Energy Efficiency Alberta - Calgary, Alberta

Hope G.

The Good: So as far as the residential program goes, the woman who came to our house (Nadeep I believe) was great. (Like, very nice to work with and really personable.) This is a free program at no cost to the resident, I think people have to keep that in mind.

The Bad: In May 2017 I purchased $10,000 worth of triple pain energy efficient windows with a program approved company. We did all of our upstairs windows. I worked with the window installers to provide all the information they required to send away and the installer told me it was the best he had seen thus far.

Energy Efficiency Actively promotes 'get up to $1500 back' so I expected, with spending a cool $10,000, that maybe we'd get back $250 or $500 ... maybe $1000! Honestly, we planned to place it back into more more improvements. What did I get back? $86. That's less than 1%. I feel like the advertising for this program should find a clearer way to express how much a home owner might get back and I find the advertising is grossly misleading, in my experience.

When I originally heard about the program, I thought -- man we should look at utilizing this program while it's around. Eco updates add value, lower the cost of energy bills and saves me money. After such a poor experience, it's honestly more work to go through the steps for the program to just get back so little.

Jason B.

A few months ago they called and arranged to replace the light bulbs and shower heads in my place. The technician was friendly and pretty quick. Today they called back to arrange a time to replace my thermostat, made the appointment for tomorrow morning and 15 minutes later the technician called and said he was in the area and could come over right away. Quick install, professional attitude, and answered all our questions without hesitation.

Terrie M. R.

Had a technician come in and assess the house tried to replace our shower heads with their eco shower heads which only carry a 1 year warranty, Our shower heads carry a lifetime warranty therefore we decided that we would keep them and upgrade to a quality product with a lifetime warranty. We have dimmer switches throughout the house they replaced all the majority of the bulbs however our dimmers do not work with their bulbs therefore we had flickering lights. Within 2 days most of the bulbs they replaced had burned out. We phoned advised this had happened. They sent over the same technician and he suggested we replace all our dimmers which was not an option for us so he advised someone would call us. We told them we wanted our old lights back. They sourced out lights and installed them. Again in a few days their lights had burned out. We had to purchase lights for our kitchen and front entry as we did not have lights from August 24 until September 17th when they came and replaced two bulbs. We were not reimbursed for the bulbs we had to purchase. We gave them all their burned out bulbs and the led bulbs that were still working. On another note; while speaking to the first technician we noticed he had pictures of our mechanical systems in a file on his phone. We was told that they take pictures of all houses to keep on file with their company. We told them this was a violation of my privacy. We were told my husband signed off. Unfortunately my husband was working from home that day and was busy and was told that he was required to sign off so that they could perform the exchange he signed something on the bottom of a page on a smart phone. He did not expect the technician to go about and take photos of our mechanical system. The technician also went out to a garden shed we have; we do not understand why as the program does not exchange exterior lights. We do have a light in the shed and he changed that one, again not sure why. The tech just left our home and we were not reimbursed for the bulbs purchased and were told that a report would be given to a fellow up the line. When asked for the fellow's name and contact information we were told he would have to okay it with this person. Experience with technicians good as they are doing their jobs, experience with program negative 10. The bulbs and shower heads are of poor quality and the invasion of privacy is unacceptable and not reading a long page off a smart phone screen to the consumer is unacceptable.

Ray

Absolute joke! Don’t waste your time. I went and bought a wifi thermostat that was on their eligible thermostat rebate list and submitted it for the available $75 rebate. I got an email 3 weeks later saying my application was denied. So much for a "rebate". I would not have bought the thermostat I did knowing I wouldn’t get the rebate. They didn't care or offer any alternatives when i called in. Absolutely disgusting customer service and lack of empathy for alberta families! Thank you refusing to help out a family in need. I hope you feel good about yourselves..

Steve B.

Booked appt as soon as I got the email with the link. At the same time, sent an email to ask what I could expect from the appointment. 4 weeks later, no response to that email. Appointment day came and no one showed up. Received a phone call the next day (went to vm) saying there was a computer problem and that they had been overbooked so I could call to rebook. Another day after that I finally received a reply to the email that I had sent 4 weeks prior. Basically a waste of time anyway since I reside in a condo I wouldn't get powerbars or a thermostat, and I already didn't have any incandescent bulbs left.

Aimingforonetwenty

Twice their technician did not show up. I had to wait five hours for each appointment but their representative never showed up. So that's ten hours waiting. On the second appointment I made sure to get a different representative but still I got the same result - no show. When I phoned Energy Efficiency the only thing they said is there was a booking error. The person I was talking to couldn't even explain what it means. He asked me if I want to book again and I said no.

Lori S.

I had the energy audit done and it helped me prioritize the work on my 60-year old house. Seriously, all home owners should get this done to learn what's really making their home drafty and how they can fix the problem, rather than just the symptom. In my case, better insulation (rather than just new windows) gave me good rebates. There's also rebate on the new hot water heaters that we're considering. It was worth the $150 for the audit.

Jubayer A.

Technician did not show up. I called them and they gave me some bs about how I wasn't in their system when they had called me the day before to confirm my appointment. Now they keep calling me and leaving voicemails looking for someone who doesn't live here. What a joke. Do not waste time with these unprofessional people. I'd suggest blocking their number like I did.