What Ottawa Confirmed on November 1, What Is Still Unanswered, and How to Protect Your Claim
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If your furnace is wheezing through its fifteenth winter, or if you had a heat pump installed this fall and have been wondering whether you jumped too soon, you are exactly who this guide was written for. The federal government spent October telling Canadians a big new heat pump rebate was coming, and then, on November 1, it quietly published the rules. There was no splashy announcement to go with them, just an updated government web page with eligibility criteria, an income table for every province and territory, and a list of what your contractor's receipt needs to show.
That page answers a lot, but it also leaves real gaps, and it sits on top of a patchwork of provincial programs that each run on their own clock. The result is a decision that feels simple ("Ottawa will give me up to $10,000") but has several quiet places where a homeowner could lose money, from installing before a provincial approval comes through, to switching off gas in a home where a heat pump will actually cost more to run.
So we have gathered every question we could find, from readers, from contractors and from the fine print itself, and answered each one plainly. Every answer carries a status so you always know how solid the ground is beneath it. Confirmed means it comes straight from the federal program page or another official source. Reported means it comes from officials quoted in the news but is not yet written into the program rules. Not addressed yet means the government has not said, and where we offer the closest precedent, we label it clearly as precedent rather than rule.
Think of this as the page to keep open while you talk to your contractor. We will keep updating it as the eligible product list changes, as the portal launch date firms up and as Ottawa fills in the questions it has not answered yet.
Until November 1, everything Canadians knew about this program came from an October 8 announcement and a backgrounder. The program page now carries the actual criteria for the retroactivity period, and that changes the advice in a few important ways. The rebate is now one per household rather than the "one per person" wording that circulated in October, the income test is tied to your 2025 tax return, and the government has published its own warning that switching from natural gas may not lower your bills.
Last updated: November 2, 2026, 10 a.m. ET. What changed in this update: Ottawa published eligibility criteria, the province-by-province income table and receipt requirements on November 1. The eligible product list is now populated, and as of November 2 it holds 179,620 heat pump configurations, including ground-source models. Stacking with provincial programs, taxability, condos and new builds are still not addressed.
According to the National Heat Pump Rebate page from Environment and Climate Change Canada, the program puts $2 billion toward helping up to 820,000 households choose a cold-climate heat pump, with an online portal expected in early 2027, no energy audit required before or after installation, and a planned closing date in March 2034. That is a long runway, which is reassuring, but it is also a program that says its criteria "remain subject to change," so the details below are a snapshot of where things stand today rather than a promise about next spring.
Status: Confirmed. It is a federal rebate for Canadian homeowners who replace or supplement their current heating with an eligible electric heat pump, bought from and installed by an HVAC contractor. It is run by Environment and Climate Change Canada, it will be claimed through an online portal, and it does not require the before-and-after EnerGuide evaluations that made the old Greener Homes Grant feel like a part-time job. The government frames it around the moment most of us actually buy heating equipment, which is when something breaks, and it notes that nearly 80 per cent of the roughly one million heating systems replaced in Canada each year are replaced after an unexpected failure.
Status: Confirmed. Households above the median income for their province or territory and household size may be eligible for $2,000. Households at or below that median may be eligible for up to $10,000. The phrase "up to" matters here, because the program says actual amounts depend on both household income and the cost of the equipment installed. A modest single-zone install may not reach the $10,000 ceiling even for a household that clears the income test, so it is worth asking your contractor for a full project total, ductwork and electrical work included, before you count on a number.
Status: Confirmed. The application portal is expected to open in early 2027. No specific date has been announced, and there is currently nothing to apply to. The only official action available today is the sign-up form on the program page, which promises updates on launch dates and how to apply.
Status: Confirmed. Yes, from November 1, 2026. Households that meet the criteria and install an eligible heat pump on or after that date may be eligible for a retroactive rebate by applying once the portal opens. The government is careful to add that no payments will be made until the program launches and applications are received and approved, and that funding is not guaranteed until an application is approved. There is one genuinely helpful protection, though: your eligibility will be assessed against the criteria that were in effect on the date your heat pump was installed. If the rules shift in January, an install done in November is judged by November's rules.
Status: Confirmed, and we are sorry to say it. The retroactivity period starts on November 1, 2026, and nothing on the program page reaches back before it. If your system went in during October, the federal rebate is not available for that install. That is a hard answer, especially for readers whose furnaces failed in the first cold snap, and we do not want to leave it there.
The more useful question is what is still open to you. Several provincial programs pay after the fact rather than requiring approval first. In Quebec, LogisVert gives you nine months from the installation date to apply. In British Columbia, the Home Renovation Rebate for homes converting from hard-wired electric heat asks you to apply within six months of the invoice, although it does not cover emergency replacements of a broken electric system. If your household income is modest, check your province's no-cost and income-qualified programs, and in Ontario it is worth looking at the Ontario Electricity Support Program, which offers a larger monthly credit to homes heated with electricity. The stacking table later in this guide walks through what is open where.
Status: Not quite. The Canada Greener Homes Grant is closed, and its final deadline for requesting a grant was December 31, 2025. The new rebate is a different program, run by a different department, with no energy audits and an income-based structure. The program page lists the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program and the Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program as related programs.
There is one important connection to understand. The new rebate is not available at an address where federal funding has previously been provided for a heat pump. If you received Greener Homes Grant money for a heat pump, a heat pump through the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program, or a free heat pump through a provincial partner of the Greener Homes Affordability Program, that address is excluded.
Status: Confirmed for the dates; not addressed for the queue. The program is expected to close in March 2034, and its $2 billion is sized for up to 820,000 households. The page does not say whether applications will be funded first-come, first-served, or what happens if demand runs ahead of the budget in a given year. The memory of the original Greener Homes Grant, which ran through its budget years ahead of schedule, is a good reason not to wait until 2033 to apply.
If you want to see how this federal program fits alongside every provincial offer we track, our province-by-province heat pump rebate breakdown is the companion piece to this one.
Status: Confirmed. It is a federal rebate for Canadian homeowners who replace or supplement their current heating with an eligible electric heat pump, bought from and installed by an HVAC contractor. It is run by Environment and Climate Change Canada, it will be claimed through an online portal, and it does not require the before-and-after EnerGuide evaluations that made the old Greener Homes Grant feel like a part-time job. The government frames it around the moment most of us actually buy heating equipment, which is when something breaks, and it notes that nearly 80 per cent of the roughly one million heating systems replaced in Canada each year are replaced after an unexpected failure.
Status: Confirmed. Households above the median income for their province or territory and household size may be eligible for $2,000. Households at or below that median may be eligible for up to $10,000. The phrase "up to" matters here, because the program says actual amounts depend on both household income and the cost of the equipment installed. A modest single-zone install may not reach the $10,000 ceiling even for a household that clears the income test, so it is worth asking your contractor for a full project total, ductwork and electrical work included, before you count on a number.
Status: Confirmed. The application portal is expected to open in early 2027. No specific date has been announced, and there is currently nothing to apply to. The only official action available today is the sign-up form on the program page, which promises updates on launch dates and how to apply.
Status: Confirmed. Yes, from November 1, 2026. Households that meet the criteria and install an eligible heat pump on or after that date may be eligible for a retroactive rebate by applying once the portal opens. The government is careful to add that no payments will be made until the program launches and applications are received and approved, and that funding is not guaranteed until an application is approved. There is one genuinely helpful protection, though: your eligibility will be assessed against the criteria that were in effect on the date your heat pump was installed. If the rules shift in January, an install done in November is judged by November's rules.
Status: Confirmed, and we are sorry to say it. The retroactivity period starts on November 1, 2026, and nothing on the program page reaches back before it. If your system went in during October, the federal rebate is not available for that install. That is a hard answer, especially for readers whose furnaces failed in the first cold snap, and we do not want to leave it there.
The more useful question is what is still open to you. Several provincial programs pay after the fact rather than requiring approval first. In Quebec, LogisVert gives you nine months from the installation date to apply. In British Columbia, the Home Renovation Rebate for homes converting from hard-wired electric heat asks you to apply within six months of the invoice, although it does not cover emergency replacements of a broken electric system. If your household income is modest, check your province's no-cost and income-qualified programs, and in Ontario it is worth looking at the Ontario Electricity Support Program, which offers a larger monthly credit to homes heated with electricity. The stacking table later in this guide walks through what is open where.
Status: Not quite. The Canada Greener Homes Grant is closed, and its final deadline for requesting a grant was December 31, 2025. The new rebate is a different program, run by a different department, with no energy audits and an income-based structure. The program page lists the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program and the Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program as related programs.
There is one important connection to understand. The new rebate is not available at an address where federal funding has previously been provided for a heat pump. If you received Greener Homes Grant money for a heat pump, a heat pump through the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program, or a free heat pump through a provincial partner of the Greener Homes Affordability Program, that address is excluded.
Status: Confirmed for the dates; not addressed for the queue. The program is expected to close in March 2034, and its $2 billion is sized for up to 820,000 households. The page does not say whether applications will be funded first-come, first-served, or what happens if demand runs ahead of the budget in a given year. The memory of the original Greener Homes Grant, which ran through its budget years ahead of schedule, is a good reason not to wait until 2033 to apply.
If you want to see how this federal program fits alongside every provincial offer we track, our province-by-province heat pump rebate breakdown is the companion piece to this one.
Status: Confirmed. It all turns on one number: your household's after-tax income compared with the median for your province or territory and household size. At or below the line, you may be eligible for up to $10,000. Above it, you may be eligible for $2,000. Everything else in the criteria, from ownership to receipts, applies equally to both tiers.
Status: Confirmed. To reach the higher tier, your after-tax household income must be equal to or less than the figure below. The government describes these as median after-tax household incomes in 2025 dollars, based on Statistics Canada 2021 data adjusted for inflation, and the federal program page publishes the full table.
A few quirks are worth knowing so they do not trip you up. Saskatchewan's figure for five or more people is slightly lower than its figure for four, Nunavut's two- and three-person figures are identical, and Ontario and British Columbia share the same lines for one to three people. These are the government's published figures, and they are what applications will be measured against.
For a deeper look at what these thresholds mean for different kinds of families, our news report on how the $10,000 and $2,000 tiers break down by household income goes further into the analysis.
Status: Confirmed. Pull out your 2025 tax return. Take line 23600 (net income) and subtract line 43500 (total taxes payable). If you have a spouse or common-law partner, do the same with their return and add the two results together. That sum is your household after-tax income for this program. Note that this is the 2025 return, not the 2024 return that the closed Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program used, so old worksheets from that program will not give you the right number.
Here is a simple worked example. Imagine a couple in Hamilton with two children. One partner's line 23600 is $78,000 and line 43500 is $14,500, leaving $63,500. The other's line 23600 is $61,000 and line 43500 is $9,800, leaving $51,200. Together, that is $114,700, comfortably under Ontario's four-person line of $146,217, so this household would be aiming for the higher tier.
When the portal opens, you will apply for the higher amount by providing your Social Insurance Number, which the program says will be securely transmitted to the Canada Revenue Agency to verify your household income. The page does not define who counts toward household size for this program; the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program counted the applicant, a spouse or common-law partner, and dependants supported by household income, which is the closest precedent.
Status: Confirmed. No, and no. The program accepts both emergency and planned installations. You do not need to show that your existing system broke down, and you do not need to remove it. That second point quietly opens the door to dual-fuel setups, where a heat pump does most of the work and your existing furnace stays as backup on the coldest nights, which we return to in the equipment and money sections.
Status: Confirmed. The rebate is open to households that currently heat with electricity (including electric furnaces and electric baseboards), natural gas, heating oil, propane, diesel, coal and/or wood. An existing heat pump does not appear on that list, so a household replacing an older heat pump with a newer one should not count on this rebate.
Status: Confirmed. You must reside in Canada and own the home you are applying for, but it does not need to be your primary residence, and the government's own example is a property you rent out. The catch is that only one rebate is available per household, even if you own more than one property. A landlord who claims the rebate on a rental cannot also claim it on their own home, so choose the property where it will do the most good. If the home earns rental income, ask your accountant how the rebate and the equipment should be treated, since that is a different tax picture from a principal residence.
Status: Confirmed. No. The applicant must own the home. Tenants who want a heat pump will need to bring the idea to their landlord, and it may help to mention that the home does not have to be the owner's primary residence to qualify.
Status: Not addressed yet. The page does not mention condominiums, strata units or townhouses by name. What it does say is that you must own the home and that the rebate supports systems that can heat your entire home, installed by an HVAC contractor. A freehold townhouse with its own furnace looks like a natural fit. A condo unit served by a building-wide system, or one where the condo corporation owns the mechanical equipment, raises questions the program has not answered. The October announcement paired this rebate with separate federal support for apartment-building retrofits, which suggests multi-unit buildings are meant to be handled through other channels.
Status: Confirmed. A cottage can qualify, because the home does not have to be your primary residence. The one-per-household limit still applies, so a family that installs a heat pump at the cottage this winter has used its rebate, even if the city house needs a new system in 2028.
Status: Not addressed yet. The federal page is silent. The closest precedent is Ontario's Home Renovation Savings program, which excludes homes that have been occupied for six months or less. Until Ottawa says otherwise, buyers of brand-new homes should treat eligibility as uncertain.
Status: Confirmed. Not at the same address. If federal funding has previously been provided for a heat pump at the address you are applying for, the home is excluded. That includes past Greener Homes Grant heat pump money, Oil to Heat Pump Affordability funding, and free heat pumps delivered through provincial partners of the Greener Homes Affordability Program. If you moved since then, the exclusion follows the address, not you.
Status: Confirmed. The program says that if you reside in an Indigenous community where your home is owned by the local Indigenous government, you meet the ownership criterion. That is a thoughtful exception, since band-owned housing would otherwise fall outside an owner-only rule.
Status: Confirmed. It all turns on one number: your household's after-tax income compared with the median for your province or territory and household size. At or below the line, you may be eligible for up to $10,000. Above it, you may be eligible for $2,000. Everything else in the criteria, from ownership to receipts, applies equally to both tiers.
Status: Confirmed. To reach the higher tier, your after-tax household income must be equal to or less than the figure below. The government describes these as median after-tax household incomes in 2025 dollars, based on Statistics Canada 2021 data adjusted for inflation, and the federal program page publishes the full table.
A few quirks are worth knowing so they do not trip you up. Saskatchewan's figure for five or more people is slightly lower than its figure for four, Nunavut's two- and three-person figures are identical, and Ontario and British Columbia share the same lines for one to three people. These are the government's published figures, and they are what applications will be measured against.
For a deeper look at what these thresholds mean for different kinds of families, our news report on how the $10,000 and $2,000 tiers break down by household income goes further into the analysis.
Status: Confirmed. Pull out your 2025 tax return. Take line 23600 (net income) and subtract line 43500 (total taxes payable). If you have a spouse or common-law partner, do the same with their return and add the two results together. That sum is your household after-tax income for this program. Note that this is the 2025 return, not the 2024 return that the closed Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program used, so old worksheets from that program will not give you the right number.
Here is a simple worked example. Imagine a couple in Hamilton with two children. One partner's line 23600 is $78,000 and line 43500 is $14,500, leaving $63,500. The other's line 23600 is $61,000 and line 43500 is $9,800, leaving $51,200. Together, that is $114,700, comfortably under Ontario's four-person line of $146,217, so this household would be aiming for the higher tier.
When the portal opens, you will apply for the higher amount by providing your Social Insurance Number, which the program says will be securely transmitted to the Canada Revenue Agency to verify your household income. The page does not define who counts toward household size for this program; the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program counted the applicant, a spouse or common-law partner, and dependants supported by household income, which is the closest precedent.
Status: Confirmed. No, and no. The program accepts both emergency and planned installations. You do not need to show that your existing system broke down, and you do not need to remove it. That second point quietly opens the door to dual-fuel setups, where a heat pump does most of the work and your existing furnace stays as backup on the coldest nights, which we return to in the equipment and money sections.
Status: Confirmed. The rebate is open to households that currently heat with electricity (including electric furnaces and electric baseboards), natural gas, heating oil, propane, diesel, coal and/or wood. An existing heat pump does not appear on that list, so a household replacing an older heat pump with a newer one should not count on this rebate.
Status: Confirmed. You must reside in Canada and own the home you are applying for, but it does not need to be your primary residence, and the government's own example is a property you rent out. The catch is that only one rebate is available per household, even if you own more than one property. A landlord who claims the rebate on a rental cannot also claim it on their own home, so choose the property where it will do the most good. If the home earns rental income, ask your accountant how the rebate and the equipment should be treated, since that is a different tax picture from a principal residence.
Status: Confirmed. No. The applicant must own the home. Tenants who want a heat pump will need to bring the idea to their landlord, and it may help to mention that the home does not have to be the owner's primary residence to qualify.
Status: Not addressed yet. The page does not mention condominiums, strata units or townhouses by name. What it does say is that you must own the home and that the rebate supports systems that can heat your entire home, installed by an HVAC contractor. A freehold townhouse with its own furnace looks like a natural fit. A condo unit served by a building-wide system, or one where the condo corporation owns the mechanical equipment, raises questions the program has not answered. The October announcement paired this rebate with separate federal support for apartment-building retrofits, which suggests multi-unit buildings are meant to be handled through other channels.
Status: Confirmed. A cottage can qualify, because the home does not have to be your primary residence. The one-per-household limit still applies, so a family that installs a heat pump at the cottage this winter has used its rebate, even if the city house needs a new system in 2028.
Status: Not addressed yet. The federal page is silent. The closest precedent is Ontario's Home Renovation Savings program, which excludes homes that have been occupied for six months or less. Until Ottawa says otherwise, buyers of brand-new homes should treat eligibility as uncertain.
Status: Confirmed. Not at the same address. If federal funding has previously been provided for a heat pump at the address you are applying for, the home is excluded. That includes past Greener Homes Grant heat pump money, Oil to Heat Pump Affordability funding, and free heat pumps delivered through provincial partners of the Greener Homes Affordability Program. If you moved since then, the exclusion follows the address, not you.
Status: Confirmed. The program says that if you reside in an Indigenous community where your home is owned by the local Indigenous government, you meet the ownership criterion. That is a thoughtful exception, since band-owned housing would otherwise fall outside an owner-only rule.
Status: Confirmed. Your heat pump must be on the federal eligible product list, identified by its AHRI number. AHRI stands for the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute, and its reference number identifies a specific certified combination of outdoor unit, indoor unit and, where there is one, furnace. As of November 2, the Natural Resources Canada list of heat pumps eligible for the National Heat Pump Rebate shows 179,620 configurations, made up of 163,692 cold-climate air-source models and 15,928 ground-source models. You can search it by brand, model or AHRI number, or download the whole list.
The practical move is to ask your contractor to write the AHRI reference number on the quote, along with the brand and the model numbers of the outdoor unit, indoor unit and furnace if applicable. Then look it up yourself before you sign. If the exact combination on your quote is not on the list, ask why before any equipment arrives, because a matched outdoor unit with a different indoor coil can be a different AHRI listing.
Status: Confirmed criterion, with a judgment call. The program does not distinguish between ducted and ductless systems. Its test is that the system must be able to heat your entire home and must be on the eligible list. A well-designed multi-zone ductless system, or a single head in a small, open home, may meet that standard. A single wall unit in the living room of a two-storey house with closed-off bedrooms probably does not. The program encourages anyone installing during the retroactivity period to confirm with their contractor that the system is sized to heat the whole home, and we would treat that as a requirement rather than a suggestion.
Status: Editorial guidance. If your ducts are in decent shape and reach every room, a centrally ducted heat pump is usually the simplest path to the "entire home" standard, and it replaces your central air conditioner at the same time. Ductless systems shine in homes with baseboards or hot water radiators and no ductwork to reuse. The deciding factor is often your ducts themselves: undersized or leaky ducts that were fine for a furnace's hot air can struggle with a heat pump's gentler, longer airflow.
Getting the size right is where most comfort problems start or end, and our guide on how to properly size a heat pump for a Canadian home explains the heat loss calculation in plain language.
Status: Confirmed that removal is not required. You do not need to remove your existing system, and the eligible product list includes a furnace-model column, which shows that furnace-paired configurations are listed. For many Ontario gas homes, this may be the most sensible configuration of all: the heat pump handles the mild and shoulder-season days when it is at its most efficient, the furnace takes over in deep cold, and the heat pump replaces your central air conditioner in summer. Ask your contractor to confirm the full combination, including the furnace, appears under one AHRI number on the list.
Status: Confirmed on the product list. The program page talks about cold-climate heat pumps, but the eligible product list includes a ground-source product group with 15,928 configurations as of November 2. That is a meaningful update from October, when geothermal was widely reported as excluded. Ground-source systems cost considerably more to install, so the rebate covers a smaller share, but they are clearly in scope.
Status: Effectively no. The rebate supports systems that heat your home, and the eligible product list contains only two product groups, cold-climate air-source and ground-source space-heating heat pumps. A heat pump water heater is not on it. Some provincial programs do offer separate water heater rebates.
Status: Not required by name. The federal page does not mention a heat load calculation. It does say the rebate supports systems that can heat the entire home and encourages you to confirm whole-home sizing with your contractor. A proper room-by-room calculation to the Canadian standard, CSA F280, is the only reliable way to show that, and some provincial programs, such as B.C.'s electric-to-heat-pump rebate, already require one.
Status: Confirmed. No DIY. The heat pump must be purchased from and installed by an HVAC contractor, so a unit bought at a big-box store and installed yourself, or by a friend, will not qualify. The program has not published a registered-installer list, though the government says it will consult HVAC installers and work with colleges and associations on certifications. In the meantime, hire a properly licensed contractor under your provincial rules, and check that they can handle both the refrigerant and electrical work.
Status: Confirmed as "may be eligible" at launch. The program says rented or leased heat pumps may be eligible once it officially launches, with details to come. That means an installation under a rental or lease contract during the retroactivity period does not have a clear answer yet. In Ontario, the Home Renovation Savings program has its own rental heat pump stream worth up to $2,000, which is an established option in the meantime.
Status: Confirmed in outline. When the portal opens in early 2027, homeowners will need to submit a complete application, including receipts, and provide a Social Insurance Number if they are applying for the higher income tier. Until then, the best preparation is paperwork: keeping every document that proves what was installed, when, by whom and for how much.
Status: Confirmed for the federal program. No. There is no pre-approval step during the retroactivity period. You install an eligible heat pump through an HVAC contractor, keep your receipts and apply once the portal opens, with no guarantee of payment until approval. The October backgrounder described a different design for after launch, with an online check before purchase, but that is not part of the current rules.
The provincial timing trap. Ottawa does not need you to get approval first, but several provinces do. Ontario's Home Renovation Savings program says pre-approval is mandatory and installations done before approval are not eligible. B.C.'s income-qualified CleanBC program needs a pre-registration code and a registered contractor, and New Brunswick's Total Home program starts with an energy evaluation. Rushing an install to get into the federal window can cost you the provincial rebate. Get the provincial approval first, then install.
Status: Confirmed. The program lists five things your contractor's receipt must include, and it says you must submit receipts within six months. We have added a few extras that cost nothing to collect today and could save a claim later.
Ask your contractor before the job starts whether their invoice template already includes the AHRI number and a separate line for ductwork and electrical work. It is far easier to get the invoice right the first time than to chase a corrected copy in 2027.
Reading a quote with this level of care is a skill in itself, and our guide to reading a furnace quote in Canada covers the same line items, from the load calculation to the chimney, that matter on a heat pump job.
Status: Confirmed rule, unclear start point. The page says receipts must be submitted within six months, but it does not say six months from what. It could mean six months from your installation date, or six months from the portal opening, and those two readings lead to very different deadlines for someone who installs in November. Until Ottawa clarifies, the safe approach is to keep everything organized and apply as soon as the portal opens. If you want an official answer for your situation, the program's contact address is PNRT-NHPR@ec.gc.ca.
Status: Confirmed government warning. Very possibly. The government says it is aware of salespeople visiting and calling homes to sell heat pumps using misleading references to the rebate, and that Environment and Climate Change Canada never goes door to door to inspect, sell or rent heating equipment and does not make marketing calls.
If someone shows up claiming to represent the National Heat Pump Rebate, do not let them in and do not sign anything. Be the one who starts the conversation with a heating company, ideally from a vetted list run by your province or utility. Report suspected scams to ECCC at PNRT-NHPR@ec.gc.ca, your local police and your provincial consumer protection office. In Ontario, door-to-door sales of furnaces and similar equipment are already restricted, and contracts signed in breach of those rules can be void.
Status: Confirmed. The program says its parameters and criteria are still being finalized and remain subject to change. It also says eligibility will be assessed against the requirements that were in effect on the date your heat pump was installed. Keep a screenshot or saved copy of the program page from the week of your installation, and make sure your installation date is clear on your paperwork.
Status: Not addressed yet. The program page does not say. The closest precedent is the old Greener Homes Grant, which Natural Resources Canada said was not taxable and did not have to be declared as income. That is a reasonable expectation for a principal residence, but it is precedent, not a rule. For a rental property, the rebate may affect how you treat the equipment's cost for tax purposes, so talk to an accountant.
Status: Reported. When the program was announced on October 8, CBC News reported that Prime Minister Mark Carney said the rebate can be combined with provincial grants and rebates. The November 1 program page, however, says nothing about stacking. That is encouraging but not yet written into the rules, and individual provincial programs have their own conditions about combining funding. Until the federal program publishes stacking guidance, confirm with your provincial administrator that a federal rebate will not reduce or cancel theirs.
Status: Confirmed provincial terms. Ontario's program is the richest stacking opportunity in the country for many households, and also the place where the timing trap bites hardest. The Home Renovation Savings heat pump page lists up to $7,500 for a cold-climate air-source heat pump in homes heated with electricity, oil, propane or wood, and up to $2,000 for homes heated with Enbridge natural gas, with higher amounts for ground-source systems and a separate rental stream. You must own the home, you must use a participating contractor, homes occupied six months or less do not qualify, and pre-approval is mandatory.
So the order of operations for an Ontario homeowner looks like this. First, complete the Home Renovation Savings eligibility form and choose a participating contractor. Second, let your contractor submit the pre-installation application and wait for approval. Third, confirm that the quoted system's AHRI number appears on the federal eligible list. Fourth, install. Fifth, let your contractor complete the provincial post-installation application, and keep your federal receipt package ready for the portal in 2027.
If you are weighing several Ontario programs at once, our explainer on stacking home renovation rebates in Ontario untangles which offers combine and which cancel out.
Status: Mixed; checked November 2, 2026 unless noted. Provincial programs change often, so treat this as a starting point and confirm each one with its administrator before you sign a contract.
In Quebec, Hydro-Québec has posted a note on its LogisVert program page confirming the provincial program remains available and is processing requests normally since the federal announcement.
In British Columbia, the CleanBC electric-to-heat-pump rebate terms are a good reminder that "emergency" and "planned" are not treated the same everywhere: Ottawa accepts an emergency replacement, while this B.C. rebate does not.
Status: Confirmed. The federal Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program stopped taking applications on July 31, 2026. People already approved under it have until January 31, 2027 to upload their final receipts. For oil-heated homes that never applied, the new rebate is now the main federal door, and oil is explicitly on its list of eligible current heating sources. Just remember that if you received Oil to Heat Pump Affordability funding for a heat pump at your address, that same address cannot claim the new rebate.
Status: Confirmed by province, with a caution. Several provinces run no-cost or heavily subsidized heat pump programs for income-qualified households, often delivered with federal support. They can be a better deal than any rebate, because the equipment and installation are covered outright. The caution is the prior-funding rule: if a free heat pump is delivered through a federally supported program, it counts as federal funding at that address, and the new rebate is off the table there afterward. For most qualifying households, the free program is still the better choice, but it is worth knowing before you choose.
Status: Confirmed caution, plus our math. It depends almost entirely on what you heat with today. For homes heated with oil, propane or electric baseboards, the government's estimate, shared at the October briefing and reported by CTV News, is average savings of about $1,400 a year. For natural gas homes, the government's own program page is unusually frank: switching to a heat pump may not decrease heating bills, depending on region, the system selected and other factors.
That frankness is worth taking seriously, because natural gas is cheap in much of the country right now, and a heat pump has to be very efficient across the whole winter to beat it on price alone.
Status: Homeowner.ca estimate. To make the trade-off concrete, we ran the numbers for a typical Enbridge customer in the old Enbridge Gas Distribution rate zone, using the Enbridge rates in effect from October 1, 2026 and the Ontario Energy Board's electricity prices from November 1, 2026. We assumed winter time-of-use pricing averaged across the hours of the week, typical delivery charges, the new 15.7 per cent Ontario Electricity Rebate, HST, and a home that uses about 1,850 cubic metres of gas a year for space heating out of a 2,400 cubic metre annual bill.
At these rates, a heat pump would need a seasonal efficiency of roughly 4.5 to match a modern 95 per cent gas furnace on running cost, and about 3.8 to match an older 80 per cent furnace. Most cold-climate air-source heat pumps in an Ontario winter will land below those figures across a full season. In plain terms, switching a typical gas home entirely to a heat pump could add somewhere around $160 to $460 a year to the heating portion of the bill.
There are two important offsets. If you disconnect from gas entirely, you stop paying the $27.69 monthly customer charge, which is about $375 a year with HST, and that can close much of the gap. And a heat pump also replaces your air conditioner, which matters if your central air is near the end of its life. A dual-fuel setup changes the math again, because the heat pump runs only in the milder weather where it is at its most efficient, and the furnace takes the coldest hours. Union rate zones, different utilities and different electricity plans will all shift these figures, so treat this table as a way to frame the question with your contractor rather than a forecast for your home.
Status: Confirmed caution, plus our math. It depends almost entirely on what you heat with today. For homes heated with oil, propane or electric baseboards, the government's estimate, shared at the October briefing and reported by CTV News, is average savings of about $1,400 a year. For natural gas homes, the government's own program page is unusually frank: switching to a heat pump may not decrease heating bills, depending on region, the system selected and other factors.
That frankness is worth taking seriously, because natural gas is cheap in much of the country right now, and a heat pump has to be very efficient across the whole winter to beat it on price alone.
Status: Homeowner.ca estimate. To make the trade-off concrete, we ran the numbers for a typical Enbridge customer in the old Enbridge Gas Distribution rate zone, using the Enbridge rates in effect from October 1, 2026 and the Ontario Energy Board's electricity prices from November 1, 2026. We assumed winter time-of-use pricing averaged across the hours of the week, typical delivery charges, the new 15.7 per cent Ontario Electricity Rebate, HST, and a home that uses about 1,850 cubic metres of gas a year for space heating out of a 2,400 cubic metre annual bill.
At these rates, a heat pump would need a seasonal efficiency of roughly 4.5 to match a modern 95 per cent gas furnace on running cost, and about 3.8 to match an older 80 per cent furnace. Most cold-climate air-source heat pumps in an Ontario winter will land below those figures across a full season. In plain terms, switching a typical gas home entirely to a heat pump could add somewhere around $160 to $460 a year to the heating portion of the bill.
There are two important offsets. If you disconnect from gas entirely, you stop paying the $27.69 monthly customer charge, which is about $375 a year with HST, and that can close much of the gap. And a heat pump also replaces your air conditioner, which matters if your central air is near the end of its life. A dual-fuel setup changes the math again, because the heat pump runs only in the milder weather where it is at its most efficient, and the furnace takes the coldest hours. Union rate zones, different utilities and different electricity plans will all shift these figures, so treat this table as a way to frame the question with your contractor rather than a forecast for your home.
This table is our calculation from published Ontario Energy Board and Enbridge rates, not a government figure. It does not include equipment cost, rebates, maintenance or future price changes.
Status: Government estimate plus our baseboard math. This is where heat pumps make the clearest financial case. In our Ontario example, the same home heated with electric baseboards would spend about $2,596 a year, against about $1,038 with a heat pump at a modest seasonal efficiency of 2.5, a saving of roughly $1,550. Oil and propane homes face high and volatile fuel prices, which is why the government's average savings estimate for these homes sits around $1,400 a year. For these households, the rebate is a bonus on top of a decision that usually already makes sense.
Status: Editorial guidance. This is the hardest moment to make a big decision, and the program is designed precisely for it. Here is how we would think it through, in order.
First, get heat back safely. If your home is cold today, a contractor can often restore temporary heat while you decide. Second, if you live in a province that requires approval before installation, find out how quickly that approval can come through, because installing first may cost you the provincial rebate. Third, ask for a quote that includes a proper heat loss calculation and an AHRI-listed system that can heat the whole home. Fourth, decide based on your current fuel. If you heat with oil, propane or electricity, a heat pump installed now is likely to save money and qualifies for the federal rebate from November 1. If you heat with natural gas, consider a dual-fuel system, or a like-for-like furnace if the operating math does not work for your home. Fifth, keep every document on the receipt checklist above.
Status: Varies widely. Costs depend on the size of the home, whether ductwork can be reused, whether your electrical panel needs an upgrade, and the type of system. Get at least two written quotes, and make sure each lists the equipment, the AHRI number, any duct and electrical work, and the load calculation. On supply, officials said the program was announced months before launch partly to give installers time to stock up, and the government notes that certified installers may be scarce in more remote areas. Expect busy contractors this winter, which is one more reason to start your provincial approval early.
Status: Yes, with expectations set correctly. Cold-climate heat pumps are designed to keep heating at very low outdoor temperatures, though their output and efficiency fall as it gets colder, which is why sizing and backup heat matter so much.
We cover what to expect on the coldest nights, from defrost cycles to backup heat, in our guide to what to expect from a heat pump in a Canadian winter.
The government's rationale is that most heating systems are replaced in a rush after a breakdown, usually with the same type of system the home had before, and that a well-timed rebate can nudge those emergency decisions toward cleaner, more efficient electric heating while lowering bills for homes on oil, propane and electric resistance. Critics, including Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, have argued that the $2 billion would be better left in Canadians' pockets so they can make their own heating choices. Both positions are part of the public record as the program heads toward its 2027 launch.
Whatever your view, the program is now real, its rules are published, and the choices you make this winter, about timing, paperwork and fuel, will decide whether it works in your favour.
About the Author
Angela Nightingale is the Senior Editor at Homeowner.ca with two decades of experience in digital publishing and content strategy. She has owned two homes, taken on her share of DIY projects, and learned what most guides fail to mention. She writes from the belief that the best home guidance comes from people who have lived through the decisions — and her goal is always to leave readers feeling confident, not overwhelmed.
No. The program says no energy audit is required before or after installation, although some provincial programs you may stack with do require one.
It does not exist yet. The portal is expected in early 2027; for now you can only sign up for email updates on the federal program page.
The new program has not defined it. The closest precedent, the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program, counted the applicant, a spouse or common-law partner and dependants supported by household income.
No. Households above the median may still be eligible for the $2,000 rebate if they meet the other criteria.
Not for the federal program yet. Use a properly licensed HVAC contractor, and if you are stacking a provincial rebate, use that program's participating or registered contractor list.
The program has not addressed this. The criteria require the applicant to own the home being claimed, so a sale before applying could complicate a claim; raise it with ECCC before you list.
The program has not addressed this either, which is why keeping a complete receipt, a dated quote and photos of the installed equipment matters so much.
Yes. A heat pump heats and cools with one system, and many homeowners time the switch for when their air conditioner is also near the end of its life.
Ask your contractor to put it on the quote and the final receipt. It is a reference number of roughly nine to twelve digits that identifies the certified equipment combination.
No. LogisVert has its own list of eligible heat pumps, so a Quebec homeowner stacking both programs should check the model on both lists.
The federal program has not said. Ontario's provincial program accepts mobile homes on a permanent foundation, which is a useful precedent.
The program has not published payment details for the retroactivity period; it says only that no payments will be made until applications are received and approved.
ECCC lists PNRT-NHPR@ec.gc.ca as the program's contact address on its scam warning.
Wood is on the list of eligible current heating sources, and the program does not require you to remove your existing system.
You do not have to. Installs from November 1, 2026 can qualify retroactively, but approval is not guaranteed, so weigh the risk and get any provincial approval first.
