Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Grant (National) 

Today, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Canada’s Minister of Natural Resources, provided an update on the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability (OHPA) Program, introduced in November 2022. Starting today, eligible homeowners across Canada can pre-register through the Canada Greener Homes Initiative to begin their applications to access up to $5,000 in additional federal support for swapping out home heating oil with electric heat pumps. Those who pre-register will be contacted once final program details are launched in the coming weeks. Currently, full registration is available through delivery partners in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

The OPHA 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. Combined with support from the Canada Greener Homes Program, eligible applicants can get up to $10,000 in federal support.

As of February 13, 2023, a total of over 288,000 CGHG applications have been received through the national portal and provincial and territorial delivery partners. The CGHG has issued $178 million in grants to 46,000 homeowners. These grants are supporting home-efficiency upgrades across Canada, including heat pump installation, window-sealing and more.

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 upfront 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 P.E.I.

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.