I got my quarterly summer Hydro One electrical bill and to my surprize, the bill was the smallest ever. Maybe I should not have been surprised, as I bought a new Energy Star refrigerator with a label that says it will cost only $35 per year to operate. Conservation Works!
I also got a stack of coupons offering peanuts on trinkets. 50 cents for pipe wrap - go figure!
I just shake my head at how the utility guys and their regulators and political bosses don’t get saving electric energy.
Every home owner in Ontario should be eligible for an interest free loan to buy a made-in-Ontario high efficiency refrigerator. A lot more effective way to reduce electric consumption than a trinket to take away my old fridge that the seller delivered for free anyway + it’s Ontario jobs.
Heating takes 60% of the yearly energy costs for a home owner (NRCAN 2007). Home owners with electric baseboard heat really cringe to open their winter bills. What if OPA and the utilities offered an interest free loan to home owners with electric baseboard heat to make a change -- there are close to a million homes in Ontario with electric heat. Installing a ductless mini split air source heat pump costs $ 3500 to $5000 and can take away some 50% of the cost of electric heating in NRCAN’s Zone 5 (Sudbury and south), that can be a $1500 to $2000 annual saving.
The home owner wins and can re pay the loan out of savings on their electric bill and have money in their pocket. Ontario gets a real reduction in electrical load and rather than borrow money for nuclear reactors we borrow for REAL electrical conservation.
