Saturday, May 19, 2012
text text text
Add a comment
A major goal of the ecoENERGY program is to have homeowners implement energy efficient upgrades that achieve significant energy cost savings, more comfortable living spaces and a cleaner environment.
At a minimum, ecoENERGY service organizations and advisors are required to provide clients with a personalized homeowner report with recommended improvements and an EnerGuide rating label. Most ecoENERGY companies only meet the bare minumum requirements of the program, however and fortunately for our clients, we go the extra mile to help inform your decisions. The homeowner report is only one of many resources at you disposal through BEC Consulting to assist you in making smart upgrade choices. As BEC client, in addition to the advice of an energy advisor, you will also gain access to professional, unbiased advice from some of Canada's most knowledgable and experienced consultants and designers. Many of these resources are available to our clients 24 hours a day through our website including:
By arming our clients with a range of resources they are better able to make smart well informed upgrade decisions.
When selecting energy efficiency upgrades, you can choose to implement any upgrade you wish, whether or not the upgrade is listed as a grant-eligible upgrade in the program's 
Grant Table.
In some cases the best upgrade option to provide long term energy and operating cost savings is ineligible for a grant... and the upgrade option can cost less to implement than a grant-eligible option, even when the financial incentive is considered.
Therefore, financial incentives should be considered a potential bonus, they should not drive your decision making process. Dont let a potential bonus detract you from examining the long term operation cost analysis.
Homeowners are responsible for researching, choosing and ensuring the proper installation of eligible products and equipment.
All the usual caveats apply... you should establish a specific upgrade specification, obtain multiple quotes for work that will meet your specification, and hire only reputable contractors.
Keep ALL receipts for three years to show that eligible upgrades were purchased after June 6, 2011, and installed after the pre–retrofit evaluation. Products and equipment purchased or installed before these dates are not eligible.
You must complete your energy retrofits and obtain a post–retrofit evaluation no later than March 31, 2012.
To qualify for ecoENERGY incentives homeowners need to have a home energy evaluation completed before they undertake eligible home improvements. To obtain an ecoENERGY evaluation from a service organization such as BEC Consulting homeowners MUST first REGISTER with Natural Resources Canada and obtain a customer identification (CID) number.
NRCan will cease enrolling new participants and issuing CID numbers when it appears $400 Million ecoENERGY budget will be expended. A CID number is your key to securing your share of the ecoENERGY budget.
If you or a previous owner did not obtain an energy evaluation of the property under ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program or a complementary regional program since April 2007, submit your information to the form at this link REGISTER. You should receive an automatic e–mail from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) with a registration number. Once you have a CID number give BEC a call to book your appointment. If you suspect you should register as a past participant, consult the Frequently–Asked Questions page for directions. 
If you or a previous owner obtained an energy evaluation of the property under ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes or a complementary regional program since April 2007, submit the form below. In the next few minutes, you should first receive an automated response, and then within 2 to 10 business days, you will receive an e–mail from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) with your registration number. Once you receive your CID number give BEC a call to book your appointment. If you do not receive a response from NRCan within 10 business days, please also give BEC a call so we may look into the issue for you. If you suspect you should register as a new participant, consult the Frequently–Asked Questions page for directions. 
Once you have your CID number close the NRCan website to continue to step 2, or if you already have a CID number proceed to step 2 now. 
Once you have your registration email with your CID number you are eligible to book your pre-retrofit evaluation with a service organization. Please have this information available when you contact us since we cannot book an appointment without your CID number.
When you contact BEC to book an evaluation we will assign a Certified Energy Advisor to perform a pre–retrofit energy evaluation of your property using the EnerGuide Rating System. The fee for this service varies with the home size and location.
The average Ontario home costs $350 + HST.
The Government of Ontario will rebate $150 of the cost of the pre-retrofit evaluation.
This brings the average cost to most homeowners to just $200 + HST after your mail-in rebate.
Service organizations each set their own prices, but due to the competitive marketplace there are often only minor differences in the cost of the service.
Unlike many other service organizations, BEC is neither owned by, or financially affiliated with a manufacturer, distributor or contracting company who also seek to profit by selling you energy efficiency upgrades or products. Our advice is truly professional, third-party, and unbiased. Our only goal is to help homeowners to make appropriate and well informed decisions on the upgrades they choose to undertake on their home.
Secondly, your results are highly dependent upon the knowledge and experience of your advisor and support you will receive from your advisor and service organization, yet not not all energy advisors and service organizations provide the same level of support, or share the same level of knowledge and skill.
The best service organizations and advisors go the extra mile to ensure that their clients receive the excellent service and support. They tend to cost slightly more, but the extra $25.00 or so spent on their service will be quickly recouped due to the superior results you can achieve due to the higher level of service and support.
Finally, our staffing decisions focus on quality over quantity, a fact that is recognized and appreciated by our professional builder and architect clients. Due to the outstanding technical capabilities of our organization and our advisors, BEC has been selected to deliver many other housing programs and technical training programs, such as NRCan's EnerGuide Rating System (New Homes), ENERGY STAR for New Homes and R-2000 new homes program, and the Canada Green Building Council's LEED Canada for Homes program.
Most of our advisors do far more than provide ecoENERGY evaluations, they provide energy efficiency and green building consulting services to architects and builders, some provide design and design support for new construction and renovation, and some provide verification services for new housing programs. Our staff are continually upgrading their technical knowledge and expertise, and benefit from ongoing mentoring. We encourage all our ecoENERGY clients to tap into our wealth of knowledge.
While homeowners receive a personalized report with recommended improvements as part of the service, you should accompany your energy advisor during the pre-retrofit evaluation so that you may answer any questions the advisor may have regarding your retrofit budget, ability to finance potential upgrades or capability to undertake selected do-it-yourself upgrades. You will also wish to take note of the advisor’s comments concerning the condition of your home and the energy consuming equipment installed in your home.
Your energy advisor will need access to every room in the house, including the attic and any crawl spaces. Be sure to clear the area around these access points before the energy advisor arrives. In addition, please make sure not to use any wood-burning appliances, such as fireplaces or wood stoves, at least 24 hours prior to the evaluation and clean these appliances before the evaluation. Finally, please have a recent tax bill or your property tax assessment form from the Ontario Municipal Property Assessment Corporation available for your advisor to record your tax roll number.
