2026 Tidy Towns Energy Finalist - Home Energy Doctor
Baw Baw Sustainability Network's pitch is almost cheeky: we assess, diagnose and treat your home's energy problems, like a doctor's visit for your house.
Behind the joke is real, practical work. The Yarragon-based, largely volunteer-run group offers home energy assessments, blower door testing, thermal imaging, draughtproofing and underfloor insulation to households across Gippsland, completing 101 individual jobs in the past financial year alone. Its Cosy Home project went further, providing free draughtproofing to ten households doing it tough, funded entirely by the community group itself.
There's no marketing budget behind any of it. What's built the Home Energy Doctor's reputation is word of mouth, one satisfied household telling the next, which means every job has to actually deliver: warmer homes, lower bills, no exceptions.
The group's own account of its journey is refreshingly plain: what began as advice over a cuppa about energy bills has, through years of volunteer hours, training and accreditation, become a genuine local service.
The X-factor is persistence. No flashy launch, no big grant announcement. Just years of volunteers turning up and doing the unglamorous work of making Gippsland homes easier to heat.
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