Retailers seek fridge scrappage scheme

The retail industry is looking to the government to introduce a domestic goods scrappage scheme for appliances like fridges, similar to the "cash for clunkers" promotion in the car industry. It will claim in a letter to the chancellor, Alistair Darling, that it would improve consumer spending while at the same time helping the country to achieve its carbon emission targets by switching to more efficient models.

Many white goods sellers have been suffering as customers cut back on their spending in the downturn and this is seen as a way of capitalizing on the success of the scrappage scheme in the auto industry. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said of the plan: "A clear signal should be given to households of the benefits of a switch to the most energy efficient products… this could be through time-limited scrappage schemes for buying 'Energy Saving Recommended' products."

The BRC believes energy-efficient appliances should be exempted from VAT and incentives extended to consumers to swap old models for newer machines. With 15m 10-year old or more appliances in use, it thinks any such scheme could replicate the success of the car industry version. It also claims that the move would cost the government £570m in lost VAT, just two weeks of the poorly received VAT cut introduced at the end of last year.

The BRC says its plan could reduce CO2 emissions by 1.3m tonnes per year by 2020, which amounts to nearly one per cent of domestic emissions. ·