Federal Budget 2011 - Reintroduces ecoENERGY Funding

On Monday, Jun. 06, the Conservatives reintroduced the 2011 Budget which remained largely unchanged from the Budget that was released prior to the election. Many home owners and industry observers have noted that new the budget still contains a $400 million provision for a 1 year extension of the ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes program.

The ecoENERGY program provided professional advice and financial incentives of up to $5,000 to Canadian homeowners looking to undertake energy efficient home improvements. To qualify for ecoENERGY incentives homeowners needed to have a home energy audit completed before they undertook eligible home improvements.

Based on the new budget announcement many of those home owners have been calling service organizations to ask when they can apply a new ecoENERGY grant. In anticipation of such calls Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) released an official administrative note to ecoENERGY service organizations stating that they will announce eligibility criteria and other program details in the coming weeks after Parliament passes Budget 2011.

In reality, we expect it to take some time for program details to emerge and for home owners to become eligible for grants based on the having an ecoENERGY evaluation performed on their home.

Until an announcement is made our advice is to hold off on commencing construction on new renovation projects for which the homeowners wish to be eligible for federal grants.

Meanwhile projects scheduled to commence construction in the coming weeks or projects where homeowners are not concerned about the availability of grants, can receive a non-grant eligible ecoENERGY evaluation now. BEC has elected to continue as a licensed service organization for the ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes program, and we would be pleased to provide your project with the high quality ecoENERGY evaluation services you have come to expect from our advisors.

Please continue to visit becconsulting.ca to check for updated program information.

Or register to receive an email notification once an announcement has been made: Register

As President of BEC Consulting, I have a 20 year history of providing pre-retrofit energy efficiency consultations, and I have been involved in the delivery of EnerGuide Rating based pre-retrofit evaluations since 2004.

Despite the political inconsistencies of the Harper Government, I remain committed to delivering a broad range of services and solutions to our clients, including ecoENERGY Retrofit – Homes evaluations. BEC will continue this commitment regardless of the political situation in Canada, and whether or not financial incentives are available to homeowners.