With a cold snap hitting the southeast bringing temperatures below minus 20 and windchills close to minus 40, people are having to find a balance between keeping their homes warm, and energy bills low.
Jodi Woollam is a spokesperson for SaskEnergy. She provides some best practices to efficiently maintain the climate of a home.
“It's important that folks ensure that all their appliances are in really good working condition, and they've got to be safe.” She continues “purchase energy efficient products, use a programmable thermostat, and turn down the thermostat when they're not home or overnight.”
She highlights the importance of checking exterior vents and energy meters for any buildup of frost, snow or ice. Not only does this prevent any damage or malfunction, it also prevents the buildup of carbon monoxide.
"It's taking that walk-by the vents and the meters to really make sure that they're cleared off, because that kind of builds up as the cold temperature exists.”
Woollam notes proper insulation and high-efficiency furnaces are key ways to keep heat inside the home and affordable.
“Sealing drafts and ensuring proper insulation, ensuring that the windows and doors are properly sealed to prevent any heat loss. However, the most important of all would be to have a high efficiency furnace. High efficiency furnaces use less energy to heat a home compared to older and less efficient models, which results then also in lower gas bills.”
She mentions SaskEnergy does offer a rebate program to incentivize upgrades to higher efficiency heating called the Residential Equipment Replacement Rebate. More information can be found on the SaskEnergy website.
Outside the responsibility of the homeowner, Woollam assures SaskEnergy works hard to remain reliable in providing efficient heating.
“SaskEnergy's natural gas system, it's built and maintained with reliability in mind. We have a 99.99% reliability rate. It's important that our customers trust that when they need to turn up the heat to keep their home and their families warm, like the last couple of weeks, that that natural gas is ready to flow, even during the coldest days of the year.”