Our new Edmonton Energy Mentor , Brijal, has been working hard to share energy conservation and home safety tips in his community. In his latest home visit, he met up with a family friend of his, Rajvi, who was curious about what Empower Me does. After hearing about Brijal’s new role, she was immediately interested in participating in our program and learning more about saving her energy at home.

Although Rajvi came to Canada 6 years ago, she was not aware that there are many utilities providers in Alberta, and she has been on the regulated rate option ever since she moved here. With over 30 different utilities options, Brijal suggested to Rajvi, in Punjabi, to visit ucahelps.alberta.ca to weigh her options based on her current needs. In addition to that, she could also compare prices on different plans as well. During the home visit, Brijal noticed that Rajvi uses analog thermostats, which cannot be set for a specific schedule. Brijal suggested that Rajvi should switch to a programmable thermostat for automatically adjusting their home temperature based on their schedule. In the mean time, Rajvi could lower their home temperature to 15 degrees before going to work as a way to save energy.

Rajvi was pleased to have her father’s friend, Brijal, visit her in her home and provide education in her own language. She specifically thanked Brijal through the phone a week later for the valuable information she received!