Home Energy Upgrade LadderWhich home upgrades pay off first?
Enter your monthly energy bills and a few facts about your home. You'll get your upgrades in order — your ladder, from free steps to bigger projects — with what each one saves, what it costs and how long it takes to pay back, and the source behind every number. Costs are shown before rebates; your utility may well pay part of them, and we'll show you where to look.
Your home
Your state sets the energy prices and the savings estimates used throughout — both come from federal and state data, not national averages.
Your systems
What you have now decides which upgrades apply — and what they’re measured against. Grouped by what each one affects on your bill.
Your energy bills
What you actually paid over the last 12 months. Enter each month’s electricity and gas bill; every estimate scales from these numbers, so real figures matter.
Already done
Check anything you've handled and we'll leave it off your ladder.
Planning to replace any of these soon anyway?
If a unit is dying or a renovation is coming, the efficiency upgrade only really costs the premium over a standard replacement — payback switches to that incremental cost.
Where your energy dollars go
See your whole ladder, rung by rung
Your free summary shows how much is within reach. The full report puts every upgrade for your home in the order to climb it — free steps first, then do-it-yourself projects, then bigger investments — with a total that counts the overlap between upgrades so nothing is double-counted, and the source, cost range and rebate pointers behind each rung.
Not useful? Email us within 30 days of buying for a full refund. Refund terms
Have a promo code? Enter it on the payment page.
How the Upgrade Ladder works
- 01
Describe your home
Your state, how you heat and cool, your water heater and windows, and what you've already done.
- 02
Enter your monthly bills
Twelve months is best; your utility's website or app lists them. Add kWh and therms if you have them.
- 03
Climb your ladder
Your upgrades in order, each with its savings, cost, payback and the engineering source behind it.
Your ladder has three levels. The first rungs are quick wins that cost little or nothing, like a thermostat setback. Next come do-it-yourself projects, such as sealing leaks and insulating hot-water pipes. At the top are bigger investments — attic insulation, heat pumps, new windows — that usually need a contractor and take longer to pay back. Within each level, the fastest payback comes first.
Upgrades overlap: once you've sealed the leaks, insulating the attic has less heat loss left to stop. So the total counts each rung's savings after the rungs before it, and never double-counts.
An example ladder
A 1960s Georgia home with gas heat and central air, spending $2,600 a year on energy. Six of the 26 rungs on its ladder, each one's savings counted after the rungs before it. Calculated with the tool's October 2026 prices.
- Rung 1Quick winSet back the thermostat$94/yr · no cost
- Rung 2Quick winWash laundry in cold water$55/yr · no cost
- Rung 10DIYInsulate hot-water pipes and tank$23/yr · $39–$87
- Rung 12DIYSeal leaks (caulk and weatherstrip)$40/yr · $58–$290
- Rung 16BiggerAir-seal and insulate the attic$108/yr · $1,525–$3,812
- Rung 22BiggerReplace with ENERGY STAR windows$136/yr · $7,066–$17,666
Climbing all 26 rungs would save this home about $1,437 a year. Some upgrades take decades to pay back, and the ladder says so.
What you get
Free summary
Where your energy dollars go, what your whole ladder could save in a year, and what its no-cost rungs are worth.
Your full ladder
Every rung in order, with costs, paybacks, data sources, and assumptions that are adjustable to match your house.
One-time payment, no subscription. Your report link works for 60 days, and you can save the report as a PDF. Not useful? Email us within 30 days of buying for a full refund.
Questions
Is this a home energy audit?
No. A professional energy audit includes a visit to your home, often with a blower-door test to measure air leaks. The Upgrade Ladder is a do-it-yourself estimate built from your bills and your answers. It's a good first step: it shows where your money goes and which upgrades are worth asking about. Many utilities offer free or discounted audits, and your report suggests asking.
Where do the numbers come from?
From the sources utility efficiency programs use: technical reference manuals published by states and regional bodies, U.S. Department of Energy and ENERGY STAR guidance, U.S. Energy Information Administration prices and household surveys, and NOAA weather data. Every figure in the report names its source. See how the estimates are made.
Why monthly bills instead of a yearly total?
A yearly figure from memory is easy to get wrong, and your bills set the scale for every estimate. With 9 or more months of bills that cover winter (and summer, if you have central air), we also try to measure how your own use splits between heating, cooling and everything else, instead of assuming a typical home for your state. If your bills don't follow the weather closely enough, the report says so and uses the typical split.
Why don't the savings simply add up?
Because upgrades overlap. Once the leaks are sealed, attic insulation has less heat loss left to stop. Your ladder counts each rung's savings after the rungs below it, so the rungs add up to an honest total that is lower than the upgrades added up one at a time. If you might skip some rungs, one switch shows each upgrade on its own instead.
Do the costs include rebates?
No. Costs are shown before rebates, so your real costs and paybacks may be better. The federal tax credits for home efficiency upgrades ended for improvements installed after December 31, 2025, but many utilities still offer rebates, and some states run federal rebate programs. Your report points you to where to look.
What does it cost?
The summary is free. Your full ladder is a one-time $9.95, and you can adjust its assumptions to match your home. There's no subscription. Your report link works for 60 days, and you can save the report as a PDF.
What if the report isn't useful?
Email Gregory.Brown@brolte.com within 30 days of buying, with your report link or your Stripe receipt, and we'll refund you in full. You don't need to give a reason. The refund goes back to the card or account you paid with, and your bank usually shows it within 5 to 10 business days. Once a purchase is refunded, its report link stops working. See the refund terms.
What happens to my information?
We keep what you enter and what comes back, with no name, street address or email attached. We use it to build your ladder, to check and improve the estimates, for statistics about groups of homes that we may present to utilities, regulators and similar bodies (sometimes as part of paid work), and to count which links and campaigns bring people to the tool. We never share a single home's record, and any group of fewer than 10 homes is withheld. Report links, and the answers held for them, are deleted 60 days after purchase; calculation records are reduced to summary statistics after 12 months. Card payments go through Stripe, and your card details never reach us. We don't sell your information, and the site has no advertising or analytics trackers. See the privacy notice.
Who built it?
Brolte, LLC, an energy efficiency analysis firm led by Gregory Brown, who has spent fifteen years in demand-side management and energy consulting.