By Pat Loeb

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — If you’ve been thinking about replacing a furnace or boiler, now might be the time to do it. Philadelphia Gas Works is doubling the rebate for homeowners who upgrade to energy-saving systems.

PGW is hoping homeowners will take advantage of the warm weather to swap out older equipment for new, energy-efficient heaters. For a limited time, it’s offering a $500 dollar rebate on new furnaces or $2,000 dollars on new boilers.

Spokesman Barry O’Sullivan says the investment will pay off in other ways as well.

“They are using less gas and they have a higher efficiency burn rate, so there’s less waste,” O’Sullivan said. “They’re actually helping the environment that way and, of course, they’re actually saving money on their gas bills.

The rebate program is part of the utility’s energy-sense effort, which O’Sullivan says is hoped to reduce the region’s carbon output by 1-1/4 million tons by 2015.