Last week’s article about the premature end to the ecoENERGY program has filled my email inbox with comments and information ranging from what action consumers can take to what incentives are currently being offered.

Photo: Contributed

The program was a huge incentive to undertake upgrades for homeowners. It was initially launched in 2007 and renewed last June, with the government promising an injection of $400 million through Canada's Economic Action Plan. According to statistics, 250,000 Canadian households have taken advantage of the program. According to the federal government, that’s the magic number for fulfillment despite a reported $205 million of the $400 million remaining unspent in the program.

Last year, our household was one of the thousands of BC households that undertook energy efficiency upgrades. The rebates were a clear incentive and helped make the decision to invest money in our home easier. In our case, we purchased all new thermally efficient doors and windows locally. As well, we had a local company increase our attic insulation from R-20 to R-50 resulting in our home being more comfortable all year round. The big ticket item was a new high efficiency furnace. It runs on a two speed fan and has greatly increased the comfort in every room.

I just went online to and logged into my FORTIS BC account and used their nifty consumption history feature to compare our energy usage from before and after our upgrades. Before the upgrades we consumed 96 gigajoules of energy from September to the end of January. This year our consumption plummeted to 42 gigajoules! With that kind of result it is easy to see why saving energy first is a great step.

The Save ecoENERGY Coalition formed in March 2011, in response to the end of the ecoENERGY Retrofit-Homes program back then. They are the people whose mission is to have the federal government reinstate the ecoEnergy program now and they need our help. They have put together a superb website that makes plain sense to Canadians. They need your support in petitioning the government. Go to http://saveecoenergy.ca and make your voice heard.

The Save ecoENERGY Coalition would like to see the retrofit incentive program renewed for three additional years. Here are some of the many advantages of the program:

I had a call from Carol on last Monday morning. She was inquiring about having her home evaluated under the now defunct ecoENERGY program to qualify for incentive grants. Like many Canadians, she was making plans to take advantage of substantial financial incentives and use them towards improving her home energy efficiency. I learned of the cancellation of the program less than half an hour before she called. She was a tad surprised to learn that the program had abruptly been cancelled just hours before her call.

It’s not the first time the program was cancelled. In fact, government programs promoting residential efficiency like this have been cancelled without notice several times. The uncertainty of these programs has been challenging for both homeowners caught in the cancellations and for energy auditors. My first experience with a cancellation was with BC’s LiveSmart program. I had a brand new $3,500 piece of equipment used in energy auditing delivered by UPS. Excitedly, I opened the boxes, set it up and ran it through a series of tests. Afterwards, I turned on my computer and checked my email. The first email read, “Cancelation of the LiveSmart program”.

Offering energy efficiency upgrade incentives saves families money, creates good local jobs, and reduces energy consumption.

In the case of this version of the ecoENERGY program, most people in the HVAC industry were expecting the program to wind down gradually at the end of March. The general consensus has been that both the provincial and federal governments haven’t been reliable with their programs. It is speculated that the energy providers such as Fortis and Teresan will likely undertake their own programs in the future.

Offering upgrade incentives saves families money, creates good local jobs, and reduces energy consumption. The government’s own numbers show that households that have participated in ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes have saved on average $700 per year per $2000 spent on utilities, reduced energy consumption by over 20 percent, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 3 tonnes per house.

It’s always interesting inspecting new homes. Buyers of new houses or apartments often think that the home will be in perfect condition or that because the builder has enrolled in a warranty program, there is no need for a home inspection.

Usually, the homebuyer goes on a "deficiency walkthrough" with the builder or developer representative. The builder knows what to look for while the homebuyer often does not. Having an independent third-party inspector accompany you will ensure a more thorough, unbiased inspection.