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The saveONenergy HOME ASSISTANCE Program* (HAP) is an income-eligible program designed to help those in need of assistance conserve electricity and to lower their electrical bills free of charge. GreenSaver is very proud to deliver HAP on behalf of 29 electrical utilities across Ontario.
This monthly newsletter is for sector stakeholders to keep you informed about the program and better enable you to refer potential applicants.
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Upcoming Events
Summer Carnival
July 3, 2012
1:30 p.m.
Stepping Stones
50 Pontiac Street
Brantford
Summer Carnival
July 4, 2012
10:30 a.m.
Northland Gardens
56-68 Memorial Street
Brantford
Lunch and Learn
July 13, 2012
11:30 a.m.
SNAP Blackcreek
4400 Jane Street
Toronto
Kitchener-Waterloo Access-ability Information Session
July 23, 2012
1:00 p.m.
K-W Access-ability
105 University Avenue East, Unit 2
Waterloo
Program Stats
Participants in the Program: Over 1800 participants have applied to HAP through GreenSaver so far
More than 40 outreach events already this year
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GreenSaver has been contracted to deliver HAP for the following electrical utilities:
- Brant County Power
- Brantford Power
- Cambridge and North
Dumfries Hydro
- Centre Wellington
- Enersource Hydro
Mississauga
- Entegrus
- Erie Thames Powerlines
- Espanola Regional Hydro
- Haldimand County Hydro
- Hydro One Networks
- Innisfil Hydro
- Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro
- Lakefront Utilities
- Lakeland Power
- Newmarket-Tay Hydro
- Niagara Peninsula Energy
- Norfolk Power Distribution
- Orangeville Hydro
- Orillia Power
- Parry Sound Power
- PowerStream
- PUC Distribution
- Rideau St. Lawrence
Distribution
- Toronto Hydro
- Wasaga Distribution
- Waterloo North Hydro
- Welland Hydro-Electric
- Wellington North Power
- Woodstock Hydro Services
Contact GreenSaver P. 1 855 591 0877 F. 1 888 777 8416
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GreenSaver's Performance Insulation Team - Weatherizing HAP participants in the GTA, cottage country, and most of S.W. Ontario. These crews allow GreenSaver to manage cost and maintain quality.
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HAP is for Seniors
Because the Home Assistance Program qualifies participants based on income, not on over all wealth or equity, seniors on fixed income are a key participant demographic for the program. This month's feature is of Helen and Nels, married 46 years and both retired and living on pensions. 
The couple were able to show their 2011 notices of assessment combined to be under the 135% LICO threshold (currently set at $37,261 for two people). As the couple own their home, there was no need for landlord consent, so GreenSaver scheduled a basic assessment/install right away. When the auditor visited, she found the home had not been upgraded in recent years. The house had an electric hot water tank, gas furnace, older appliances, and incandescent lights throughout. The auditor was able to replace 21 incandescent lights with CFLs, install a new low flow shower head, pipe and tank wrap, a kitchen and bathroom aerator, and meter the fridge and stand up freezer. During the audit, both Helen and Nels showed an active interest; and Helen cleaned all of her light coverings as they were taken down to replace the bulbs. Our auditor also was able to sweep behind the fridge when it was pulled out to be metered. Upon reviewing the metering results the couple was notified that they were eligible for a new fridge to replace their circa 1980's fridge, and a new freezer to replace their older upright freezer; however the program currently only offers chest style freezers. GreenSaver staff noted the program is scheduled to add upright freezers in the near future. Because Helen has health troubles with her spine, the couple decide to wait to see if the program would get stand up freezers. So at this time GreenSaver has installed the fridge and kept their file open, and will contact them as soon as upright freezers are available. This is one of the ways that GreenSaver tries to optimize customer benefits. While the visit did last a little longer than scheduled, and the file is still open awaiting an upright freezer, the couple contacted us to say how positive their experience was. |
Celebrating Social Housing Successes
The Home Assistance program appeals to a diverse audience, from seniors to new Canadians, and from single parents to persons with disabilities. Each issue we feature a social agency or housing provider who has supported the program.
 Dalyce is the property administrator at a Housing Co-Op in Barrie. When she heard about the Home Assistance program at a local PowerStream stakeholder event, she wanted to make sure all the co-op residents got the full benefit of the program. Due to the conditions of rental, the building qualified under the social housing stream of HAP, which meant that ownership of appliances was not an issue.
Dalyce was willing to work with the current protocols which require that in addition to the building owner/manager application, each resident must apply individually to be part of the program. As Dalyce was mindful of her residents' right to privacy, she could not simply hand over a list of all their names and numbers, but she still wanted to ensure their participation. She worked with GreenSaver to develop a strategy to maximize resident enrollment, and she personally sent a letter and a completed application form (except for a signature) to all residents to encourage them to participate in the program.
This garnered a reasonable response rate and allowed GreenSaver to book several home audits right away. In order to further raise the level of participation, GreenSaver staff spent time on site promoting the program while installing lights etc in neighboring units. GreenSaver staff left door hangers as a reminder to participate in the program. This brought participation up even higher.
While participation is still nowhere near 100%, this strategy of mail outs, door hangers, and on-site awareness-raising activities has brought participation up considerably. Having a motivated and effective partner as the property manager makes a tremendous difference in the uptake.
Although it is a commonplace occurrence for other renovation work, HAP does not currently allow installations to take place without the tenant's consent and requires they must be present.
The Residential Working Group of the Electrical Distributors Association has lobbied the Ontario Power Authority to adapt the application process for social housing providers to empower them to apply on behalf of residents; thus, allowing for one application for an entire social housing complex. Insiders are hopeful that this change will come about in the next few months.
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Encouraging Innovation and Leadership
The Home Assistance Program is funded by the OPA and administered by each electrical utility in their individual service areas.
There is a growing power block of electric utilities in the south west of Ontario, appropriately called the South West Ontario Utilities Group, (SWOUG), its members are very active in working to improve conservation programs on the ground. SWOUG members share ideas on best practices and information on conservation and other issues in a spirit of openness that makes them effective.
One of the leaders in the effort to improve program delivery for HAP is London Hydro. They decided to keep HAP delivery in-house to better understand how it can be improved. "HAP is one of our key residential conservation programs and London has a large portion of our community who need support to lower their utility bills," noted Hans Schreff, CDM Manager at London Hydro, "So we want this program to be very transformative, in order to help the thousands of customers who are struggling to pay the bills."
 | | Hans Schreff, CDM Manager at London Hydro |
One of the key challenges to this program is the large amount of paperwork it requires, which siphons away time and resources that could otherwise be helping applicants. In order to streamline the application process, London has worked with Parachute Software to create the "Dragon" application software that allows the program to go paperless and to better track and report on all the HAP details.
The software was featured at a recent SWOUG meeting and is close to being ready for use, awaiting revisions to the FAST tool spreadsheet from the Ontario Power Authority.
While Londo n Hydro is not a GreenSaver client, we have been working with them to support the development of this software in order to better serve all our LDC clients. Innovative approaches to delivery and consumer engagement are essential to bringing HAP to all those Ontarians who need it. We congratulation London Hydro and SWOUG on their leadership hope to see a working version any day now.
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