How To: Stop Assuming Your Utility Bills are as Low as They Go

Tuesday, September 17, 2002
By Ken Sheinkopf

Are your power bills too high? If you think they are, how do you know how much they should be? How much should you be paying each month to heat, cool, light and otherwise power a home like yours?

Most people don’t know the answer. Even people who have done some things to make their home more energy-efficient – things like weatherstripping around windows or sealing openings under the bathroom sinks – really aren’t sure if they could be saving even more money each month if they do just a few more things.

The best way to find out how energy efficient your home really is and where energy is being wasted is to have an Energy Rater conduct a professional analysis of the home. This will help you find out exactly what cost-effective measures would help lower energy costs. Over the years, monthly energy costs have grown significantly, and now many homeowners find that their utility bills are almost as large, if not larger, than their monthly mortgage payment!

Basic energy audits have been around a long time, but in recent years a new industry has grown around the country to go beyond what these earlier home exams did. Rather than just take a close look at a home and report on any problem areas, an Energy Rating gives you detailed information on the energy performance of your home. Energy raters use a standardized evaluation of a home’s efficiency and expected energy use costs to come up with detailed numbers on a home’s overall energy use and breakdowns on the major components like refrigerators, air conditioners and heaters, etc. The detailed assessment they provide can be used to help you compare the features of new homes you are considering buying, better understand the energy use in your current home, or even help you qualify for an energy-efficient mortgage that can get you more home at less cost.

While a basic energy audits can often be very simple – you can even do one yourself – today’s energy ratings are usually detailed studies by private companies that will thoroughly investigate everything from the condition of the ducts in your attic and the insulation levels in the walls to the efficiency of your air conditioner and the tightness of your sliding doors. A basic audit is only part of the complete process, and a detailed rating lets you not only understand the condition of your home, but also make comparisons with the home’s energy performance on the major energy components.

Sure, it’s easy to find obvious leaks around windows or look at an old refrigerator and figure out that it’s just not very efficient. But bringing in the experts brings technology like blower doors that seal the house tightly so testing can determine any air leaks, or even infrared cameras that highlight hot spots where unwanted airflow is taking place.

Check out the Yellow Pages of your phone book for the names of local energy rating companies, or get online and visit www.natresnet.org for a directory of accredited companies nationwide. A major industry has grown in this country in recent years with businesses bringing high-tech equipment and know-how to homes, allowing them to find many problems not obvious during a casual inspection. The fee you pay them should easily be repaid in energy savings in a fairly short time.

If you’re content with your bills right now, think your home feels pretty comfortable most of the time and don’t really think you’re wasting energy, just consider this: odds are pretty good that you’re living in the worst home allowed by your state’s law. That’s right. Most homes built today are designed to meet the state’s minimum energy-efficiency standards. Builders need to keep their homes affordable to sell them, and this often means meeting a state’s energy code but not taking extra steps and costs to make them more efficient than the minimum code standards. Note that the typical home owner in Florida, for example, will pay more than $50,000 over the course of a mortgage to pay for the energy for a small home that meets the state’s minimum standards. Thus the fee you pay to have a certified Energy Rater do an analysis of your home might uncover a wide range of areas that low-cost improvements could make far more energy efficient, paying back the cost of the rating as well as the cost of the improvements over your time in the home.

You can also get a good description of Home Energy Ratings at www.fsec.ucf.edu/ratings. Your home is the largest single investment you’re ever going to make. Why not be sure that you’re not paying too much to maintain it or putting up with uncomfortable conditions that could easily be fixed?