A new initiative that aims to make Home and Community Care clients more comfortable in their homes, save them money on energy bills and care for the environment by saving energy and water is now underway across Mount Alexander.
Council staff have been trained in how to assess the energy efficiency of homes and are now equipped to complete a questionnaire with the client covering areas such as water use, energy use, living habits, how the building functions in summer and winter and appliance usage.
Five trained assessors plan to provide a free energy assessment to 50 local residents who currently receive in home support from Council.
The final phase of this program will be to implement a range of solutions as a result of the assessment.
These will range from fitting draft stoppers, adding shade cloth blinds, swapping shower heads to low flow options, putting tap turners on taps to make them easier to turn off and avoid drips, checking washers in taps and drought proofing gardens by removing lawn and adding drought tolerant bushes and plants.
Other improvements may be put in place by clients and their families or referred to other agencies.
This program was made possible by a grant from Department of Health in partnership with Council.