Question: Originally asked as a follow up question, and lost in the controversy of [Why would it matter whether a front-loading washer is upstairs?](https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/52415/why-would-it-matter-whether-a-front-loading-washer-is-upstairs/52416#52416) (*They will only give me a free FRONT-loader if it's on the first or basement floors*...) 

*Why* they would only offer it in this way has been speculated about; *how* it is economically viable for the power company to do this at all, isn't.

The power and gas companies in my area have offered similar rebates and incentives that I would think to be counter-intuitive to their business. **Why would the power company offer an incentive for having equipment that would use less power?**

My less than educated guess is that it's a 'government thing' or they're somehow trying to deal with demand spikes. But the latter wouldn't explain why the gas company would give you a rebate for upgrading to a HE furnace or a programmable thermostat.

Answer: 
The utility company wants to reduce **PEAK** demand -- it is much cheaper to ensure that power demand never goes above X than to build a new power plant. Furthermore, balancing the peaks and valleys of demand means that they can generally use cheaper power sources (nuclear/hydro) and avoid the expensive gas/oil fired plants.

A washing machine has a giant heater in it, and a front-loader uses less water and thus less heat to heat it up. Hence the utility no longer has to plan for so much more peak demand...
Very simply, because otherwise they may be forced to do things they like even less -- make a huge investment in infrastructure, for example, to provide enough power to serve all the customers.

There are also government incentives (carbon credits and so on) and PR benefits.

Put those together, and it's worth the relatively small amount of money they're investing. Especially when they're in competition with the other energy sources (gas vs. oil vs. electric) and want to encourage you to continue, for example, heating with gas rather than switching to oil.