Eneregy audit has many mistakes and is inaccurate
This service is a total waste of money. When we received reports, they were inaccurate, had so many mistakes it was unbelievable for a company in this business. We were preparing to install a geothermal system.
They recorded the number of windows & doors incorrectly.
They stated we had propane as back up heating when that was not true. Our propane furnace was removed and actually donated to Habitat, so not even on the premises. After correcting that, they stated our backup heating was electric baseboard, which doesn't exist in our home either. Then when told the geo water furnace actually comes with its own backup electric furnace as part of the system, they said "well the only thing on our software is electric baseboard and we have to chose one and that matches most closely. You have to have an emergency backup heating". Really? Your software doesn't have the capability to record electric furnace? And how many people have an emergency backup heating system in their home? So, update your software. Now we are documented as "electric baseboard backup", which is the most inefficient way to heat a home.
Another error that was repeated is that they recorded electric water heating. I told them over and over there is no electricity to our water heater, that is NO WIRE TO IT. Our water is heated by the excess heat given off by the compressor in the geo system; the tank is just used to store the hot water. Again, NO WIRE TO THE TANK - NO POWER TO IT. NOT electrically heated. Basically FREE water heating.
In the final "energuide" sticker we received today, (the last straw to motivate this review), it says hot water heating is 21% of our energy usage. This is just not true. Another error in the sticker is they recorded our energy consumption as 74 GJ of electricity (which has to be inaccurate since they recorded us as baseboard heating and electric water heating) and 7 GJ of propane. We only use propane now on our cooktop - ie hardly any usage since we are just 2 people. It is mentioned on our energuide we use the equivalent of 14 BBQ tanks of propane. Again, impossible when no propane furnace. We likely use about $30 worth of propane now.
They mentioned "space cooling 6%" on the sticker. AC with geo is basically FREE because cool water is brought from 8' below ground to cool the air in the house, not like cooling hot outside air as a regular AC unit outside your home does.
For this service and reports full of errors, we paid $791. We received a gov grant and interest free loan for our geo installation but in order to qualify for this we had to have a pre and post energy audit, so we were forced to use this type of service and Energuy was recommended on the gov site.
After sending us many reports during our dealings with Energuy, we had to have them make so many corrections, the worst of which I have documented here, but there were many more smaller errors not worth writing about. In the end the report is still full of errors after many corrections along the way. See attached pic of our INACCURATE "energuide". We are advised to stick this on our electrical panel to prove how efficient our home is now and to maybe show to a potential buyer if we sell. I don't think this would be useful.
I wish I could say don't waste your money but to qualify for this gov help you are forced to use one of the energy audit companies.
I am so happy to rate as zero stars.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $791.00