There is a really simple way to save money on your power bill every month.
An energy assessment, also known as an energy audit, can identify areas where you can improve your energy efficiency on your property. By following the recommendations from your assessment, you can save a significant amount of money on your energy bill each month.
At Red Ryno Energy, our red-seal certified electricians perform lighting assessments, a type of energy audit, for residential and commercial properties. This allows us to provide our clients with energy-efficient lighting solutions to help them save energy and reduce their BC Hydro bill by up to 40%.
What does a lighting assessment cover?
A lighting assessment will determine your current energy usage by evaluating your lighting infrastructure, type and number of bulbs, along with how long your lights are on each day and BC Hydro’s energy rate. With all of this data, the assessment will determine your overall energy usage.
Let’s say you have a 60W (watt) incandescent light bulb at 750 lumens (amount of light emitted) running on your property for 10 hours a day — that’s 600W per day or 0.6kWh (kilowatts per hour). Now, if we use an average BC Hydro rate (14 cents per kWh) from BC Hydro, every day for a month, using the average of 30.5 days per month, that one bulb costs you $2.56 every month.
That doesn’t sound too bad, right? It’s the cost of a couple coffees. Well, typically you will have more than just the one incandescent — especially if you own a business. Additionally, businesses typically use different bulbs and run them for a longer period of time to either cover their hours of operation or 24-hours a day for security measures — both exterior and interior.
For example, a business that runs 35 1000W (watt) metal halide, 1 400W metal halide, and 8 250W metal halide lights for 10 hours a day, using the same method as above, at 14 cents per kWh spends $52.36 each day, about $1,596.98 per month and $19,163.76 annually to run their lighting infrastructure.
A lighting assessment for this business would give us enough information so we can provide a custom lighting solution to improve their energy efficiency and save them money.
Let’s take those metal halide bulbs and turn them into the LED equivalents — 35 300W, 1 150W, 8 80W LED bulbs at 10 hours a day, 14 cents per kWh.
This new lighting infrastructure will only cost them $15.81 per day, about $482.08 a month and $5,785 annually.
Just like that, the business saved $13,378.76 on their energy bill in the first year alone.
Why choose LED?
While fluorescent, halogen and halide bulbs are more efficient than incandescent bulbs, none of them can compete with LED lights. They may cost more to buy initially, but LED lights are an investment that’s perfect for the long-term planners out there.
LED lights have a longer lifespan than any other bulb on the market — typically lasting about 15-20 times longer than incandescent bulbs and 3 times longer than fluorescent bulbs. This means that you will replace an incandescent or fluorescent bulb more frequently than an LED — offsetting the higher initial investment per bulb.
Not only do they last a long time, but an LED retrofit will save you money on your BC Hydro bill every month. With fewer maintenance costs and more savings per month, it can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years, depending on how often your lights are on, to fully pay yourself back and begin building your savings with your new LED lighting system.
Also, if you are a BC Hydro customer in the Fraser Valley or Lower Mainland — you may be familiar with the “Power Factor Correction” surcharge on your power bill. This charge only occurs when your building or property is using additional reactive power alongside your real power that is supplied. Installing LED lights and becoming more energy efficient will reduce this surcharge or negate it completely.
If you’re interested in comparing various energy-efficient lights, appliances, and more to save some money on your energy bill, check out this cost calculator from BC Hydro.
Our process
Our red-seal certified electricians will evaluate and gather data on your current lighting infrastructure. From that, we will analyze your energy usage and build a custom lighting solution so you can begin saving money. The best part? We offer this initial lighting assessment at zero-cost.
Red Ryno Energy is a BC Hydro Power Smart Partner and whether it’s an LED retrofit to an older building or adding LEDs to a new build, our professional electricians can help you save money by installing a more energy-efficient lighting system for your business. For more information or if you’re looking to have a lighting assessment done for your property in the Fraser Valley or Lower Mainland, contact us today!
