Are you a homeowner looking to save money on your heating and power bill? If so, a Home Energy Assessment may be for you.  Homeowners will have a Certified Energy Advisor come to their home to complete a Home Energy Assessment. Energy Advisors have access to sophisticated energy analysis tools that can show you where your home can become more efficient.

Best of all, you can earn rebates OR  zero percent financing for insulation and draft-proofing saving you money and making your home more comfortable. Most homes spend roughly 50 – 60% of their energy bill on heating so the savings can really add up!

To get started, call and book an assessment through one of our six service partners ($200 plus HST). They’ll come and do a pre-retrofit assessment and give you efficiency recommendations based on their findings. Your home will also get an initial EnerGuide rating between 1 and 100 (higher is better).

After your first assessment, you’ll have 12 months to do your home upgrades on things like:

• adding insulation to your attic, exterior walls, or basement,
• replacing old windows and doors with ENERGY STAR® models,
• draft-proofing (ex. caulking and weather-stripping your windows and doors).

Once the efficiency upgrades have been completed, call and book your post-retrofit assessment (no charge). The house is re-assessed and given a new EnerGuide rating between 1 and 100. Your rebates will depend on the improvements made to the efficiency of your home – improvements that make more positive changes to your home’s energy efficiency are likely to have higher rebates.

Please note: If you heat with electricity, you are eligible for up to $3000 in rebates and if you heat with another source of energy, you are eligible for up to $1500 in rebates. You are only able to receive rebates OR financing

To find out what steps you need to take to participate in the service, click here.

For more information on our zero percent financing, click here.

To contact our Energy Solutions Advisors or one of our service partners, click here.

How the Service Works

1. Book a pre-retrofit Home Energy Assessment with one of our service partners in your area. The homeowner’s cost of a Home Energy Assessment is $200 plus HST, and an additional $315 is paid directly by Efficiency Nova Scotia for a total cost of $515.
2. Within 2 weeks of your pre-retrofit Home Energy Assessment, you’ll receive a detailed report with a prioritized list of recommended energy upgrades for your home. You will also receive a pre-approval form if you are applying for financing.
3. Choose the upgrades you are comfortable with completing. If you are applying for financing, you will need to complete and submit the pre-approval form to Efficiency Nova Scotia. You will then be contacted by our Finance Coordinator to help you complete the credit application.
4. Complete your chosen upgrades and book a post-retrofit Home Energy Assessment within 12 months from the date of your pre-retrofit assessment. The cost of this post-retrofit assessment is included in the pre-retrofit assessment cost. Please note: financing timelines are different and will be discussed during the pre-approval process.
5. Have all receipts and the report from your pre-retrofit Home Energy Assessment on hand for your post-retrofit appointment. During the post-retrofit assessment, your Certified Energy Advisor will verify that eligible upgrades were purchased and installed. Helpful tip: take photographs of the upgrades you’ve made in spaces that are not easily accessible (e.g. insulating sloped ceilings, exterior walls, etc.).
6. On average, most homeowners receive a rebate cheque from Efficiency Nova Scotia within 90 days of the post-retrofit assessment. This time allows for your home’s file to be processed first by Natural Resources Canada who then sends it on to Efficiency Nova Scotia. For financing customers, Efficiency Nova Scotia can pay your contractor directly with 4—6 weeks of the post-retrofit assessment.

Eligibility

To be eligible for rebates, homeowners and their homes must meet the following criteria: 

1. Houses must be at least 6 months old (from the date on the occupancy permit) at the time of the pre-retrofit assessment.
2. Homes that are detached or side-by-side attached homes (e.g. single-family homes and row housing), homes with two or less units that share a common internal passageway, four-season cottages, and mobile homes on a permanent foundation are eligible.
3. Properties must be located in Nova Scotia.
4. In order to have an energy evaluation, the Certified Energy Advisor must be able to perform a blower door test which depressurizes the house and measures air leakage. For more information on what this means, see our FAQ page.
5. The pre-retrofit Home Energy Assessment, building enclosure upgrades, and post-retrofit Home Energy Assessment must be completed within 12 months to be eligible for rebates. Financing customers will have 60 days to complete upgrades.
6.  If you heat primarily with a non-electric energy (e.g. oil, natural gas, propane) you are eligible for up to $1500 in rebates. If you heat primarily with electricity (e.g. 100% Baseboard heat, electric baseboard heat with wood stove), you are eligible for $3000 in rebates. Note Primary heat is the main automated heat source for the home (ie. the heat source that would be modeled in your home energy evaluation as the primary heating type). Non-electric and electric customers are both eligible for financing up to $15,000.
7. Only measures/upgrades purchased and installed after the pre-retrofit assessment are eligible for rebates (e.g. windows or insulation). Only measures/upgrades pre-approved, purchased and installed after the pre-retrofit assessment are eligible for financing (e.g. windows or insulation).

From Efficiency Nova Scotia – Read More Here