Energy Audits: What Homeowners Need to Know

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But you have to consider here the old axiom that it’s worth what you pay for it. If energy audits are free, they’re probably not going to be all that helpful. There’s really no substitute for someone visiting your home and verifying the condition of everything. Say your furnace is old, but it’s still just fine. The online software won’t know that. For most people, the next step is to call someone to come out and physically inspect their particular building and equipment.

Don’t some utilities help with the cost of on-site energy audits?

Yes, it used to be they were required to offer energy audits. You called them up, they’d send someone out, either for free or for a nominal fee. But ever since deregulation came along, most utilities shed a lot of these programs under the heading “we have to get lean and mean to survive.” Now some of them are coming back.

What’s happening is that if utilities want to raise their rates they normally need to have an offsetting benefit. If you want more money from rate payers, then what are you going to give in return? So utilities are offering rebates for high efficiency equipment, or they’ll offer help paying for an energy audit.

What’s the typical cost of an energy audit?

Well, as previously mentioned, they can be found free online, or offered through your utility. Of course it varies all over the country, but typically if you want someone to do a walk-through audit you probably are going to pay at least a couple hundred dollars. In the old days, you could probably get it for less than a hundred. But I think with gas prices and everything, you’re probably talking $200 minimum to get someone to come out.

Thorough, professional energy audits run $500 and up for a home. You’re probably looking at $650 or $700 for an energy rating (which can be used to obtain an Energy Improvement Mortgage), and on up.

What should I look for in an energy auditor?

Unfortunately, there has been such a large spectrum of tests and surveys that have been called an “energy audit” that the term has become more generic than specific. So, for a person to get a “quality” energy audit through a skilled energy auditor they will have to conduct a little research and be a little picky.

Ask first whether your local energy auditors are trained and, if so, where did they get their training? This question is important because the quality of the training will help define the quality of the auditor and the audit itself. One national organization offering quality training is the Building Performance Institute or BPI. BPI-trained energy auditors must pass an online nationally administered test and also perform one or more field tests before they are considered qualified. Another national organization involved in training and verification of energy auditors is the Residential Energy Services Network or RESNET. RESNET and BPI work closely together to help ensure the quality and consistency of training of energy auditors and energy raters. Both BPI and RESNET maintain updated lists of trained energy auditors that can be accessed online by anyone.

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