I am writing to express our deep concern about recent cuts
to the EnerGuide for Houses service provided by Natural
Resources Canada.
While CanSpec Inspection Services will continue to offer
energy evaluations that will help homeowners save up to 30
percent on their energy bills, we are deeply concerned that
grants are no longer available from Natural Resources Canada
for homeowners.
These grants provided incentive for customers to retrofit
their homes to make them more energy efficient.
While we appreciate the need of the federal government to
make certain cuts, we would have thought that wasteful and
non-measurable programs would be eliminated, not a program like
EnerGuide for Houses which is incredibly successful, entirely
measurable, and in fact, drives economic activity for thousands
of businesses across Canada.
The federal government says 50 percent of the program budget
is administrative overhead. This is false.
Last year's $44.3 million budget included 54 percent for
retrofit incentives and 34 percent to cost-share EnerGuide for
Houses evaluations. Thus, fully 88 percent of budget went
directly to benefit Canadians and their homes. Only 11.5
percent was spent on administration.
In the City of Greater Sudbury, CanSpec Inspection Services
has assessed 1,130 homes in the past 12 months. Of those homes,
449 homeowners performed upgrades.
This is above the provincial and national average. Based on
previous calculations, this represents about $450,000 or more
in energy savings.
This also represents approximately $5.5 million actually
spent locally on renovations/upgrades over this period
Fraser Rees
Director
CanSpec Inspection Services
Greater Sudbury