A quick note to readers from outside Quebec: now that the dams are over 40 years old, our hydroelectricity is probably the cleanest in the world (dams do produce GHGs via methane production, and have negative environmental effects by flooding ecosystems).

Electricity is also very inexpensive for Quebec residents. We pay a low rate on the first 36 kWh per day and a premium on the remainder we use to try to incentivize us to conserve energy. This premium is usually applied in the winter. We predominantly use electric heating.

This contextualizes the value of the kWh expressed in the article. Your mileage may vary depending on your own household energy mix; I hope it might encourage you to switch to non-petroleum/non-carbon-sourced energy for your needs.

For all the factors affecting your consumption of electricity and what you can do to reduce them, visit this page onHydro Quebec’s website.

Now that it’s been a few years since I first published “Conserving Electricity in Winter,” I thought it was time to do an update. In July, when the Equalized Payments period rolled over and I got the report, I posted the following status update to Facebook to celebrate my results:

A close up of the readings

First, a look at only part of the first year I lived here: my consumption, the electricity rates, and my equalized monthly bill. 12990 kWh + (1800 + 550) kWh = 15340 kWh per year.
Here’s a screen cap of my energy consumption from 2010–2011. Annual total (less the last reading): 15270 kWh. E means estimated, R means reading.

After a gap in time:

2012–13’s consumption: down by 2000 kWh

In 2014, I was getting more efficient in my electricity use:

The pellet stove would fit in the “other appliances” category, as would the dehumidifier in the laundry room.

But I knew I could do better. So I started the RénoClimat program for a second time. My green renovations took a long time to do because I was doing a decent amount of work without being a total retrofit.

RénoClimat work I did, Round 2

In 2017, I had to finish up my audit period for the program. Here’s the lowdown on the reports I got. 

The first time I did the program, my weather-stripping and sealing efforts brought the Ener-G-guide home rating up from 60 to 66. The second time, I’d made a marginal improvement on my own so the initial rating went up to 67. Here are the images:

≈2012 results to the program: 14.3 air exchanges per hour
2017 pressure test results: 9.98 air exchanges per hour
The difference between 70 due to the test and 72 as a rating is calculated from adding R30 of insulation

After this blower-door test, I

  1. added insulation to an exposed storage space above the garage and along its firewall,
  2. got a new garage door with a higher insulation value,
  3. replaced my fireplace with a sealed pellet stove,
  4. did the weather stripping, and
  5. (after the final blower-door test) added more insulation to the attic to bring it from R20 to R50 (measured by depth of insulation).

Some of these projects also were part of the Réno-Vert eco renovation scheme from Revenu Québec to assist home owners wih energy- and water-efficient upgrades to their homes. The work was finished in its entirety by May 2017. A few months later, I received a rebate cheque to offset the cost of some of my upgrades through the Reno-Climat program.

In July I got my annual Equalized Payments Plan bill. I didn’t owe any money for a month as I was ahead on my payments. My payments went down to $80 per month. I was really quite pleased!

My electricity consumption over 2016-17 (14 months) was:

Here’s the consumption per two-month period, all on the Smart Meter system.
Yes! well below the 1000 kWh per month that I wanted to get it down to!

So I’m under 1000 kWh per month; I’ve reduced my consumption 41% from my first year here. We’ll see what the future brings.