ecoEnergy Retrofit Program

Available here:

http://http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/corporate/retrofit-summary.cfm

Has anyone applied? Just wondering how many hoops they make you jump through.

im currently going through it, and believe it or not its pretty easy.
ill post back with more details tommorow, too tired now...

I have gone through it start to finish. The process is pretty simple. The only bad thing about it is you get no money upfront. You have to pay for all the renovations yourself - and only AFTER that do you know for sure how much money you will get back. So it is hard to know how much to invest.

It is not a fixed thing - when they come in to do your initial Energuide inspection and blower test, the guy will make suggestions as to what to do to get the most bang for your buck - however this is not any kind of a guarantee. What they do is come back, look at what you did, and do the test again, and there is this weird scorecard system to give you your new score.

The money you get back is based on how much you *improved*, not on the new final score. So if the guy comes and your house is already in the mid to high 80s (out of 100), it is likely you would get very little back. To get the most bang from your buck your house should be like mine was, in the low 50s. You can get from there into the high 70s/low 80s with minimal investments.

If you do the renovations yourself you can get back a substantial percentage. I put about $2500 into insulating my basement and $650 into a few new windows, doing all the labour myself. I got back about $1050 from the ecoEnergy program grant, and the balance the province gave a 3 year interest free loan for. Not too bad overall.

The biggest benefit will come if you are going to be replacing your furnace and A/C, where you can get $700 back from the feds and a matching amount from the province (Ontario at least). Another good one is replacing your toilet, which can be done with a $105 model from Canadian Tire or Home Depot, and get $50 back from the feds (and maybe matching from the province, but I don't have that verified.)

You do have to pay $350 up front, of which you'll receive $175 back, and another $175 for the second inspection, but if you are replacing your furnace and A/C for starters, you should definitely go for it. And as brunes mentioned, insulation will get you a nice chunk of change also. We wanted to do spray foam insulation in the basement, and we'll get a $1000 subsidy for doing it.

Speaking of scores, we nailed a 33!!! We have lots of room for improvement, and are probably going to get $2295 back from the feds, and close to that much from the province. Of course, we may spend $20K when all is said and done...!!!