Save Energy. Get Paid.
Does your hydro bill seem high these days? If you live in Toronto, you have a right to complain. Ontario residents pay the highest rates in Canada for hydro. Residential hydro rates in Ontario increased a whopping 71 percent between 2008 to 2016, compared to 34 percent in the rest of Canada, according to a report by the Fraser Institute.
The high hydro rates prompted Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to introduce a 25 percent hydro rate cut. The premier has promised to keep hydro rates increases to no more than 2 percent a year for the next 4 years. But despite the cuts, hydro rates remain high in Ontario and a major concern for residents.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to not only save energy, but get paid for to do it, too? There wasn’t until now. Through a free service called OhmConnect you can do just that. Here’s how it works.
OhmConnect partners with energy companies in Toronto to get hydro customers to reduce their energy consumption during peak hours. These hours are called #OhmHours. #OhmHours typically happens during the evening when you’re getting home from work and the sun is setting (or has already set). Due to the higher energy consumption during these hours, so-called “dirty” power plants threaten to come online to meet the increased demand.
Here’s where the magic of happens. OhnConnect notifies you via text message when #OhmHours occur. During that time, the goal is cut your energy usage. You can do this in many ways – for instance, by holding off on doing laundry or running the dishwasher. You can make energy savings even simpler by connecting your smart devices, including wifi thermostats, electric vehicles, and smart plugs, to OhmConnect to automate your participation.
Once the hour is over, you’re rewarded with points. The point system is pretty straightforward: 1,000 points is equal to $10. You can also earn even more points by referring others. When you’re an OhmConnect customer, you get a personalized referral link. If someone signs up using your URL, you will be credited $20 in your account and they will receive $10 for signing up and a free smart home device. Not too shabby!
How you use the points is completely up to you. You can cash them out and use them as you see fit, or you can do what some OhnConnect users have been doing, and create a local community team and donate your earnings to schools and other non-profits. With enough users participating in your neighbourhood, you could raise over $10,000 for your local school in a single year. In other words, OhmConnect is paying for entire communities to become more sustainable.
But that’s not all. On top of helping the environment by reducing energy consumption, OhmConnect users benefit from home energy analytics and a smart home automation hub. By becoming more aware about how much energy you’re using, you’re more likely to reduce your overall consumption.
OhmConnect isn’t just for homeowners. If you’re a renter and pay for a share of the hydro bill, you can save money with OhmConnect, too.
Join the energy sharing economy by signing up for OhmConnect today.
Sean Cooper is the bestselling author of the book, Burn Your Mortgage: The Simple, Powerful Path to Financial Freedom for Canadians, available now on Amazon and at Chapters, Indigo and major bookstores, and as an Audiobook on Amazon, Audible and iTunes.