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|  | DECEMBER 1, 2005
By Sonja Ryst Energy Audits Get Hot Again[Page 2 of 2]GOVERNMENT HELP. The site will ask you to input details about your home, such as the number of refrigerators you keep in it. Once you've provided that information, it will estimate what an average home like yours spends on energy and how much less that might be if you updated its efficiency. For example, the average 50-year-old two-story house in New York City spends $2,267 a year on energy, compared to $1,451 for an efficient one. Some lower-effort items can give you good bang for your buck. Some of Energy's home energy audit suggestions include: • Locating air leaks around windows, electrical outlets, and other spots. Reducing potential drafts can produce up to 30% in energy savings. • Checking the insulation in the ceiling and walls to make sure it meets required minimums. Adding more, particularly in the attic, can be relatively easy. • Inspecting heating systems annually to make sure they're operating at peak efficiency. • Replacing energy-intensive lightbulbs with more efficient fluorescent models. Your upgrades might be subsidized, depending on where you live. For example, the Wisconsin state government will give local homeowners a $100 rebate if they have a home energy audit performed, which typically costs between $200 and $400 through a state program sponsored by the energy-efficiency initiative "Wisconsin Focus on Energy." The state offers additional incentives for those who implement their audit's recommendations, including a $150 rebate for installing certain energy-efficient furnaces. LONGER WAITS. Starting Jan. 1 you can also get 10% of your cost or a maximum $500 federal tax credit for various home improvements, such as installing new insulation or windows, under the Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005, which President Bush signed in August (see BW Online, 9/26/05, "Go Green and Save"). For more information on government incentives that promote renewable energy, see www.dsireusa.org. In Montana, ratepayers will lay out $1 million this year to fund home energy audits sponsored by NorthWestern Energy (NWEC ), or less than 1% of the Sioux Falls (S.D.)-based utility's total revenues in Montana. NorthWestern Energy says it has the budget to perform about 2,500 residential on-site audits each year, and it has had so much demand recently that it's already scheduling appointments three months ahead. Normally the wait is in the four- to six-week range at this time of year, according to a spokesman. The Raleigh (N.C.)-based Progress Energy (PGN ), which sponsors home energy audits for its customers in Florida, expects to receive between 36,000 and 37,000 requests for them this year. As of Oct. 31, Progress Energy already had 32,709 audits completed, compared to 30,126 at the end of October, 2004. In other states, like Arizona and Nevada, most homeowners pay for energy audits out of their own pockets without any help from utility- or state-sponsored programs. WASTED EFFORT. If you end up getting an audit, make sure you can trust the person giving it. Tempo Industries in Irvine, Calif., learned that the hard way. Its administrative services manager, Jule Hughes, got a phone call in 2003 from USRA, a utilities auditor. A representative from USRA said his Laguna Hills (Calif.) company would charge $1,499 to evaluate Tempo Industries' energy costs and make recommendations on improvements. If they didn't achieve 15% savings as a result, Tempo would get its money back. Hughes figured that meant USRA might help her company save at least $3,000 a year on its energy bills, so she accepted. Tempo makes low-voltage lighting products and it had already done many energy-efficiency fixes on its own, such as using motion-sensor lights and computer-controlled air conditioning in its offices. USRA spent about a year evaluating Tempo's savings strategies before coming up with other ideas that would cost thousands of dollars to implement, such as upgrading all the motors in the production machinery. Hughes says none of the ideas were practical, requiring take decades to recoup the initial investments involved. When she called USRA to ask for a refund, nobody answered her phone calls or voice-mail messages. Hughes finally complained this spring to the Better Business Bureau, which has many similar gripes on record from other USRA customers. "Don't just trust the references they show you," Hughes says. "Do your own research." USRA did not respond to phone messages requesting comment for this story. KEEP YOUR DOLLARS. You can also find a list of home energy auditors that have been certified by the Residential Energy Services Network, a San Diego-based nonprofit. The Better Business Bureau also maintains public records of complaints filed against companies. With a good energy audit, you might just find some dollars that have been leaking away, this year more rapidly than ever.
 Ryst is a reporter for BusinessWeek Online in New York Edited by Phil Mintz
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