A kitchen table at evening covered with a fanned stack of blank statements, a highlighter, a calculator and a phone, with a hand mid-note.

The Energy and Water Audit

The quantity half of every usage-billed charge, done with a $30 meter, a flashlight and one Saturday.

Module 6 of 84 lessonsWritten in full1 worksheet

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The lessons

All 4, in the order they are read.

1. Find the biggest load first
A handful of appliances account for most of a household's power, and measuring beats guessing every single time.
2. The running toilet and the leak
A large water bill is almost never behaviour; it is a leak, and the meter tells you within twenty minutes whether you have one.
3. Envelope before equipment
Air sealing and insulation return more per dollar than replacing a working furnace, and almost nobody does them in that order.
4. The rebate that pays for it
Utilities and states publish rebate schedules that routinely cover a third to all of the work, and they are claimed before the job, not after.

The worksheet

Load and leak audit

Top half: every plug load you measured, ranked by annual cost. Bottom half: the water tests, with a result and a date. A blank result line is a test you did not run, and the most expensive line in any water bill is the test nobody ran.

Load and leak audit
Item	Measured draw	Hours per day	kWh per year	Cost per year at your rate	Action
EXAMPLE — second refrigerator in garage	120 W running, 45% duty	24	473	$66	Unplug it, or accept the cost knowingly
—	—	—	= W x hours x 365 / 1000	= kWh x your rate	—
WATER TEST — meter still with everything off	Pass / fail	—	—	—	Fail means a leak somewhere on your side
WATER TEST — dye in each toilet tank, 20 minutes	Pass / fail per toilet	—	—	—	Colour in the bowl means a leaking flapper
WATER TEST — irrigation zone by zone	Pass / fail per zone	—	—	—	—

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