Despite the program just launching today, the Florida rebate website has been struggling to cope with residents wanting to save money on their cash for clunkers appliances program. Some people have been up since before sunrise this morning but the website seems to not be able to keep up.

This cash for clunkers program has been heavily advertised and promoted and it gives people a 20 percent rebate on their new energy appliances to encourage those to buy more efficient models.

However, at around 11am this morning, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, residents who had gotten up early and logged on to rebates.com/florida could not get the website to work due to overload on the server. The rebate will only work with a priority number that is only available on the website.

Daisy Richardson from Fort Lauderdale was one of those customers who has been unable to access www.rebates.com/florida, and she wants to get her $400 rebate on her $1,400 refrigerator she just purchased.

The Energy Office has stated however that the website is not down, and just to be patient with the servers. They suggested trying different browsers and to keep refreshing the page.

When you do connect to the website, you have to create an account and that will allow you to request a priority number.

There is only a limited number of rebates available so even if you do log on to the website, you may not be successful. There are 68,000 rebates allowed to add up to $17.5 million, but it is on a first-come, first-served basis.

he rebate will last until April 25 or until the limit is reached, but after you get your appliance and rebate number, then you must mail the rebate application and your purchases' serial number to the Energy Office by May 10.

Tags: florida rebates for appliances, florida appliance rebate, florida appliance rebate 2010, www.rebates.com/florida, energy star