Energy Un-Burdened: The City of Robbinsdale’s efforts to increase bill savings with home energy assessments

If you want to solve a problem, it’s best to understand everything you can about it first. That’s the benefit of getting a home energy assessment, provided by the Home Energy Squad (HES) for Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy customers.

During an HES visit, auditors evaluate the home by pinpointing sources of energy loss and increased consumption. In addition to performing diagnostic tests, they bring energy-saving items to install the day-of such as LED lightbulbs, weather-stripping, and even a smart thermostat for qualifying homes.  

After the visit, the homeowner will receive an in-depth 'Energy Fitness Plan’ which identifies places in your home to save energy and suggests steps to remedy them. For example, if they recommend replacing your windows to reduce draft, there will also be information on potential incentives, a list of trusted contractors to choose from, estimated costs, and a help line to ensure the resident has all the help they need if they decide to move forward! 

All of these actions are imperative to Robbinsdale’s mission to diminish residential energy burden. By taking steps like swapping out incandescent bulbs and sealing windows, homeowners are left with more efficient homes and lower energy bills. 

But many residents were unaware of the program. “Many of the folks who got a visit...it was their first time learning about the Home Energy Squad,” says Kayla Kirtz, the City of Robbinsdale Sustainability Coordinator. To spread the word, the team employed various marketing strategies ranging from frequent posts to city social media, to including pieces in city newsletters, and even snagging a feature segment on the local news network, CCX Media.

They found, however that one of the more effective strategies was mailing over a thousand informational postcards to residents located in neighborhoods at greater risk of being energy burdened.

In classic interconnected Minnesota fashion, it is not surprising that my own Climate Impact Corps Program Manager, Jordan, was one of the residents that received an audit in June of 2024. Jordan was made aware of the opportunity via the city’s email newsletter and because the visit was free, happily signed up! If the visit was full price, she claimed that she would have been less likely to follow through with a visit. 

Apart from the bill savings, the most exciting element of the visit Jordan wished to highlight was the thermal (infrared) imaging, which is used to map areas of heat loss in her house. She notes that it was neat to view your home through a different wavelength, but what really brought her joy was spotting her bird, Pichu, featured in the follow-up report, photobombing the thermal test (pictured below)! 

Feedback surveys were sent to residents having undergone the audits, and responses the city received were overwhelmingly positive! Residents were more than willing to recommend the service and were “Pleasantly surprised at the depth that the auditors went into when accessing their homes.” Upon receiving these outstanding reviews, Kirtz gleefully mentioned that it “made me confident that it was a benefit to the community.” 

When asked if she believes they met their initial goals, Kayla responded with a clamorous “yes, absolutely!” They set out to provide 50 free visits and ended the year reaching 88 households, with 27 of those identified in the energy burdened communities they were hoping to reach — blowing their expectations out of the water! Quantitative benchmarks having been met, the team feels they also attained their less tangible goals of increasing public buzz around home weatherization and energy efficiency. 

The project’s success did not end with the calendar year either! After review from the city council, the project extended indefinitely, allocating funds directly from the city via the Robbinsdale Economic Development Authority. Council made it clear that they were “very happy to see the creative use of the external funding and the engagement that the project was seeing.” Leveraging the experiences from the initial implementation process, Kayla and the city are actively planning how to optimize their future engagement to further reduce energy burden in Robbinsdale as the project continues to blossom.   

“It's become a long term, sustainable project, having garnered longstanding support from our city council after demonstrating its impact on our residents and their homes... which wouldn’t have been possible without the support of CERTs!”