Complete details of rebate program to be announced later
By
Mark Schadenberg
Clare-Hecla
and other old furnace brand names can still be seen by full-time Realtors.
In
fact, here I include a picture of a Preston furnace – about 40 years old and
its been serviced a few times to continue churning out heat. This photo was
taken in Woodstock within the past two months. I won’t say which house it was
in as there are still dozens of antiquated heating systems in this city and
naturally hundreds of these natural gas dinosaurs in existence around the
province.
This
may soon change however.
A
$100 million rebate program has been announced by Kathleen Wynne’s provincial
government. You could say this announcement will stimulate the economy,
especially among the HVAC trades, but will also great increase the heating
efficiencies of homes from James Bay to Lake St Clair and west to Kenora.
As
a Realtor, I feel these incentives are obviously a great idea, so are many
programs available in the past that urged Ontario home owners to update their
windows as air leakage through windows could create more heating costs than an
ancient furnace. However, also as a Realtor I frowned upon the suggestion that
all homes should be required to do an energy audit before listing.
Not
only are water heaters also captured in this new incentive / rebate
announcement, but also is insulation.
In a story circulated by
Canadian Press, Environment and Climate Change Minister Glen Murray said:
"This investment will help homeowners upgrade their homes and save money,
while keeping Ontario on the path toward a low carbon future.
“These
are kick-start programs that will get money out the door to families, support
retailers, build investment in our communities and help people manage the
change to a more affordable, low carbon future," said Murray.
In the
Toronto Star, Murray added: “Improving energy efficiency in
the home is one of the most important actions we can take in the fight against
climate change,” he said in a statement, noting the fund is expected to reduce
greenhouse gases by 1.6 million tonnes.
However,
and it’s an important sidebar to this story, the provincial Liberals announced
there would be a $100 million incentive system unveiled this spring, but added
very little to the parameters and framework on how home owners could put their
hands into the Queen’s Park piggy bank. The exact timetable was also not put on
the table.
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More from Canadian Press
story:
Sixty-two
per cent of Ontario homes use natural gas for heating, compared with 28 per
cent for electricity and just three per cent for oil.
Union Gas
and Enbridge Gas already offer rebates for energy audits, heating system
replacement, Energy-Star windows, air sealing and insulation of $500 to $2,000,
depending on the amount of natural gas savings.
There are
over four million homes in Ontario, and offering financial incentives to only
37,000 seems like a very small plan, added NDP energy critic Peter Tabuns.
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Union Gas program from their website
The key
to current rebate programs available through Union Gas or the ‘fly in the
ointment’ is that a home owner must conduct an energy audit before and after
the renovation has been made.
I must
say, however, as a full-time Realtor a house with a newer high efficiency
furnace is so much easier to sell, especially considering many buyers have
difficulty saving the 5% down payment, and then would have to increase their
mortgage amount through immediate improvements, thus making house hunting an even
more difficult chore. In other words, you buy a 40-year-old home with an
original furnace and windows for $200,000 and you begin your home ownership
with a $200,000 mortgage after the “Purchase Plus Improvements” have taken
place.
The next
announcement should be to create a system that will entice owners of homes with
baseboard electric heat on possible funding for their upgrades and
improvements. There are, for example, home built in the early 70’s which
continue to have electric radiant heat from the ceiling.
As a home
owner myself of a house built in 2013 – I receive no personal benefits from any
provincial government stimulus such as this one soon to be on the books, but as
a Realtor it’s good news from Queens Park.
LINKS:
Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
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