Ontario Announces Massive $10.9 Billion Investment in Residential Energy Efficiency Rebates Following the massively successful Greener Homes Grant which closed last March, and the new BC Hydro rebate offering up to $10,000 for homeowners in British Columbia to install solar and battery storage, Ontario has just announced that it will begin a residential rebate program [...]

Ontario Announces Massive $10.9 Billion Investment in Residential Energy Efficiency Rebates

Following the massively successful Greener Homes Grant which closed last March, and the new BC Hydro rebate offering up to $10,000 for homeowners in British Columbia to install solar and battery storage, Ontario has just announced that it will begin a residential rebate program offering up to $10,000 in support for Homeowners to complete home energy efficiency upgrades.

The Greener Homes Grant, put on by the federal government, saw over $1.52B in grants administered to Canadian Homeowners, helping average Canadians to save money on energy bills and improve their homes. The Ontario government has committed funding to Ontario homeowners in the amount of $10.9 billion over the next 12 years to complete home energy efficiency upgrades like solar, heat pump, attic insulation, etc.

This new rebate program will be administered in partnership between SaveOnEnergy and Enbridge. Both entities have experience administering government funded rebate programs in the past, most recently Enbridge was administering the Greener Homes Grant in Ontario under the name “Home Efficiency Rebate Plus Program (HER+)”.

As of writing this post, homeowners in Ontario will now be eligible for up to $10,000 in rebates for their solar installation, as well as the 0% interest-free Greener Homes Loan that is still available by the Federal government, though we are unsure of how much longer the loan program will be running for as rumors say it may be ending early to midway through this year.

With the resignation of Justin Trudeau announced yesterday on January 6th, and the likely election of a Conservative government this year, it is recommended that homeowners who would like to capitalize on both incentives move quickly before the Greener Homes Loan program is pulled.

Ontario has not had a solar incentive this large in recent memory. The last attempt to introduce a 30% solar rebate by Kathleen Wynn’s Liberal government was killed in the cradle by Rob Ford’s government when he was elected in 2017.

Perhaps the most exciting detail of this new rebate program is that homeowners performing a single energy upgrade will no longer have to perform a pre- and post- energy audit in order to be eligible for the rebate, which will speed up project timeline tremendously.

As it stands, scheduling and waiting for energy auditors and government underwriters to perform and approve audits slows projects down incredibly. It may be wishful thinking, but so far it sounds like this rebate program has been designed with some common sense and seems like they are actually prioritizing the homeowner by letting their investment start paying for itself sooner than what we have seen with the previous Greener Homes Grant.

If you are interested in capitalizing on this rebate, and the Greener Homes Loan while it still lasts, please
request a quote here.

SaveOnEnergy’s website says more details will come towards the end of January,
click here to visit their site and stay informed for the full details, such as when the program will begin taking applications.