Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Grant (Nova Scotia) 

Backgrounder

Today, Sean Fraser, Member of Parliament for Central Nova and Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, on behalf of the Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, announced that registration has opened for the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability (OHPA) Program in Nova Scotia. Eligible homeowners can receive up to $5,000 in federal support from this program in addition to up to $5,000 from the Canada Greener Homes Grant (CGHG), and further support from the Province of Nova Scotia. Registration for Nova Scotia is through the provincial program delivered by EfficiencyOne. 

The Program helps low-to-median-income Canadian households that are currently heating their homes with oil to transition to electric cold-climate heat pumps. By switching, homeowners can receive up to $5,000 toward the purchase and installation of a new cold-climate heat pump, save thousands of dollars annually on heating bills, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As of February 13, 2023, a total of over 288,000 CGHG applications have been received through the national portal and delivery partners in Quebec and Nova Scotia. The CGHG has issued $178 million in grants to 46,000 homeowners. This amount includes $4.4 million in grants to 1,209 Nova Scotian homeowners.

Cold climate air source heat pumps have been designed to work in lower temperatures well below freezing and can now work down to –30°C temperatures. This is possible because there is thermal energy available in the air, even in very low temperatures. For example, air at –18°C still has 85 percent of the thermal energy as air at 21°C. These systems are also capable of switching to a cooling mode.  

Canada Greener Homes Loans are interest-free and can be used to finance more major retrofits recommended by an energy advisor. To date, the average Canada Greener Homes Loan is nearly $25,000. The most common retrofits in the Canada Greener Homes Loan program are windows and doors, renewable energy/solar panels and heat pumps.

The $2.6-billion Canada Greener Homes Grant (CGHG) already provides eligible homeowners with up to $5,000 to retrofit their home to reduce energy use and save money. With the OHPA Program, low-to-median-income homeowners may qualify to receive an additional up-front payment of up to $5,000. They could further benefit by combining additional financial assistance from other existing provincial, territorial, federal, and utility programs, such as those in Nova Scotia and PEI.

Further assistance will be made available through the Low Carbon Economy Fund (LCEF), announced by the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment Climate Change, in September 2022. The LCEF Home Heating Oil Transition funding will provide up to $250 million to interested provinces and territories to expand existing programs or create new initiatives that support low-income households in their transition from home heating oil to low-emitting heating sources. Approximately $120 million of the overall funding will go to people in Atlantic Canadian provinces, where using oil for home heating is much more common. Program officials are working with provinces and territories to ensure programs are in place in 2023.

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