Our EnerCare hot water heater came as a rental with our home. I didn't give it much thought - $26+tx/mo for 6 years - until it leaked all its water and died while we were away for the weekend. A check of our contract showed that the water heater was 18 years old so the fact that we'd had 6 years without one call to the company was a good thing, but it was probably a very low efficiency model costing us more in energy daily. When we called EnerCare, they didn't even know our names though they'd been billing us correctly for 6 years - they still had the unit registered to the house's previous owners. That is insulting and just lax business practice. Our contract had happily expired so we were free-agents and could change hot water types/companies/structures with no penalties. Then again, in 6 years we'd paid for the hot water heater as if we'd bought it - and given it's 18 years old - they were paid 3x the cost of the heater during it's life. When I was trying to make sense of the choices, I found that Enercare's call center is always helpful but not always well informed. You either luck out with who you get or you get confusion, incorrect or misleading information. I know because I called 4 different times. They are not pushy for sales - but contracts are so restrictive and they would not match the competitors online offer to try to maintain our excellent account and good business, so they lost us. Advice: There is no 'right answer' as to what to do about water heaters - your decisions are based on a complex set of variables such as your guesstimate gas/electric costs for the contract duration, your home's size/number of bathrooms/appliances needing hot water, your projections about how the energy efficiency will improve during the life of your contract, whether you think you will need service calls, whether you plan on moving within 7-8 years, your environmental goals, your space requirements and your current use of hot water.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $26.00