Taking Advantage of the saveONenergy Rebates

The saveONenergy website.

Each year, a rebate program is available to all Ontarians who make their homes more energy efficient.

The rebates vary, but essentially you get a discount on purchases such as LED/CFL bulbs, weatherstripping, programmable thermostats, power bar with built in timers, etc.

The best part? The discounts are taken out at the cash when you pay. There's nothing to mail in, no cheques to wait for, and no time spent filling out forms.

So how much do you save? Well, for LED or CFL bulbs, you can save $5. With a multipack of 3, you save only $5 as well. Sometimes the multipacks are cheaper than the singles, but I doubt it's $10 cheaper. There is a limit of 5 per customer. However, there's no rule about making multiple trips or using additional family members to make purchases.

Wifey and I purchased five 60W equivalent LED bulbs from Canadian Tire. The price is normally $8.99, but with the $5 rebate, we paid $3.99 per bulb. Not bad. That's $25 in savings. Not to mention the LED bulbs consume less power than CFL and incandescent bulbs. Currently, we don't have any incandescent bulbs inside the house (we changed all our bulbs to CFL bulbs the second we moved into our house) so our savings will be minimal. But there will be savings.

In addition to the LED bulbs, we saved $2 on weatherstripping foam. We needed to replace the weatherstripping on the front door as it was starting to get a little ratty. Weatherstripping prevents drafts. This is especially true in the winter where cold air always seems to find a way through. Fortunately, for us, we also have the extra protection of a storm door for another line of defence against the frigid winter air.

The rebate program is not limited to fall and winter. They also have coupons in the spring for clothes racks (so you don't need to run your dryer in the summer) and ceiling fans (so you don't need to run the air conditioner on those hot summer days).

Overall, I'm not sure how much we've saved by taking advantage of this program and by switching to energy efficient bulbs.

The program is available until October 26, 2015 so you better hurry if you want to take advantage of it.