New Brunswickers looking to alternative energy to battle rising energy costs

Alternative energy systems are gaining in popularity in New Brunswick as power rates are set to increase in just over two months.

Retailers say now more than ever consumers are tackling high energy costs head on and trying to find ways to spend less on their power bills.

READ MORE: Low income families in NB struggle to pay power bills

“What we do is come in and look at the home and what the heating source is in the home and how much it’s costing them,” said Lisa Colwell, office manager at BG Heating & Cooling. “In most cases we’re putting in ductless heat pumps.”

Colwell says heat pumps have been gaining in popularity steadily and that customers are seeing big savings after they’re installed.

“They’re saving anywhere from 30 to 40 percent over electric baseboard,” Colwell said.

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Janice Dudley is one such customer.

“When we got our first power bill we saved $150, our second bill we again saved $150, the third one we were saving $200,” Dudley said.

Dudley says after several years of having additional charges owing at the end of an equalized billing season, she was thrilled to see that wasn’t the case after their first winter with a heat pump.

“They paid us $900 this year instead of us paying them,” Dudley said.

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Some are even taking it a step further than reducing their bills.

Anna West is the Store Manager at The Cabin Supply Depot in Oromocto, which specializes in products that use no electricity at all.

“Our appliances that we have are all off grid,” West explained. “There are some that are propane and some that are powered by solar power, they’re more energy efficient.”

The Cabin Supply Depot sells everything from refrigerators to stoves to toilets and tankless water heaters which don’t require electricity.

West says their customers vary from those looking to lower costs or even those who want to live electricity free.

“There’s a lot of people that are very interested in going off grid completely,” West said. “There’s also some people coming in and they want to reduce their energy bills so they want to add a solar panel or a couple solar panels.”

NB Power’s next rate increase takes effect on July 1.