Home Renovation Savings Program Ontario 2026

It depends entirely on which upgrades you do and which path you take. On the bundle path (energy assessment required, two or more upgrades) the published amounts include $600 for the assessment, up to $7,700 for insulation, $100 per rough opening for ENERGY STAR windows and doors, up to $250 for air sealing, and $500 for a qualifying heat pump water heater. On the single-upgrade path (no assessment) the amounts include up to $7,500 for a cold-climate air-source heat pump, up to $12,000 for a ground-source (geothermal) heat pump, $100 for a smart thermostat, up to $10,000 for solar panels with battery storage, up to $200 for appliances, and $1,250 for standalone attic insulation. These are the amounts on the official Save on Energy program page as of 2026, and they can change, so confirm current values before you buy anything.

Only for a ground-source (geothermal) heat pump, and only up to that amount based on system size. A standard cold-climate air-source heat pump – the type most homeowners install – is rebated up to $7,500, again depending on size. The “$12,000 heat pump” figure gets repeated all over the internet without the ground-source qualifier, and that leads people to budget for a rebate they will not receive. Decide which type of heat pump you are actually installing, confirm the equipment is on Natural Resources Canada’s qualified products list, and budget for the cap that matches your equipment rather than the biggest number you saw online.

As of 2026 the program is funded through November 30, 2026, and the official terms note that it can be modified or discontinued at any time without notice. In practice that means two things. First, do not wait until the last minute, because registered energy advisors and eligible contractors get booked up as deadlines approach, and if you are on the assessment path you cannot start work until the pre-retrofit assessment is done. Second, always confirm the current end date on the official program site before you commit, since program windows have shifted before. Booking your assessment early is the single best way to protect your rebate.

Not always – it depends on the upgrade. The program has two paths. The bundle path requires a pre-retrofit home energy assessment, completing at least two qualifying upgrades, and a post-retrofit assessment; in exchange you also get a $600 rebate for the assessment itself. The single-upgrade path skips the assessment entirely and covers things like heat pumps, smart thermostats, solar and battery storage, appliances, and a standalone attic-insulation offer. If you are doing a deeper retrofit with several measures, the assessment path usually returns more overall. If you are doing one targeted upgrade and want minimal paperwork, the no-assessment path is calmer. The key rule: if your upgrade is on the assessment-required list, the assessment has to happen before any work begins.

On the assessment-required bundle path, several measures – insulation, windows and doors, air sealing, and heat pump water heaters – are grouped together, and you generally need to complete at least two upgrades from that group to qualify for the bundle rebates and the $600 assessment bonus. Homeowners get caught because they book the assessment, do a single upgrade, and then discover their claim stalls because one upgrade does not satisfy the bundle requirement. The fix is to plan two or more eligible measures up front if you are going the assessment route, or to use the single-upgrade path if you only intend to do one thing. Deciding this before you hire anyone is what keeps the paperwork clean and the rebate intact.

No – and this is the single most expensive mistake homeowners make with this program. If your upgrade falls under the assessment-required stream, the pre-retrofit energy assessment must be completed before any of that work begins. Starting early, even by a day, can disqualify the rebate, because the program uses the baseline assessment to measure the improvement. It does not matter how ready your contractor is or how good the price looks this week; if the rules require an assessment first, doing the work early is the rebate equivalent of forgetting to hit record. Book the assessment, get your baseline report in hand, and only then schedule the work.

No. Rebate eligibility and permit requirements are completely separate systems, and a rebate does not exempt you from the Ontario Building Code or your municipality’s permit rules. Many energy renovations – structural changes, major HVAC work, and some window alterations – trigger a permit, and skipping it can cause far more expensive problems than any rebate is worth, including orders to remove or redo work. Treat the permit as part of the project from the start, confirm what your specific scope requires with your local building department, and keep the permit and rebate paperwork in the same tidy folder. The best outcome is the rebate you receive that also leaves you with a clean, inspected, code-compliant renovation.

For most Ontario homes the most reliable comfort and energy wins come from the building envelope before the mechanical systems: air sealing first, then insulation, then heating and cooling equipment. Air sealing is inexpensive and punches above its weight because the best insulation does little if warm air is leaking into the attic. Attic insulation combined with air sealing usually delivers the most noticeable comfort improvement and strong return. Heat pumps can be excellent, but they perform and pay back best when the envelope is already decent and the system is properly sized and installed – putting a big heat pump on a leaky, under-insulated house is like buying a bigger furnace because your windows are drafty. Fix the bones first, then let the mechanical rebate work on a house that is ready for it.