energy efficiency assessments
Scorecard Residential Efficiency Assessments
A personalised roadmap for your energy efficiency journey
Worried about the price of energy? Trying to understand how to make your home as comfy and efficient as possible? You are not alone! We’ve helped lots of people like you who want to make changes but just don’t know where to start or what the best/most cost effective approach will be – and we would love to help you too!
Book one of our friendly Accredited assessors today for an in home visit, and we can give you easy to understand, user friendly advice on all of the opportunities available to you to make your home more comfortable year around, and more energy efficient.
Pricing (based on how your home would be advertised for sale):
$395 2 bedroom home
$450 3 bedroom home
$495 4+ bedroom home
REBATE: Since July 1st 2023, a rebate of $100 rebate is available to Victorian households when they have a Scorecard done with an accredited assessor*. We can offer this as an up-front discount off your bill. (*some conditions apply, but nearly everyone will qualify)
For more information about Scorecard, what happens in an assessment, and testimonials showing how our staff have helped other people, scroll down.
How a Scorecard Assessment works…
1 You and your assessor start the site visit with a chat
We talk through your energy efficiency and comfort goals, motivations, time frame, budget (if known) – so we understand what you want to achieve
2 Assessor looks at your building shell & appliances
This includes your building shell (draughts, insulation, windows), and main appliances (heating & cooling, hot water, lighting, pools) and energy generation
3 Assessor enters information into the Scorecard tool.
Scorecard will calculate the estimated annual energy cost for the home – it’s a great baseline from which to model future upgrade impacts on energy bills!
4 You and your assessor talk through their suggestions
We talk through everything that could be done to improve comfort and reduce energy use, tailored to you and your home. Ask as many questions as you like!
5 We send your Scorecard Certificate & tailored report
These are your roadmap of actions & upgrades into the future. We’ll provide links to products, services, DIY videos & trades who can help.
6 Increased comfort and energy savings into the future
Best of all, you’ll have a practical understanding of how your home uses energy, to guide future renovation or purchasing decisions
What does a Scorecard cover?
Draught Proofing
Draught proofing makes you feel warmer and reduces the amount of energy you need for heating & cooling. We’ll identify key draughts in your home and talk you through ways they can be sealed, including free Vic Gov upgrades, DIY options and professional services..
Insulation
Insulation is key to improving your home comfort – it’s like putting a hat, jumper and socks on your home in winter, and it helps in summer too. We’ll look at your ceiling, underfloor and wall insulation, advise you on whether it exists, how well it is working, how you could improve it, and where it fits in priority level for your home. We’ll include DIY and professional options.
Electrify Your Home
Are you keen to get off gas and go all-electric in your home? We can identify your current gas appliances and suggest replacement options that suit your goals, home and lifestyle. We’ll explain the challenges or barriers you may encounter, rebates you may be eligible for, and direct you to some reputable companies who can help you.
Hot water system
After heating and cooling, the production of hot water for your home is often the next highest energy user. We’ll identify the type and age of the appliance you have, and advise you of the most cost efficient and appropriate upgrade options for your home, including rebates available to help you finance your upgrade. We can also suggest some ways to use it most efficiently, even if you don’t upgrade it.
Heating & Cooling
Heating is a large part of our energy costs in Victoria, so choosing an energy efficient option is important. The most energy efficient form of heating is individual high efficiency reverse cycle air conditioners. Ceiling Fans, natural ventilation and split systems are all efficient ways of cooling.
We can help you get off gas to be an all electric efficient home.
Solar PV (Panels)
Installing solar panels is almost always worth the investment, with an average pay back period of between 3-5 years. We’ll explain how to find a reputable installer, how to use your self-generated energy for best financial benefit, rebates available, and can talk you through some associated thinks like battery storage and Electric Vehicles.
Windows
Windows often offer plenty of opportunities for improvement, from low cost and DIY upgrades, to medium and high cost options. We’ll talk you through all of the aspects of windows that matter including internal coverings, glazing, frames, and external shading. We’ll advise you on how you can reduce heat loss and gain through your windows no matter what your budget is.
What is a Residential Efficiency Scorecard?
It’s lots of things!
Expert advice
About everything to do with making your home more comfortable in winter and summer, more energy efficient, getting off gas, what order to tackle upgrades, and which upgrades will give you the best reward for your investment.
An estimated annual running cost indicator for your home
A Scorecard star rating gives you an indication of the average annual cost to run the main fixed appliances in your home.
The Victorian average is 3 stars, which equates to roughly $1,800 a year. The higher your star rating (out of 10), the lower your running costs, until at 9 stars you are generating roughly the same $ value of energy as you need for the main fixed appliances, and at 10 stars, you are generating more.
As part of our tailored report, we model how your home can get as close as possible towards 10 stars with a range of upgrades.
FAQ’s – Scorecard assessments
What is a 'Scorecard'?
The Residential Efficiency Scorecard is a home energy rating tool predominantly used for existing homes of any age throughout Australia.
Like appliance star ratings, the Scorecard star rating reflects the estimated annual cost to run your home, based on your current building shell and main fixed appliances. It also has a 'comfort' section that shows how comfortable the home is likely to be without any heating or cooling in hot or cold weather.
To create a Scorecard Certificate, our Accredited Assessor has to look at and collect data about a range of features of your home, including the building shell (draughts, ceiling, wall and underfloor insulation, window frames, glazing, coverings and external shading) and the major fixed appliances (heating, cooling, hot water, lighting, renewable energy).
Our assessors use Scorecard as a great baseline tool for our service, because it gives a homeowner an idea of how energy efficient their home is compared to similar houses. We also find it useful because we can model our recommended upgrades in the tool and show people a practical plan of the steps they could take to get to 10 stars - or as high as possible.
How long does a Scorecard assessment site visit take?
Our Scorecard assessments take anywhere between 1.5-3.5 hours, depending on the size and complexity of the home, and how many questions the householder might have.
A 2BR home or unit is likely to take 1.5 hrs, 3BR around 2.5-3, and 4BR+ up to 3.5 hrs.
We take as much time as we need to make sure we understand your motivations and goals with having the Assessment done, and after we've looked over your whole home and collected the data we need, to talk through all of our recommendations and answer any questions you might have.
Above all, we want our service to be of value to you and we want to leave knowing that we've talked you through your opportunities in way that makes sense and meets your goals, budget and family.
What happens at a Scorecard assessment site visit?
There are 4 main parts to the site visit.
- We start with a conversation about your home and the people who live there, your goals and motivations in getting it done, and any challenges you might have in implementing upgrades. This can take 15-30mins.
- Then we ask you to take us on a very quick tour of the home so we can see the layout, and also show us where your outside appliances units are (hot water system etc).
- After that, we have anything from 45mins-1.5 hrs of data collection to do (depending on the size and complexity of the home). We can do this bit on our own so you can whatever you wish while we work.
- Once we have a draft Scorecard certificate and have noted all of our recommendations, we sit down with you again to run through all of our suggestions. We'll explain why we are recommending something, how it impacts on either your comfort or energy use, and point you to resources to help you upgrade it (this could be DIY videos, professional trades, rebates you may be eligible for).
Then within a week of the site visit, we will send you the finalised Scorecard Certificate, a Tailored report for your home, and a Guide to energy efficiency upgrades for further links and resources.
What is included in the Assessment?
The things that are included in the Assessment are:
- Onsite assessment, where your assessor talks with you about your goals and your home, collects the data to create the Scorecard certificate and explains their recommendations and how to achieve them.
- The types of things we look at are the building shell (draughts, ceiling, wall and underfloor insulation, window frames, glazing, coverings and external shading) and the major fixed appliances (heating, cooling, hot water, lighting, renewable energy).
- Follow up tailored report, where all recommendations are listed in order of priority, and suggested upgrades are modelled on the Scorecard tool to show how they impact on your energy star rating and comfort.
- Links to suppliers, installers, articles and DIY guides for various upgrades
- Information on rebates and financial incentives