Starting this week, over 100,000 Vermonters began getting Home Energy Reports in the mail. They came from the state's energy efficiency utility, Efficiency Vermont.
The reports lay out a home's electricity usage, and give a comparison to other neighbors' houses. The reports also provide tips for using less energy and most importantly, information about where homeowners can turn for help.
"What we're trying do with these report is give people an idea, beyond what they normally get in their typical electric bill," explains Kelly Lucci, public affairs manager for Efficiency Vermont. Most utility customers get a bar chart in their bill which tracks their usage month to month over a year.
"These reports give you the opportunity to understand how your energy usage compares to that of others in your community. It's all anonymous, but what we're looking at is if you were to take a home of a similar size to yours, probably roughly similar appliances, how does that shake out when you look at your usage, versus others who are very energy efficient," she says.
"If [Vermonters] really are looking to dive a little bit deeper and figure out how they can reduce their usage significantly and not have to see any major changes in their lifestyle, there's a lot we can do." - Kelly Lucci, public affairs manager for Efficiency Vermont
The hope is that if people have that high-level context, they'll follow up with Efficiency Vermont to find out how to reduce their energy usage, and ultimately save money. People will be directed to a hot-line to call for help, or a web portal where they can find more detailed information. They can add information about their home to find out more about where their usage is coming from.
"There will be some basic tips on the Home Energy Reports as well, so people could just look at the sheet and follow through with those tips and see some improvement too, but we want people to have opportunity to dig in deeper as well," Lucci says.
One of the biggest drivers of electricity usage is electric hot water heaters and dehumidifiers. "Those two things together can add up to significant costs for people that they might not be aware of," Lucci explains. One option is heat pump hot water heaters, which Lucci says are three to four times more efficient than electric hot water heaters. While there are up front costs to replacing those appliances, Lucci says most homeowners start to see savings immediately.
Efficiency Vermont is also running a program to buy down the cost of heat pump water heaters so they are at parity with other hot water heaters. Efficiency Vermont also encourages Vermonters to consider switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs or LEDs to save a lot of money in their electric bills.
"What we're really excited about in these home energy reports is an opportunity to just talk through those situations with people and if they really are looking to dive a little bit deeper and figure out how they can reduce their usage significantly and not have to see any major changes in their lifestyle, there's a lot we can do," Lucci says. "And we're happy to have that conversation."
The Home Energy Reports will launch first to customers of Green Mountain Power, but Lucci says the program will eventually spread to customers of other utilities. Efficiency Vermont serves the entire state, except for Burlington, as the city's electric utility runs its own efficiency program.
Here's a sample report:
