Toronto: HELP and Hi-RIS programs
The Greater Toronto Area has several generous programs to help you pay for your panels. The Home Energy Loan Program (HELP) helps you make your home more energy efficient and reduce emissions. Through the HELP Toronto program, homeowners can borrow up to $125,000 to cover the cost of home energy improvements, including rooftop solar PV panels and battery systems. These low-interest loans can be paid off over a 20-year timeframe.
If you are a building owner, Toronto’s High-Rise Retrofit Improvement Support Program (Hi-RIS) offers low-cost financing for owners of residential apartment buildings built before 1990 of three or more storeys to make improvements that reduce energy consumption. This program lets you pay for building improvements over time, using associated energy and operational savings to offset costs. These low-interest loans have repayment terms of five-, 10-, 15- or 20-years.
Also, the city of Toronto also has a great overview page of ALL the financial support programs available to help homeowners and businesses go solar.
Ottawa’s Better Homes Ottawa Loan Program
Homeowners in Ottawa can benefit from the Better Homes Ottawa Program. This program for home energy efficiency retrofits aims to support local residents who want to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Low-interest loans are up to $125,000 (min $10,000) with terms up to 20 years for solar and other energy efficiency measures. Residential, detached, semi-detached, townhouses, and multi-unit buildings of three stories or less qualify.
Guelph’s Greener Homes Program
Homeowners living in Guelph can apply for a zero-interest loan of up to $50,000 to help cover the costs of energy-efficient home retrofits, including modern, efficient solar-panel systems. The Guelph Greener Homes Program offers a 0% interest loan to help Guelph households cover the cost of energy-efficiency home upgrades.
- 0% interest
- Up to $50,000
- 10-year payback (added to the property tax bill)
- Lump sum repayments limited to one time in a year are allowed
- No program administration fee will apply
Guelph aims to be one of Canada’s greenest communities by 2050.
Durham Region’s Deep Retrofit Rebate
Under the “check back soon” column is Durham Region’s Deep Retrofit Rebate, which offered up to $10,000 in incentives, which could be combined with the Canada Greener Homes gran and Enbridge Gas incentive. But, as of writing, and like the broader Canada Greener Homes Grant Program, the Durham Region rebate is “oversubscribed.” New solar panel rebate offerings are expected to be announced in March 2024.
Federal Solar Panel Incentives and Rebates
The Canada Greener Homes loan
This is a BIG ONE. The Canada Greener Homes Loan (NOT to be confused with the Canada Greener Home GRANT – more on that below) offers interest-free financing to help Canadians make their homes more energy-efficient and comfortable. The loan is intended to finance retrofits, including solar panel systems, that are recommended by an energy advisor and that have not yet been started.
Maximum Loan Amount: $40,000
Minimum Loan Amount: $5,000
Repayment term: 10 years, interest-free
Loan Type: Unsecured personal loan on approved credit
This loan is interest-free, meaning you can repay it while generating savings from your solar panels.
Greener Homes Grant
The Canada Greener Homes Grant is co-delivered by Natural Resources Canada and Enbridge Gas in Ontario under the Home Efficiency Rebate Plus (HER+) program. Homeowners receive grants for recommended and eligible retrofits, including solar panel systems. The program delivers Grants from $125 to $5,000 to get back a portion of your costs for eligible home retrofits.
The catch! The Greener Homes Grant operates on a first-come, first-served basis and, in its current incarnation, ends in March 2024. The Otter is updated on developments, so subscribe to our blog, and you’ll be the first to know what’s happening.
Don’t Forget the Financial Power of Solar Net Metering
Like the power of compound interest in your bank account is the power of Solar Net Metering.
With solar panels on your roof, you can not only significantly reduce your energy bills and decrease your carbon emissions – your meter could run backwards!
With solar panels on your roof, you can produce excess energy, which is sent back “to the grid.” You then get a financial credit for this surplus, which, in turn, further reduces your hydro bill. You can learn more about how the solar net metering program is another way to help pay for your solar panels by clicking here.
Otter Energy has been Ontario’s solar panel installation leader since 2009
We’ve installed over 325,000 solar panels and are EXPERTS in helping our customers find the best ways to pay for their panels.