Online Home Energy Recommendations – Frequently Asked Questions

Project Background:

We’re testing a new way to help homeowners get information about their home’s efficiency and make it easier to take action to reduce their energy usage. Think of it as a virtual Home Energy Assessment. This isn’t meant to replace our in-person Home Energy Assessments. Instead, it’s a simple, instant way to get some quick tips and recommendations to save energy in a home like yours. The best, most comprehensive, and tailored energy efficiency solutions will always come from an in-person assessment, but this is a great start.

This report uses several resources to make the best recommendations for your home, including:

Comparison to similar homes
Historical energy use information
Publicly available data from Property Valuation Services Corporation (PVSC)

Through your participation, we’d like to find out how convenient this virtual tool can be in helping people reduce their energy use. Thank you for taking part!

FAQs:

1. What information do you have about me/my home?

Efficiency Nova Scotia uses two sources of data:

PVSC data
Electricity billing data

PVSC data includes basic information about your home gathered through property assessments. This includes things like the floor area and age of your home. As the energy efficiency utility in Nova Scotia, Efficiency Nova Scotia uses your Nova Scotia Power billing data to identify opportunities for energy savings.

2. How do you know if my home is insulated or not?

Using computer modeling, we make an educated guess about whether your home has been insulated or not, based on similar homes in Nova Scotia. Since we are making assumptions without visiting, we might get it wrong. If that’s the case, we can book you a $199 in–person home energy assessment, which is a more detailed service that will review your home from attic to basement and offer custom recommendations.

3. How do you know how much money upgrades will save?

Using computer modeling, we estimate energy savings associated with upgrade recommendations based on two things:

Examples of other homes in Nova scotia that have implemented similar upgrades
Your electricity bills

Virtual audits like these are based on very limited information. For a more detailed estimate of the specific upgrades you’d like to implement, we can book you a $99 in-person home energy assessment that offers custom recommendations and rebates and financing to help offset upgrade expenses.

4. I can’t log into the system to get my report

Efficiency Nova Scotia uses electricity account information from Nova Scotia Power to contact you, and as a way to authenticate your account when you access your virtual audit report. Specifically, we ask for your phone number when you log in. When your account details change, such as when you move or update your phone number, there is a delay between when that update is made by Nova Scotia Power and when we receive it. We do our best to use the most up-to-date information, but such changes may take some time for our system to register.

5. This information is for someone else’s house