Saving on heating bills doesn't always mean turning down the thermostat. You can lower your significantly by using less fuel and conserving the heat in your home. The first step is an energy audit, now offered at bargain prices.
View full sizeHannah Bard, an employee at Atlas Cinema Theaters at the Great Lakes Mall, battles the blowing wind as she clears a walkway for customers last February. Early winter forecasts are calling for another colder-than-normal winter. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Early forecasts for a colder than normal winter and slightly higher natural gas prices don't have to mean higher monthly bills.
Low-cost home energy audits are available to any home owner through Dominion East Ohio and Columbia Gas of Ohio. If your house was built before 1975, you have the most to gain by adding insulation and other "weatherization" upgrades. The two utilities also offer separate programs for lower-income families, as does an independent, statewide non-profit company.
Here are the programs:
-- Dominion East Ohio has retained GoodCents to develop and run its Home Performance with ENERGY STAR Program that starts with a home energy audit. Separate contractors do the work. Your cost for the $500 audit is $50, and it's up to you to decide whether you want to hire contractors to add insulation or have other weatherization work done, or do it yourself.
-- Columbia Gas of Ohio has partnered with Conservation Services Group to offer its Home Performance Solutions, which also begins with an extensive $500 audit (your cost $50) by an independent energy auditor. The audit includes a thorough examination of your heating equipment. What you do with the report is, again, up to you, though Columbia notes that there are discounts or rebates on work done by the contractors it has vetted and retained.
-- For lower-income families, both Columbia and Dominion offer free audits and no-cost weatherization programs. Columbia's WarmChoice program includes an energy inspection, attic and wall insulation, air sealing, safety checks of gas appliances and repair or replacement of gas furnaces and water heaters -- at no cost -- for families with income up to 150 percent of the federal poverty level. For example, a two-person household could earn up to $29,295 and still qualify, under Columbia's 2013-14 eligibility guidelines. The program is open to renters. Columbia notes the average annual heating savings in homes upgraded through WarmChoice are about $400 a year.
-- Dominion East Ohio's Housewarming program is open to customers earning up to 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold. For example, a three-person household could earn $39,580 and still qualify. The program offers a home energy inspection, attic and wall insulation, air sealing, safety check on gas appliances and gas furnace or water heater repair or replacement. Dominion's contract with a company providing this service has ended and the utility, which is now evaluating proposals from additional contractors, does not expect Housewarming to be fully operational until October. Dominion will pay for emergency repairs or replacement of furnaces and water heaters in the homes of consumers already enrolled.
-- The non-profit Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy, or OPAE, is a network of community-based organizations in all of Ohio's 88 counties. OPAE offers efficiency and weatherization programs as well as bill payment assistance programs, nutrition programs and medical and dental programs. Most weatherization programs are available to families earning up to 200 percent of poverty level. A family of three, for example, could earn up to $39,580. A person working full time and at the head of that family could earn up to $19 an hour. Homes weatherized by OPAE cut gas consumption by an average of 34 percent, said David Rinebolt, OPAE executive director
-- Dominion East Ohio and the Council of Smaller Enterprises, or COSE, have partnered to offer free energy assessments to Dominion's commercial customers, churches and non-profits occupying up to 25,000 square feet. The three-year program is about 18 months old. COSE's on-staff experts provide the energy audits and then help businesses evaluate weatherization and efficiency proposals from independent contractors.