Thursday 16 February 2012

And that is the end of that! ecoENERGY program NOT renewed in Fed 2012 budget



April 2012 update - And that is the end of that!

Well, the Feds announced their budget and to no one’s surprise did not renew the ecoEnergy program. So, for those of you who managed to get your audits and incentive eligible work done prior to the surprise end of the program– congratulations – you are the last ones to have participated in the program. Just a quick reminder that you need to get your follow up audit to validate the work you have completed prior to end of June this year. 

Feb 2012 update - A quick update to this post. The Feds are no longer accepting new audit requests and the program has been halted. Participants who have already an ID number are still eligible to participate in the program but work must be completed before March 31st, 2012. You can find out more about the sudden cancellation of the program in this article in the Globe and Mail - Tories close program early



Just as I was sending out our first newsletter and mentioning upcoming fall newsletter topics such as government incentives out came the press releases announcing the details and specifics of the revived ecoENERGY home incentive program.

Previous announcements came without details and had been frustrating as customers decided (understandably so) to delay moving forward on projects till the details of the program were known. So we are happy to hear that the program is officially back and the program has returned essentially un changed. The program still includes incentives for solar hot water, high efficiency boilers, efficient hot water solutions and more.

If you decide to do a full update of your heating and hot water system while adding solar the total incentives available can tally nearly two thousand dollars. When you add in the existing Alberta incentives (which piggy back on the Federal program) the total incentives available can tally nearly three thousand dollars!

However there is a catch which is the Federal program does not have a definite timeline. When the money is used up the program will end full stop. If you have been thinking about upgrading your home's heating systems you probably want to start the process sooner than later in order to take advantage of these incentives.

Some example rebate amounts
1. Energy audits $100 for the pre and post audit (Ab)
2. Solar hot water $1,250 (Feds)
3. High efficiency furnace $625 (Feds) + $400 (Ab)
4. High efficiency boiler $750 (Feds) + $600 (Ab)

Some links to the relevant sections of the Federal ecoENERGY program and Alberta provincial program:
1. What are the steps to apply for a grant?
2. The ecoENERGY brochure including what is covered and the incentive amount
3. The Government of Alberta list of incentive items and amounts

A more formal announcement.......

The federal government has just released details of the $400 million EcoEnergy Retrofit – Homes program that was revived as part of the 2011 budget delivered in June. The program, which provides up to $5,000 in rebates to Canadian homeowners, is effective as of June 6, 2011 through to March 31, 2012. There are a few changes to note with the new program. NRCan now requires all participants to register with them prior to a pre-retrofit evaluation. If a homeowner had completed a pre-retrofit evaluation under the old program, they can still apply for the new grant, provided they register with NRCan and that they have yet to max out on the $5,000 grant threshold. The program applies only to equipment purchased and installed after June 6, 2011, so anything purchased prior to that date is not eligible for this round of rebates.

No comments:

Post a Comment