What Is A Home Energy Assessment? | Energy Efficiency

Do you find yourself wondering how your energy bill gets so expensive every month? A home energy assessment, also known as a home energy audit, helps you familiarise yourself with the way you are consuming energy at home. It means evaluating the energy efficiency of your home to identify the areas where you are consuming the most energy.

A home energy assessment will show you how to save money on your energy bill by making just a few small changes around your home.

What Does A Home Energy Assessment Involve?

The Scorecard Assessment

If you live in Victoria, the Victorian Government has a ‘Victorian Residential Efficiency Scorecard’ program, otherwise known as a Scorecard assessment.

For between $250 - $500, you can have an accredited assessor come to your house and evaluate its energy efficiency. At the end of the assessment, you will receive a star rating that tells you how efficient your home is. The average Victorian home receives 3 stars. To receive a higher rating means that your energy bill tends to be lower than the average bill for a similar household.

Professional Energy Auditors

Professional energy auditors are available in other states. The system they use to evaluate you will not be standardised across the state nor government accredited. However, these professional audits are still an effective way of bettering your understanding of your home’s energy consumption.

How To Do A DIY Energy Audit

If you don’t live in Victoria or would prefer not to pay for an assessment, you can do a DIY energy audit instead. While hiring a professional will provide the most accurate picture of your energy use, a careful self-assessment can still help you make useful improvements.

Here are the things to look for when auditing your own home’s energy consumption:

• What is your energy usage in kilowatts per hour (KWh)? By looking at your daily usage in kilowatts per hour, you can evaluate just how much your home guzzles energy. It’s a good idea to look up the average for a household of your size to gain greater context.

• Identify high usage appliances: Often the older an appliance is, the less energy efficient it is. Whilst you might think you’d be spending more money by upgrading your old beer fridge, it might pay off in the long-term to have a fridge that adds less to your energy bill each month.

• Check for air leaks: Heating your home in winter is a big culprit behind an expensive energy bill. By examining places in your home where heat might be escaping, you can fix the leaks and reduce your energy bill significantly. Look for cracks and gaps in windows, ceilings and doors. Cover them using heavy curtains, pelmets or door snakes.

• Examine your habits: An important part of an energy audit is auditing your habits and behaviours. Do you hang clothes out to dry? Do you wait until your dishwasher and washing machine are full before running them? Do you boil only the amount of water you need in your kettle? Do you change your air-conditioning and heating in small, 1°C increments?

Use these as a starting point for identifying the ways in which you could improve your energy consumption at home. You will be surprised by how much of a difference these small changes and adjustments can make to your bill.

You may find that no matter how much care you take with your energy use, you may be paying more than you should simply because you’re on an ill-suited energy plan. Consult our experts at Compare & Connect for free and we can help you identify the most affordable plan that still meets all of your needs. With a cheaper plan, you can lock in savings every month without having to think about it