…for just 50 dollars Con Edison will send a green team to your home…
Worth it?
Depends on what they find. Do you have an older home with high utility bills? They can show you where you could save money buy adding insulation etc. If you have a brand new house with low utility bills it might not be worth it.
I worked for a state agency which at the time offered this service free to those below the official poverty level. Based on the results of those surveys, I’d be inclined to say it’s definitely worth it. The vast majority of such surveys identified winter heat losses with relatively low-cost fixes that “paid for themselves” in avoided fuel bills in one year, making the multi-year savings gravy. In some cases, it would take three to five years of avoided cosxts savings to pay off the cost of repairs, but it still provided long-term benefits. In the case of renters, we tried to tie this into HUD home rehab grants so the landlord was partially compensated for making the repairs – if he, e.g., advanced 20% of the cost, the other 80% would be paid for out of the grant. Since this increased his property values, and hence resale or rental value, he typiocally jumped at the opportunity.
depends on what they do.
as an electric utility they might examine electrical use and only make recommendations to that.
if you are a gas customer and heat with gas they might examine home heating, maybe also cooking and hot water production.
if the home is older it would be valuable for heating improvements. if you have older electric appliances and lighting it could be valuable.
it could easily payback withing this year.
The improvements they suggest will almost certainly pay for themselves quickly. The big question is whether they’re likely to find anything you didn’t already know. That said, $50 really isn’t all that much, given that you probably spend hundreds of dollars a month on home energy, and it’s almost certainly cheaper than what you’d have to pay a private company to do the same thing (the Con Ed one is probably government-subsidized).
This is being done across the country. Some private companies offer the survey free. At $50 I believe that’s a subsidized price already for a thorough survey with the infrared cameras. There are government programs still in place for credits or rebates on work that improves the energy efficiency of the home. So it’s certainly not a scam. If you have not done it recently, you will most likely find the opportunity to save lots of money. Even new houses are built to a code, but not necessarily an efficient one.
I doubt that any utility would do the half-assed job you mentioned.
Utilities, especially in New York State, are mandated by the Public Service Commission to make surveys available. They should be extremely thorough and examine all aspects of your house. Unless you live in a specially-built green house, your potential saving will be far more than $50. If the OP or anyone does decide to do the work, start with double- or triple-glazed windows and adding insulation wherever you don’t have any. Those are by far the best payback.
We saved a bundle after doing some inexpensive repairs/upgrades after having an energy audit done.
The best part was the “blower door test” where they install a panel in one of the exterior door openings. It has a big, calibrated fan in it and it is fitted with digital manometers to record the pressure differentials (inside-outside).
It’s a great tool for finding air leaks, big and small.
We paid about $120. which we got back from the province. They did the test again after we did the suggested improvements. Based on the new audit, we got a cheque for over $1000.
Wait, from whom? I thought the point was supposed to be that the energy savings would pay you back over time, not that someone would just cut you a check on the spot.
A lot of states / provinces give rebates for the repairs you have done to increase the energy efficiency of your home.
I had the same kind of audit that Longpath describes, and it found a number of substantial air leaks in the house. A few common ones are the attic door, ceiling lights, and switch and plug outlets. Newer houses routinely plug those and it is possible to encounter a house that is too airtight and the recommendation is to install an air exchanger. Heat losses from air leaks are the cheapest to fix and you can likely do it yourself. Then they check for the proper amount of ceiling insulation which is just a matter of measuring what you have and checking against the recommendations for your area.
During the winter they may also use some kind of heat detector on the outside of your house. The greater the differential between inside & outside temperatures the more effective this will be. This will tell you how much heat is being lost through your windows & walls. Remediation of any problems found with that will generally be much more expensive.
Their advice is likely to be as follows;
[ol]
[li]Plug air holes.[/li][li]Get more ceiling insulation.[/li][li]Get newer windows & get insulation blown into walls.[/li][/ol]
Do number 1. Think about number 2. Ignore number 3.
I would pay the $50. They likely have a lot of experience with houses in your area.
Where I live, you can get rebates on home insultation work, new furnaces and even caulking up windows. If you save your receipts, they’ll give you a percentage back. That percentage is based on the difference in your home’s efficiency.
The issue is that they need a ‘before and after’ measurement so you have to pay (also about $50) to have the utility come in and do a measurement both before and after the changes.
Just a note on this and what I said before.
Commercial operators are likely to tell people to do windows, because they sell windows and there are big profits to be made. This isn’t the case for a utility-based survey. For older houses with loose-fitting or broken or badly-stormed windows, getting new ones can make a lot of sense.
Insulation is a good thing everything, not just in ceilings. Something people don’t normally think about is insulation under the first floor over unheated, non-finished basements or additions.
While you’re down there, check on the age of the furnace and hot water heater. The newer ones are far more efficient than the older models.
The older the house and the longer it’s been since significant upgrading has been done, the more likely you are to see a good return on anything you do. This is highly individualistic and dependent on local conditions, which is why getting some independent advice that works specifically for your situation is so important.
This was very sloppy on my part. We were given a list of suggested upgrades that we could perform. (leak sealing, beefing up attic insulation etc.). We were reimbursed a percentage of our expenses based on the measured improvement.
The real financial benefit is in the reduced fuel bills.