Ottawa expands green home retrofit program for low

The federal government is bringing back a rebate for green retrofits for some low-income homeowners and renters in four provinces, nearly two years after the program lapsed and ran out of cash.

The Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program was expanded on Monday owing to “global uncertainty, volatile energy costs and growing demand for electricity,” a government news release said.

The program, earlier called the Canada Greener Homes Grant program, was first launched by the federal government in 2021, but it lapsed in 2024.

The plan outlined on Monday “provides no-cost home energy retrofits — including upgrades such as heat pumps, insulation and air sealing — to low- and median-income homeowners and tenants to help households save energy and reduce monthly utility costs.”

Previously, it was only available for homeowners, however, the newly rebranded Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program is available for both homeowners and renters who meet the program’s income requirements.

The rebate has been revived for residents of Quebec, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

The program includes spending more than $500 million in funding, $300 million of which is federal, on 35,000 low- and median-income households to install heat pumps, better insulation, improved air sealing and other upgrades.

Those who retrofit their homes to receive the rebate will be able to save between $300 and $1,700 in annual energy costs and reduce their household’s annual greenhouse gas emissions by about 1.5 tonnes, Natural Resources Canada said.

The largest share of the pie went to Quebec, where the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change received $243.5 million in total funding (federal and provincial) for 25,000 households.

In British Columbia, the federal and provincial governments will spend $177.3 million to expand HydroBC’s existing program for 6,000 households and $45.2 million on FortisBC for 1,000 households.

The Nova Scotia Department of Energy is set to receive $26 million from the federal and provincial governments to expand the HomeWarming and African Nova Scotian Communities Retrofit programs for 1,600 households.

The federal government will transfer $11.5 million to the province of Prince Edward, which will add $3.5 million of its own to expand the program to expand its existing Free Insulation Program for income-qualified households.