The Canadian and Ontario governments are now offering up to $10,000 in rebates when you improve the energy efficiency of your home. If you were considering an energy-efficient upgrade, this is definitely something you should look into.

The program is actually pretty simple—your house first undergoes an energy audit to determine what its “EnerGuide” rating is. It then undergoes another audit when the renovations are completed, and the rebates are issued based on the percentage-increase of the EnerGuide rating.

The audit itself also appears to be pretty straightforward—An auditor comes to your home and inspects your insulation, heating & cooling systems, windows, doors and water consumption. The audit should cost around $300, and the government will reimburse you 50% of the cost.

Fantastic opportunity… but do we qualify? According to the Ontario Home Energy Audit website we do:

If you live in Ontario and own a single family home you are eligible for the Home Energy Retrofit Program.

However all of the documentation is written for retrofits or renovations, and I can’t get a sense of their definition of “renovation” is.

Their FAQ says the following:

Are homes that are currently being built eligible for the programs?
No. New homes are not the program’s focus because they are already quite efficient.

The emphasis is mine, and clearly the answer is a bit grey. Our house isn’t “currently” being built, but it will be a “new home” when it’s complete.

So I’ve just stumbled on a potential gold mine… but I can’t tell if we actually qualify for it.

Update – I dug a little deeper and yeah, we qualify!

For more info about the program, you download a PDF here or visit any of these websites:

http://www.homeenergyontario.ca
http://www.ecoaction.gc.ca
http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/corporate/incentives.cfm?attr=4#newhousing