The End of Canada's Greener Home Grant in 2024 The Canada Greener Home Grant program is officially slated to end March 2024. The Canada Greener Homes Grant program faced the unexpected challenge of running out of funds faster than initially anticipated. The federal initiative aimed to encourage homeowners to adopt energy-efficient practices by offering financial [...]

The End of Canada’s Greener Home Grant in 2024

The Canada Greener Home Grant program is officially slated
to end March 2024.

The Canada Greener Homes Grant program faced the unexpected challenge of running out of funds faster than initially anticipated. The federal initiative aimed to encourage homeowners to adopt energy-efficient practices by offering financial incentives for things like solar power and heat pumps. If you’ve read our article on the program, you’d know it was expected to last until 2027 – a full 7 years from its inception date in 2021. However, the overwhelming demand for the home retrofit grants has led to concerns among both homeowners and industry stakeholders about the program’s early closure. In early November the federal government announced that no new applicants would be accepted after March 2024, with no replacement program announced.

The Future of the Grant Program

Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson recently confirmed that the program’s allocated budget was being rapidly exhausted due to the surging demand for home retrofit grants. Although the program was designed to last until 2027 or until the funds were depleted, the federal government has announced that the Greener Homes Grant program will stop accepting new applicants in March 2024.

That being said, there is still some time to take advantage of the rebate opportunity. The Greener Homes Grant program provides homeowners with up to $5,000 for energy efficiency retrofits and an additional $600 to assist with the cost of the evaluations. However, participants must bear the upfront costs and then the rebate comes in the form of a reimbursement. With over 124,000 applicants having already received funding through the national portal or codelivery partners in Quebec, Ontario, and Nova Scotia, the program has already paid out over $450 million.

This news comes at a time when Ontario just announced a 20% price increase for electricity and where New Brunswick Power is fighting in court for larger rate increases. It may seem like bad timing, but the time window to acquire solar through the federal rebate program is quickly coming to an end.

If you think you want to go solar then now is the time to act promptly. You still have until March of 2024 to get in line to apply for the solar net metering program and receive your rebate.

Generate Energy Yourself with Solar

Any future rate hikes will be far less noticeable to individuals who have invested in solar power. By paying a fixed cost to install solar, you are effectively freezing your cost of electricity for the next 25 or more years.

Being able to self-generate your energy will place you in a unique position to capitalize on rate increases by increasing the value of your investment as time goes by.

The government incentives make transitioning to solar energy an economically viable choice, but the program is now stated to end in March of 2024 due to running out of funding from its own success. There is a small window to get solar power at its cheapest while the rebate is still around.

It’s not uncommon for homeowners to generate 90% or more of their annual electricity with solar. Due to recent changes allowing homeowners to sell energy back at time-of-day rates, it’s possible to net even more value for each kWh you generate during peak hours.

If you are thinking of going solar, our Solar Specialists and Project Managers can cleanly walk you through the steps of what is required in your province and make sure you maximize the value of the rebates you get back. We’ll also get you started on the vital first step of acquiring a tailor-made solar proposal for your personal energy needs at home.

Request a consultation with one of our solar energy experts

Check out a couple of recent articles on grant funding here and here.