How Much Does Your Home Cost to Operate?

Published on October 15, 2018

We realize that it can be a bit daunting trying to figure out how you can reduce expenses in your home. Sometimes it can be beneficial to consider your house as a business, and to take the same actions that a business would to maintain their property’s affordability. An unnecessarily high hydro or gas bill can weigh down the prosperity of a home just as much as a business, so we have gone ahead and layed out the actions you or a business could take to regain control over your respective energy bills.

First: Conduct an Overall Evaluation

An overall evaluation of your home can help you see and better understand the energy cost required to operate it in its current state - a service that can be provided by our Certified Energy Advisors. After completing their energy evaluation, our Advisors at BSG will be able to present you with the expected yearly energy consumption of your home (in Gigajoules per year), and can help you make sense of those numbers to ensure you are saving the most energy possible.

Second: Receive Recommendations for Building Improvements

After you have had our Certified Energy Advisors complete their energy evaluation of your home, the next thing they will offer to do is present you with a list of possible changes you could make, and the suspected benefits that you would see. Our evaluation covers gas and hydro usage, meaning that the major energy-leaking aspects of your home are accounted for, and will have a plan laid out for how to effectively and economically deal with them.

The recommendations put forward by our Energy Advisors are always aligned with your budget, available rebates, evaluation results, and any long-term renovation plans you may have. We take the time to walk through your home and discuss with you in detail what each individual change will result in, and which changes will have the biggest impact per dollar spent.

Third: Decide on a Contractor

When you receive your evaluation recommendations, you may find it hard to decide who you should contract to complete the energy-saving alterations that have just been suggested to you. We are happy to suggest our friends over at Great Northern Insulation for the envelope portion of energy related home improvements, as they have an ongoing reputation for outstanding work and a fantastic track record. We also have professional contacts in the window and HVAC industries to assist in your renovations.

Fourth: Have a Follow-Up Assessment

Once you have decided on your choice of contractor and the work has been completed, the next and final step is to have a follow-up assessment done - once again by our Certified Energy Advisors. This is to obtain definitive proof that the improvements you made on your home have made a difference, and to give you the satisfaction of knowing you are saving money on your energy bill.

If you're ready to lower your energy bills, give us a call at 1-866-333-3920 or fill out a contact form.