Money FROM the Government ??? Really ?? How?

I did it!  Within two weeks of making a first call – I had my furnace serviced and H2O tank checked out, recommendations from Wightmans’ Mechanical –250-762-3122 (they were great by the way!), house inspection from  EnergyWise Solutions (a contact provided to me from Wightmans)




Furnace, H1O tank and air conditioner installed, Finished off with a post inspection from Energy Wise Solutions  (pre and post inspections cost was $335 total)

Efficient and a money saver!

Energy Wise Solutions will rate your homes efficiency on many levels and let you know what you can do – should you choose – to improve your homes efficiency, your carbon footprint AND get money back from the government.  I have to say I was very surprised at the amount of Grants offered by both Federal and Provincial governments.  Here is a link to the chart on the Energy Wise website.

The inspector that came out was knowledgeable, polite and professional. 

I learned that regulations on coolant have changed and once the current inventory of air conditioners is used – the new models go up by at least $1000. Turns out the decision to replace my 12 year old air conditioner BEFORE it broke down was a good one.   As the technicians were installing the new – the oil in the lines made it apparent that my unit would have very likely seized during  the first few weeks of summer use (with my luck, after the more affordable inventory on replacements units was gone).  I saved on labour by doing it all together and wait time as, of course in the summer, the mechanical companies are a lot busier when it comes to air conditioners.

Hawley Works (my fabulous handyman) installed new weather-strip on my doors, a new Energy Star bathroom fan, plus rubber seals around my attic hatches.  This will improve the air leakage (likely not the technical term) of my home by over 10% so I will qualify for a Grant towards that cost as well.

When all is said and done – my rebates will total over $2800.  This of course depends on the work you have done, that it meets the qualification standards of the program and the ultimate improvement to your homes  current status but I would  suggest it is certainly worth checking out.

Energy Wise completes and submits the forms for the Grant from the government for you!  Wightmans also completed and submitted the rebate forms available to me from Lennox and Teresen gas.  Wightman’s will credit you back the charge for the furnace service if you proceeded to install a new one.

They truly make the process stress free.

I’m sure there are other qualified mechanical companies out there that can do this – my personal experience has been with Wightmans.  One of my sisters runs the largest Plumbing and Heating Mechanical company in Saskatchewan  so I had some inside encouragement and advice available to me.  She was very pleased with the information, recommendations and quotes that I received from Wightmans.

Time is running short!  This program, surprising to me, has been available for quite some time and your final post inspection on work done must be completed by March 31, 2012.

In a years’ time – I’ll let you know where my utilities have gone to as a result of more efficient equipment and air management of my home.

When the going gets "Tough"...just call me.

Susan Tough