Wafa A., her husband and three beautiful children came to Canada several years from a country where it can get really hot in the summer. The average temperature in this part of the world ranges from 48 degree C in July and August to below freezing in the winter. “Back home, we had a very different heating and cooling systems and in terms of our bills, we had to think more about how much time our air conditioner was on” shares Wafa, “in Canada, we had to learn everything about our home from the scratch”.

Wafa heard about the Empower Me program through her friend and decided to participate because she wanted to learn more about how to make her home safer and more comfortable. Hassan, an Arabic-speaking Mentor conducted a home visit in September of 2019 and provided Wafa with many new tips about what her family can do to decrease their energy bills and improve energy efficiency in the house.

“I had so many questions”, says Wafa, “from how to read my energy bills to how I can decrease them while still maintaining the comfort of our home”.  Wafa learnt that heating and long showers are the two main causes of high energy bills and taking shorter showers may significantly decrease the amounts a household spends on their hot water. “I feel more empowered now to make changes”, said Wafa “I know now that we can plan our energy bills by using equal payment plan and we can also review our usage of energy online on Fortis BC and BC Hydro’s websites”.