A pilot program using air-pumps to heat homes in Little River Acres is seeing positive results after almost a year.
Enwin launched the program last year to see if air-source heat pumps are a viable option for reduce the reliance on baseboard heaters.
Chris Routliffe, a conservation and demand management coordinator with Enwin, says although they have had a smaller uptake in the program than expected, they are seeing positive results.
"What we're seeing coming back, again preliminary data only really leveraging the winter period from 2016 into 2017, is about 20% of total bill savings. So, we're actually seeing additional savings than what we expected," says Routliffe.
Only around 100 residents took part in the pilot program. There was room in the program 385. The heat pump system costs residents around $4000- $6000, 40% of which was subsidized through Enwin.
"Our sample has become smaller, but still with basically 10% of the population within Little River Acres participating in the pilot, we do feel we have enough sample data to prove whether or not the program was successful," says Routliffe.
The pilot project will continue through 2017 with a final report going to the Independent Electricity System Operator in 2018. It will determine if this is a program that could be rolled out throughout Ontario in areas reliant on electric heat.
