Inspired Green

One afternoon Mr. Jamie Abrusci, of Inspired Green knocked on my door and offered to do a free test for natural gas leaks from my furnace, water heater, etc. He told me that Inspired Green was associated with the local utilities company, American Electric Power (AEP). Since this seemed like a good idea I allowed him to perform the test. He soon assured me I have no leaks but suggested I have a comprehensive audit of my home to help me improve its energy efficiency, safety and comfort. We scheduled a time when he could return and we would discuss a further audit. I did a ?google? on Inspired Green and found that it was officially connected with AEP as one of their energy auditors, so I figured they were legitimate. And since I live in a large, brick house nearly 130 years old there may well be room for energy efficiency improvement. When Mr. Abrusci returned he explained the audit which would include a thorough check of the house from top to bottom, infrared photography of the ceilings, walls, etc. to determine where heat was leaking, and a blower door test where a large fan would suck air from the house to determine how much heat is lost to air leaks. It sounded like I might learn a lot from this thorough test and that it might pay. I balked at the expense of $425 till Mr. Abrusci promised me that I would receive a $75 rebate from AEP for the energy audit alone and that if they would not honor this rebate that Inspired Green would write me a check for $75. We put a note to this effect on the contract which Mr. Abrusci & I then signed. Several days later Mr. Brendan Kent came to perform the audit. This took a couple of hours as he performed the blower door test, took numerous photographs, talked to me about my energy usage patterns, looked at my utility bills, etc. A few days later, Mr. Kent returned with an impressive looking booklet with numerous photographs of the interior of my home that indicated with colors coding where cold air was leaking in ? around windows, from the ceiling, etc. It had several pages of data as well, most of which I could not understand. He did give me some tips on energy savings before he began to describe the work he believed I should have performed. Mr. Kent was very emphatic that Inspired Green would help me with fixes that are cost effective. He told me that it would not pay to have new thermal efficient windows, nor more insulation in the attic, nor a number of other fixes because they would take too long to pay for themselves. He began to describe the services he would recommend and seemed to focus on those involving the basement. He told me that I should have plastic placed on the soil in my crawlspaces to reduce moisture and to have the basement walls & joists sprayed with closed seal foam to reduce moisture and air infiltration. He offered this at the cost of $4733 after rebates. When I balked at the expense he described ways I could save money, e.g. by applying the plastic to the floor of the crawlspace by myself, etc. to reduce the cost to $2935 for the foam spray alone. I told him I?d think about this but that because he had offered me a bewildering variety of options, all scribbled on his legal pad (which he kept), that I would like him to email me an itemized invoice of options, also a link to the rebate site. He promised he would do so. With some study I realized that most of the information from the audit was in fact useless to me. The infrared photographs show that heat passes through my brick walls ? but I didn?t need an infrared photograph to tell me that. There was no information on how much energy or money any of the fixes might create. Mr. Kent confided that he had worked for a basement repair company and I later wondered if this was why he jumped on the idea of fixing my basement with so much enthusiasm. I bought a hygrometer to test the relative humidity in my basement and crawlspaces and found that I really do not have a problem with moisture. I studied my past home heating bills and realized that even if I did the minimal suggested basement work at $2935, that it would take me over 30 years to break even on energy savings if I were to realize an energy efficiency improvement of 20%. This seems very optimistic for a house as large and as old as this one. And the cost of natural gas is currently declining. Still I was considering some of the more modest proposals that Mr. Kent had made. Several weeks passed and finally I emailed & phoned Mr. Kent asking for the itemized invoice of suggested work and for a link to the rebate form but I got no response. I found a number online to their office and later received a phone message from a manger assuring me that Mr. Kent would be contacting me. I then received a scan of the scribbles he had written on his legal pad with very little description of what the scribbles meant. There was no mention of the rebate form. I looked online again for a link to the rebate form and found a telephone number for GridSmartOhio, associated with AEP. The woman I spoke with asked me many questions and seemed rather concerned with the answers I gave her. She told me that the $75 rebate offered for the audit alone did not exist. The rebate would apply if and only if I had in excess of $1000 worth of energy improvements performed. Later GridSmartOhio informed me that Inspired Green is no longer associated with AEP because ?they are no longer meeting our quality standards.? I again emailed and telephoned Inspired Green to try to obtain the $75 rebate or refund that they had promised. They do not return my calls or emails. I received a few minor tips about energy conservation from Inspired Green. But overall they appear to be either grossly inept or fraudulent or both. Don?t waste your time or money with Inspired Green!