There has been a [mis]conception that in spite of all the green and energy saving features uitilized in the village that utility prices are high. As such, last night I attended an information session held at The Village for 4 of the stratas in which the various heating, cooling, billing, etc. was addressed.
The speakers included representatives of the NEU, Enerpro, Cobalt Engineering (Cap Mats), and Crosby PM, with additional comments and attendance by E&Y and Hallmark Heating & Air Conditioning (service reps).
No doubt the crowd was tough, but I was incredibly impressed by how each of the speakers handled themselves and treated the question askers, some very uninformed, with the utmost respect.
The key points of confusion for residents of the Village seem to include:
- Multiple Service Providers, Engineers, Etc.
- How Enerpro Works
- Method of Heating The Village
I've largely addressed who the parties involved are above.
As for How Enerpro Works? Enerpro is basically a system by which common strata costs of domestic hot & cold water usage are removed from the Strata Corp.'s General Budget and applied on a direct usage basis to the individual Strata Lots. Enerpro bills on a bi-monthly basis. The collected funds are then remitted back to the strata-corp, less a meter reading administration fee.
The key premise of Enerpro is that if people see their usage and the associated billing, instead of it just being lumped into their monthly strata bill, they will change their habits and use less energy. [Enerpro has examples of building re-fits where this change alone has resulted in >50% reductions in water usage and the associated energy bills!].
The key challenge in this is that people think their utility bills are higher because they've gone from having 2 bills: BC Hydro for Electricity (including Heat) and Strata Fee, to having 3 bills: BC Hydro for Electricity (not including Heat), Strata Fee (no longer including domestic Hot & Cold Water usage), AND Enerpro (covering Heat AND domestic water).
Regarding the method of the heating the village, the cap mats, and the radiant technology was discussed somewhat by Cobalt Engineering. Many complain that the system does not heat the suites to the desired temperatures. The system being radiant-based, is not instantaneous, and has shown some incompetence under extreme weather IMHO. The life of the cap-mat piping was also addressed with the engineering firm claiming similar systems showing 40+ yr lives.
Question, I know other buildings in SEFC will be hooked up to the NEU, but does anyone know if other buildings plan to use Enerpro?
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