Liberals urged to renew energy efficiency program

MONCTON, N.B. – A New Brunswick business is calling on the new Liberal government to reinstate the province’s residential energy efficiency program, scheduled to end Tuesday.

The current program offers financial incentives to homeowners who retrofit their houses to make them more efficient. But the program stopped accepting new applicants in February and homeowners have until Tuesday to complete their renovations and finish their final assessments.

Cody Firth, an energy adviser for EnerCheck Solutions, says his employer is facing a large backlog of clients.

“It was very busy. A lot of people were last minute to book the assessment,” he said. “So with one day left, to call in and book, it’s very tight. And a lot of people may end up losing out on financial incentives.”

Firth estimated there were close to 800 homes waiting to have their final assessment done for the program. He explained that his employer was given an exemption by the government to book into October as long as residents called before September 30, because they did not have the capacity to see all the clients before the deadline.

“There’s only so many advisers with each company. So we could not provide enough appointments, for the amount of people calling in,” he said. “For example, I had four today. I have five tomorrow.”

Reinstating the program was one of the Liberal’s campaign promises, but they haven’t given a timeline on when they will be doing it or whether the program will be the same.

To qualify for a rebate under the current program, homeowners had to contact an energy efficiency company like EnerCheck Solutions to complete an initial assessment on their homes. During the assessments, advisers like Firth, calculated the volume of the homes, checked insulation levels and the efficiency of current heating and cooling systems, and how air-tight the home was, before making recommendations.

The homeowner then had 18-months to complete any upgrades to their homes and then apply for a final assessment, before the company applied on their behalf for financial rebates.

Louis Comeau was one of the residents having his final assessment done on Monday. He estimates the program will save him about $4,000 on his $17,000 upgrade.

“I needed insulation. I needed heating. It was just perfect for my situation,” he said, adding he would not have done the upgrades without the program. Comeau replaced his central heating system and added a duct-less system in his basement. He also added one-foot of insulation to his attic and installed an air-exchanger.

Comeau said he would have done more upgrades, but ran out of time with the program.

He registered last fall with government and thought he had the full 18 months to complete all the renovations, but when the Alward government announced it was ending the program, it only gave residents until September 30th to complete their renovations.

“I think they should have prolonged the program for the 18 months,” Comeau said.

This is a complaint Firth heard from several homeowners.

“I hear it every house I go to,” he said. “You know some homeowners actually got everything done that they wanted to, but not not everyone has the money to do all the work right away.”

Comeau said he has full confidence that Brian Gallant will reinstate the program when he takes office on October 7, but hopes this will be a priority.

“It means a lot for the people at EnerCheck and all the other energy advising companies because it is our livelihood,” he said. “I think this program gives the people enough incentive to say ‘yes I’m going to do the renovations.'”