These house improvements had to increase the energy efficiency of your home by a required percentage, so many of the planned projects were windows and doors, added insulation, high efficiency furnace, or possibly other heat-recovery systems. Therefore, the entire program was based on attaching a score to your house before the work and having an inspector return later to check out all the improvements made. The home owner would then apply for a partial rebate on the money spent.
The story below --as printed in the London Free Press -- describes the end to this funding:
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Ending retrofit rebate program stings
ENERGY CONSERVATION: Maximum number of participants was reached two months early
By Debora Van Brenk, The London Free Press
Last Updated: February 1, 2012 8:00am
STRATHROY - Connie Mero will sign the papers Wednesday to buy her first home, a century-old bungalow in Strathroy.
But replacing its original wood-frame windows, skimpy insulation and old air-conditioner will have to wait -- the feds unexpectedly cancelled a hugely popular energy-retrofit program on Saturday, the day before her home inspection.
"I'm just not going to consider that for at least two or three years. I couldn't afford it without some sort of rebate," Mero said.
The sudden cancellation of the federal EcoENERGY program will cost hundreds of jobs and slow energy conservation across the country, say some in the industry.
"There are going to be a lot of jobs lost now," said Paul Gagliardi, whose London-based company BuyWise Consulting Inc. has co-ordinated 44,000 energy audits across Canada, most of them in Ontario.
Those lost jobs include not only energy auditors but heating, window and installation tradespeople.
"It was very abrupt," Gagliardi said.
His industry says families spend $10 on home renovations for every $1 paid in incentives and every $1 the government spent on incentives returned double that amount in tax revenue.
The industry is lobbying for a five-year plan that continues to promote eco-energy but "I'm not holding my breath" that the feds will adopt it, said Mike Lipczynski of Holmes Inspection Services in London.
He had to cancel four audit appointments that had been scheduled for this week and "they're very disappointed," he said.
One of those customers said his next call would be to cancel a furnace installation.
Those who have had an initial audit done will get more time to complete their upgrades and to have a second audit completed: the original deadline for that was March 31 and it's been extended to June 30.
Helen Reed of GreenSaver, an Ontario non-profit energy organization, said her group would prefer long-term strategies for energy conservation but she believes most people intent on enrolling in the program had already done so.
But Gagliardi said that argument doesn't take into account those who recently bought, or who are thinking of buying, older homes.
Ryan Bowering, head of Home Explore Inspections, said the program's cancellation will be a loss to everyone, including to the environment and to governments who received the tax revenue.
"It was a win-win," Bowering said. "What it was doing was giving homeowners extra incentive to get their homes upgraded."
He had to deliver the bad news to Mero during his inspection Sunday of her future home.
"We got the e-mail Sunday that (EcoENERGY) was done Saturday night at midnight," Bowering said.
The federal program first began in 2007 and was cancelled in March 2010, a year earlier than expected.
It was renewed in June 2011 with a deadline for March 31, 2012.
Natural Resources Canada cut the EcoEnergy program short two months earlier than expected because it had reached its goal of 250,000 participants A spokesperson said the program had a limited budget -- $400 million -- and that the department had said clearly it would offer incentives to as many as 250,000 homeowners.
Even with the cancellation of the federal program, some Ontario incentives remain in place, including a $150 subsidy on the first energy audit and grants of as much as $650 to replace central heating-and-cooling units.
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THE ecoENERGY RETROFIT
To be eligible for as much as $5,000 in rebates, homeowners needed to get an identification/registration number before Jan. 28.
Registration allowed them to book a certified energy auditor to assess their homes for energy loss and recommend ways to improve it.
Homeowners could then choose which retrofits to make (furnace, air-conditioner, windows, insulation, for example) and which contractors to choose for the work. That work needs to be done, with receipts, by March 31.
The auditor needs to return for a second evaluation to verify what work has been done. The deadline for homeowners to complete the second audit and apply for a rebate is extended to June 30. It had been March 31.
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