My local utilities company, Horizon, knows this, so they tap into the Ontario government’s SaveONenergy program and its coupons. See here Horizon’s web page promoting the savings (a reskin of a page within SaveONEnergy’s site):

I’ve written about the power of coupons before in this blog – and will continue to bring you news of all the discounts and coupons and grants out there for Ontario homeowners to do the right (green) thing and save the green… the colour of money!

OPA MicroFIT Application

There are two applications that must both be approved before your MicroFIT program can move forward.

1. The Ontario Power Authority – If approved, the OPA application if approved will result in a conditional offer. This offer will convert to your 20 year contract with the OPA once your project is connected to the power grid.

2. A Connection Agreement from your local hydro company (in our case Horizon Utilities) – It confirms that the hydro company is ready and able to connect your system to the power grid. (Here is a sample of a conditional offer from the OPA website.)

It is possible to apply for these both yourself; however, the process is difficult to navigate if you are not familiar with all the ins and outs. Working with a solar installer that has submitted thousands of applications will speed up and simplify the process.

That’s what we did. We filled out a couple of simple forms and authorized our chosen installer, Solar Logix to handle our application on our behalf. It was quick and easy and the only things we had to find was our hydro account number and the legal description of our property (from our tax bill).

Solar Logix is now working with the OPA and our local hydro company to see this project through, they will also handle all permits and schedule all required inspections and hook ups.

Typically it takes about 6 – 8 weeks to get the above approvals. While we wait, Solar Logix will be working on our feasibility study which will give us all the details about our property, the system they recommend and the revenue we can expect from our specific solar installation. Look for more on the feasibility study soon at this blog; it is scheduled for next week!

The people from the Great Refrigerator Roundup where here today to take away our old chest freezer – living in our backyard for a few months now, removed from its home in our laundry room when we did the insulation there (see right, prior to insulation).

It took about a month to book it but today two guys showed up, and just took the old beast away.

Not only is there no cost and no fuss for us but they even left us a couple of free compact flourescent light bulbs and a night light!

Fridges have to be between 10-27 cubic feet, in working order and and 15 years or older to qualify. Appliances like this can waste between $120 and $150 per year!

I have to admit that we hadn’t ever plugged in that chest freezer, so it wasn’t wasting any electricity, just taking up space.

However, it’s good to know that it is being disposed of properly. As they say on the Great Refrigerator Roundup site, “When we are finished recycling and reclaiming material, very little will be sent to the landfill.”

Honeywell UtilityPRO Touchscreen Programmable Demand Control Thermostat

We recently signed up for a great program that our power company (Horizon Utilities) offers called PeakSaver. The program is a win-win-win.

WE WIN because Horizon installs a brand-new, high-end thermostat (see right) in our home for free (yes we own it – I checked) with zero installation costs! In fact, for participating in the program, we even get a $25 credit on our bill, so they actually pay us!

THEY WIN (the utility company) because the new thermostat allows them to remotely control our heating/cooling system so that – during the warmest summer days when the power grid is overloaded – they can cycle our air conditioner off for short periods. We were told that we’ll hardly notice any change, and the power grid will be more stable as a result.

THE ENVIRONMENT WINS because by putting less strain on the power grid, the utility company can use less “dirty” power sources (such as coal) – which means a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and a positive effect on climate change issues.

Step 1: Removing the old thermostat

We booked an appointment with our utility company and just by accident, it turned out our install was scheduled for Earth Day, April 22, 2010! Matt showed up at the scheduled time to install our new thermostat. He works for Honeywell (the manufacturer of the thermostat) so we know it was correctly installed.

The Whole Thing Done in 40 Minutes

Step 1: Matt removed our old thermostat, which he recommended we keep close to the furnace just in case we ever need an emergency backup. The new thermostat needs power that he learned our existing wiring doesn’t have (only 4 wires, not 5). So…

Step 2: Matt had to install a small device in the furnace to use one of our four wires for power.

Step 2: Installing thermostat module in our furnace

Step 3: Applying Insulation Tape

Step 3: Matt pointed out that it is good to apply a piece of insulation tape over the hole the wires go into. Cold air can circulate in the walls, and if that cold air is coming out through the hole in the wall, your thermostat will think it is cooler than it really is and the furnace will be running when it doesn’t need to.

Step 4: Then he hooked up the wiring to the new thermostat, and attached it to the wall in our main floor hallway.

Matt then gave a quick tour of the features and functions of the thermostat and showed me how to program it. He left me with a Honeywell operating manual for our model – the Honeywell UtilityPRO Series touchscreen programmable demand control thermostat.

Step 4: Rewiring for the New Thermostat

Remote Access

Matt of Honeywell next to our new Peaksaver thermostat

And how 21st Century is this!!… Now that we have the Peaksaver thermostat set up in our home, we can turn our house thermostat on/off from anywhere via our computers, Blackberries, any computer (or we can phone our utility company to ask them to switch heat or cooling up/down, on/off for us when we are away from home.)

We now have a brand-new, high-end thermostat that didn’t cost us anything… how sweet is that!  Thanks to Matt (right) and his employer, Honeywell, and to our local power company, Horizon Utilities, for making this possible!

Have you signed up for the Peaksaver program yet? If so, what do you think of it? If not, what is holding you up?