Utility Bills Cut in Half!

I must say the new year is off to a pretty great start. The Green on Gift renovation is officially complete! There is still a fair amount of work to do on the landscaping, but the interior of the home has been finished for a little while–sorry for the lack of updates! To help commemorate this milestone, we just received our rebate check from Georgia Power’s Home Energy Improvement Program, which we nearly maxed out!

Georgia Power offers a range of rebates to help their customers reduce their energy consumption. There are two pathways to savings. You can either select improvement measures à la carte through the “Individual Improvements” path or go the “Whole-House” approach. Individual improvements can include air or duct sealing, installing a programmable thermostat, or upgrading your home’s insulation, among other things. The whole-house approach includes a detailed home energy assessment with estimated energy savings. This is a service my company, SK Collaborative, provides, so of course I had to try it out on my own home!

The energy model estimates that the renovation will reduce energy consumption by 53.1% and that we’re saving $1,235 annually. Below is the breakdown in how we’re achieving these savings.

I’m especially pleased with this feat considering that we kept the 8 year old heat pump and water heater. From the start, we wanted to make the largest impact possible while being budget conscious. And now the data shows that the plan is working!