ecoENERGY program suddenly ends

ecoENERGY Retrofit Homes booking cutoff ends new energy audit appointments, leaving only pre-retrofit applicants eligible for grants, as Natural Resources Canada cites budget limits, deadlines, and prudent fiscal management affecting homeowners and renovation contractors.

The popular ecoENERGY Retrofit program that provides grants of up to $5,000 to Canadians who make their homes more energy efficient has come to an abrupt end.

Homeowners who had already booked an appointment for a preretrofit evaluation before the Natural Resources Department announced the program’s cancellation remain eligible to apply for a grant. But no further bookings will be considered.

“The remaining $300million for homeowners currently in the program will continue to support our home renovation industry and deliver both economic and environmental benefits from coast to coast to coast,” Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis said in an email.

“We have a responsibility to taxpayers to ensure the program operates within its existing budget and no longer accepting new bookings for preretrofit evaluations is the kind of prudent fiscal management Canadians have come to expect from this government.”

The federal budget released on March 4 promoted the program. “Due to unprecedented demand under the ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program and Ottawa's drive to curb energy waste more broadly, the government is allocating a further $80million to support additional retrofits by Canadian homeowners,” the budget documents said.

The program, which is conducted in cooperation with the provinces and is often tangled in red tape for applicants, stipulated that a postretrofit audit had to be completed by March 31, 2011. But, until March 31, 2010, there was no deadline for the initial application.

“They are saying they are not killing it since it still technically goes until March, 2011,” Liberal MP David McGuinty said. “But if you haven’t got your energy audit done, you are out of luck. There is not rebate for you. It’s a completely arbitrary date. We have never heard this date before.”

His Liberal colleague Geoff Regan, the Natural Resources critic, said the loss of the program is going to be a huge disappointment to a lot of Canadians who were planning on making their homes more energy efficient, including those considering Nova Scotia EnerGuide rebates this spring or summer.

“It is strange for the government to include $80million in the budget and then a few weeks later undercut its green strategy by killing the program,” Mr. Regan said.

“This will also have a ripple effect across the economy.… I suspect this is one of the consequences of having a government which has run up a record $56billion deficit last year and more massive deficits in the next few years. Its too bad that homeowners will be the ones to suffer.”

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