug. 7-9.  Northern Virginians will save the state 6% sales tax. Eligible models must cost $2,500 or less.

“Refrigerators and freezers use a lot of electricity because they run all the time, 24/7,” says Marlon Gilbert, a NOVEC energy services specialist. “Better insulation and compressors make today’s models much more energy efficient.”

Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR shows that refrigerators with the freezer on top use the least amount of electricity. Side-by-side models, especially ones with exterior water and ice dispensers, use the most.

“Replacing an old refrigerator with a new ENERGY-STAR-certified model will save electricity and dollars,” Gilbert says.

NOVEC’s Five Fridge and Freezer Facts
•Open and close doors quickly. Decide what you need and where to find it beforehand. Cold air spills out of an upright freezer’s door when opened. Better insulation and a heavy lid makes chest freezers 10-25% more energy efficient than uprights.

• Cover foods and liquids to prevent them from releasing moisture and causing the compressor to work harder.

• Keep the freezer stocked to help neighboring items stay cold. Add bags of ice if necessary.

• Locate the refrigerator/freezer away from the oven, if feasible, and out of a garage or carport where extreme weather makes the appliance use more energy to maintain the set temperature.

• Replace the door gasket if you can close the door on a dollar bill and pull the bill out easily.

Learn more at tax.virginia.gov/virginia-sales-tax-holiday, energystar.gov, and novec.com/save.

About NOVEC

NOVEC, headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, is a not-for-profit electric utility corporation that supplies and distributes electricity and energy-related services to more than 173,000 metered customers in Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford, and Clarke counties, the Town of Clifton, and the City of Manassas Park. It is one of the largest electric companies of its kind in the nation. For more information, visit http://www.novec.com or call 703-335-0500 or 1-888-335-0500.