Live Better Electrically – with Heat Pumps!
By Tom Berry
Chances are, you’ve seen, or heard, ads encouraging Mainers to take advantage of tax incentives and rebates offered through Efficiency Maine to improve the energy efficiency of your home or business, and thereby save considerable amounts of money.
And chances are, if you’re anything like me in a former time, you may have been aware of Efficiency Maine for a while but have never quite gotten around to really checking it out. For some of us, procrastination can weave a powerful spell. As a certain Cuban saying translates: “Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week.”
Such was my case until 2014, when my wife and I finally decided it was time to put our old monitor heater (remember those things?) into virtual retirement and replace it with Efficiency Maine’s help.
We purchased an HVAC mini-split system and realized within the first year that we wished we’d made the change sooner. When we had relied on the monitor as our sole source of heat. We had to buy 100 gallons of K1 several times every season, totaling about $1,000 to $1,200 per year. Now, we only crank up the monitor for brief stints when it’s near zero degrees out – and we haven’t had a K-1 delivery in almost 10 years. Adding an EM-rebated HVAC water heater a few years ago has not only markedly reduced our electric bill but has also dehumidified our basement – eliminating a chronic problem with mildew. An unexpected bonus!
Efficiency Maine Leading the Nation
We are all lucky to have Efficiency Maine – which is helping our state be a national leader in energy efficiency. In fact, one in ten heat pumps sold in the US are sold in Maine!
Because Efficiency Maine is separated by law from the state utilities, it is unreservedly looking after the welfare of Mainers’ wallets. In other states, where efficiency agencies are governed by the utilities, they may well want to save customers money, but not too much money. After all, they’re connected to the ones selling the oil, gas, and electricity.
My recommendation? Don’t be like me. Don’t waste time procrastinating. If you haven’t already done so, Get Pumped! Heat pumped, that is. And check out the array of other solutions and incentives designed to help homeowners, businesses, and municipalities reduce energy costs.
Visit https://www.efficiencymaine.com and see for yourselves.
And, to learn more about the federal funding to be provided through Efficiency Maine by the Inflation Reduction Act, check out the Go Electric IRA Guide and IRA Savings Calculator. Visit the non-profit Rewiring America at https://www.rewiringamerica.org.
It really is time to Live Better Electrically. You’ll not only save a decent amount of money, you’ll be doing the planet a big favor.
Tom Berry is a retired speech-language pathologist and 30-year resident of Kennebunk.
