I’ve been busy this last while making some upgrades to my house through the Canada Greener Homes Program. You guys, this has been a process! Parts of it were super cool, parts of it were nerve-racking and it is, or at least it was for me, a lengthy process. But I’m almost at the finish line, so I figured I would share how the program worked for me, the retrofits I had done and a bit of a timeline.
If you’re not familiar with it, the Greener Homes Program is a grant of up to $5000 that the Canadian Government is offering for to homeowners who make improvements to their home to improve it’s efficiency and/or reduce fossil fuels consumption.
Why I applied to the Program
Some time ago, my central air died. The outdoor unit or “condenser” developed a leak and could not be repaired. Because my system ran on an older refrigerant, I would have to replace the entire system at a cost of $4000 – pre-Pandemic. I just could not see my way to paying that much to add central air to a 25+ year old gas furnace. While researching the most economical to run portable/window air conditioners (Midea U-Shaped Smart Inverter Window Air Conditioner for the win) I kept seeing heat-pumps come up, and by chance remembered the Greener Homes Program. And – jackpot – heat pumps are eligible!
Greener Homes Program Eligibility
To be eligible you need to be a homeowner and not have started or completed your planned work. That’s it. The program isn’t restricted by income or age. Personally, I feel the program design has too many barriers for anyone on a limited income to take advantage of it. Which is a real shame because there is also an interest free government loan available but again, barriers.
My Canada Greener Homes Timeline
- May 29th 2022 – Application to the Greener Homes program submitted
- June 16th 2022 – Application reviewed and officially approved
- June 19th 2022 – Received email advising of the Canada Greener Homes Loan.
- June 23rd 2022 – Pre-retrofit audit performed.
- July 12th 2022 – Inquired with Service Organization on timeline to receive audit results. Advised 40-60 days was average.
- July 25th 2022- I received my Home Energy Evaluation Report which was also uploaded to the Greener Homes Grant portal.
- September 20th 2022 – I questioned the delay in processing my report.
- September 22nd 2022 – The issue corrected, I was finally eligible to apply for the Greener Homes Loan
- October 4th 2022 – Submitted Loan Application
- November 14th 2022 – Loan Approved
- December 8th 2022 – Loan Accepted
- February 14th-16th 2023 – Crawlspace Encapsulation and Insulation completed.
- February 21st-24th 2023 – Ductless Heat Pump System installed.
- March 1st 2023 – Post Retrofit Audit
- March 5th 2023 – Reports received but not yet available for NRCAN review
- April 14th 2023 – Audit reports available for NRCAN review, my invoices etc submitted and balance of loan funding requested.
- April 17th 2023 – Loan funding approved
Some final thoughts
I went into this process expecting I would be just looking at installing my heat pump around now, so in reality it went a bit faster than my expectations. But when the initial approval was processed so quickly, my expectations went up and it still took nearly as long as I originally thought it would. There was also a bit of a glitchy delay between my pre-retrofit audit uploading and it actually being reviewed. Later applicants were actually beating me through the process. As of now, I still have not received anything from the government beyond a very small loan advance in December but I will update the timeline as things happen.
My understanding is the program has changed and new Ontario applications now go through Enbridge rather than NRCAN.
