Energy efficiency upgrades - Canada edition
January 17, 2023 7:03 AM Subscribe
I recently bought a house in Windsor, Ontario and I'm hoping to do some energy-efficiency upgrades. There's a program through Enbridge Gas and the federal government that gives up to $10,000 in rebates for upgrades, but you need to have an evaluation first. I am having trouble with the first step of selecting a registered energy advisor to do it. That's where you come in.
I've checked and I am indeed eligible for the program. Enbridge's website gives a list of companies offering evaluations, but there's very little to distinguish them. It's mostly a bunch of generic-looking Wordpress sites with similar blurbs about how you need an evaluation to get the rebates, etc etc. I've heard that some of these outfits are kind of scammy or that they don't do a thorough evaluation, and I want to avoid that. So:
I've checked and I am indeed eligible for the program. Enbridge's website gives a list of companies offering evaluations, but there's very little to distinguish them. It's mostly a bunch of generic-looking Wordpress sites with similar blurbs about how you need an evaluation to get the rebates, etc etc. I've heard that some of these outfits are kind of scammy or that they don't do a thorough evaluation, and I want to avoid that. So:
- If you've been through this process recently and had a thorough, helpful inspection, could you recommend a specific company to do the evaluation?
- If not, what should I be looking for in selecting a company?
- For example, does it make more sense to go with a big national company or a smaller, local place?
- How can I tell whether a company is legit or not?
Best answer: We went through this two years ago when we bought our house andIn my city (Ottawa) all inspectors were arranged by a third party group called EnviroCentre that I know the City works with a lot, so it might be that your city government has some contacts to recommend for this. There are some initiatives listed on the Environment section of the City of Windsor page that suggest they're kind of involved in the home energy rebates (the section "Residential Deep Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program"), so I would contact the email address at the very bottom of the page (emp at citywindsor dot ca) to see if they have anyone they would suggest.
If that doesn't pan out, you may have to just do a lot of leg work to collect reviews on the various companies - unfortunately, even crap or nice webpage aren't a great example of who is good versus crap; often you can find gems who have no computer skills but are great at what they do. Even so, there's a pretty standardized approach that they have to take and their advice is pretty nebulous and kind of unhelpful anyway - you'll kind of be on your own to try to figure things out with your contractors once the assessment is completed. Here is what ours looked like (hopefully I've anonymized it as much as I think I have...)
In terms of other advice, the biggest recommendation I would have is to have all off your contractors and quotes and work dates and materials (if you're ordering new doors or windows especially) ready to go *before* you have your assessment, since you'll have a limited time to do the actual work and then have it re-assessed; it's really hard to do this after the fact. Also, make sure you have a plan to save all your invoices/receipts in one place so you have these ready for your inspector on the re-inspection.
posted by urbanlenny at 7:35 AM on January 17, 2023
If that doesn't pan out, you may have to just do a lot of leg work to collect reviews on the various companies - unfortunately, even crap or nice webpage aren't a great example of who is good versus crap; often you can find gems who have no computer skills but are great at what they do. Even so, there's a pretty standardized approach that they have to take and their advice is pretty nebulous and kind of unhelpful anyway - you'll kind of be on your own to try to figure things out with your contractors once the assessment is completed. Here is what ours looked like (hopefully I've anonymized it as much as I think I have...)
In terms of other advice, the biggest recommendation I would have is to have all off your contractors and quotes and work dates and materials (if you're ordering new doors or windows especially) ready to go *before* you have your assessment, since you'll have a limited time to do the actual work and then have it re-assessed; it's really hard to do this after the fact. Also, make sure you have a plan to save all your invoices/receipts in one place so you have these ready for your inspector on the re-inspection.
posted by urbanlenny at 7:35 AM on January 17, 2023
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The guy was decent. We were looking at topping up insulation in the attic, and he said it wasn't necessary. We have some fancy insulation that isn't used anymore cause its too expensive or something. Everything was still in good shape, and wouldn't provide much of a difference
(Location, 3 hours away up for the 401 from you)
posted by Ftsqg at 7:35 AM on January 17, 2023