By Lisa Schick

SaskEnergy is about to pull the plug

Feb 7, 2011 | 10:22 AM

The SaskEnergy EnerGuide program is ending soon and unless homeowners get inspections they may miss out on up to $5000 in grant money.

The deadline for the post-retrofit inspection is Mar. 31.

Only three companies are certified EnerGuide inspectors in the Prince Albert area — Amerispec, Sun

Ridge Group and Energy Wise Solutions and all three are getting booked up in the weeks before the deadline.

They are encouraging homeowners who still need their post-retrofit inspections to book as soon as possible.

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Kevin McGuir, president of Energy Wise Solutions, said the people who wait until Mar. 28 to call for an appointment might be out of luck.

“We’re getting pretty well booked up, but there’s still time, and there is still time for people to complete their renovations, but they should act as soon as possible,” said McGuir.

Manger with the Sun Ridge Group, Dave Fetch, said there are very few spaces left in March, but still some in February.

“We would like if they’re going to be going ahead and needing to get a post retro-fit evaluation book in as soon as possible rather than trying to book six weeks, or eight weeks out,” said Fetch.

For those who are still in the midst of their renovations, SaskEnergy representative Dave Berdeniuk recommends they still make an inspection appointment so they can at least receive grants for finished work.

“What we’re encouraging people to do is to contact the service organizations and to book an appointment for that post-retrofit, your final evaluation, get that booked and you’ll get credit for as much work as you’ve had done,” he said.

There will be no extensions for those who aren’t able to book an inspection appointment in time, Berdeniuk said.

The SaskEnergy EnerGuide program began April 1, 2007 in partnership with the federal government, as an incentive for homeowners to replace old furnaces, water heaters, windows and insulation with new energy-saving and efficient models.

A pre-retrofit inspection was required to tell homeowners what renovations they could do and which grants they were eligible for. Homeowners were given 18 months to renovate.

Once completed, an inspector would verify the improvements for the government grants for each improvement.

According to SaskEnergy, 37,500 homes have taken advantage of the program and greenhouse gasses have been reduced by 111,000, which is equal to taking 20,000 cars off the roads.

lschick@panow.com