Heating bills feel too high

Winter gas or hydro bills that make you wince — and you're not sure if that's your house or just prices.

Utility bills and a phone showing a monthly energy-use chart on a kitchen table

What it usually means

  • Envelope losses: thin attic, bare basement walls, leaky frame — the house sheds heat as fast as you buy it
  • Old equipment: mid-efficiency furnaces burn ~20% more gas than condensing units; electric baseboards cost 2–3× what a heat pump would
  • Oversized or short-cycling equipment wasting energy on starts

What an audit measures

  • The EnerGuide model splits your bill into envelope vs. equipment losses — so you fix the right one first
  • Blower door + thermal imaging quantify the envelope's share

Try first (cheap or free)

  • Pull 12 months of bills and note your usage (m³ or kWh), not just dollars — our planner benchmarks it against similar homes
  • Set back the thermostat 3–4°C overnight; a smart thermostat automates it

The fix ladder

  1. Air sealing + attic top-up $$
  2. Basement insulation $$
  3. Heat pump at equipment end-of-life $$$

$ = under ~$1k · $$ = $1k–$5k · $$$ = $5k+ · $$$$ = $15k+

Rebates that apply

  • HRSP (with assessment) — Up to $10,000 per home for insulation, windows and air sealing, plus $600 back on your assessments — if the follow-up assessment is done by December 31, 2026
  • HRSP (no assessment) — Heat pumps up to $7,500 ($12,000 ground-source), solar with battery up to $10,000, plus attic, thermostat and appliance rebates — no assessment needed
  • Toronto HELP — City loans up to $125,000 (or 10% of your home's assessed value) for energy retrofits, repaid on your property tax bill

Want it diagnosed properly?

A registered energy advisor measures instead of guessing — blower door, thermal imaging, and a written upgrade report priced against rebates.

Email us what you’re planning, your postal code and the type of building (a house, a duplex or triplex, or a larger multi-unit building) — we’ll reply with registered service organizations for your area and which rebates apply.

Email dave@clickshift.ca

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