Through the Clean Home Heating Initiative, funding will support the installation of electric heat pumps with smart controls by providing local homeowners in Peterborough, St. Catharines, Sault Ste. Marie and London with incentives of up to $4,500 to pair with their existing natural gas furnaces.
This initiative, in collaboration with Enbridge, will allow households to leverage Ontario’s world-class clean electricity grid which is more than 90 per cent emissions free.
Electric heat pumps replace existing air conditioners in the summer and can operate in reverse in cooler seasons to provide home heating. With the addition of smart controls, a hybrid heating system automatically switches to a home's existing natural gas furnace depending on weather and which source is least expensive.
“Switching to hybrid heating could save homeowners up to $80 dollars every year on energy bills – an annual savings that would increase over time - and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 30 per cent,” said Todd Smith, minister of energy. “Investing in these types of transformative energy models is how we are building a pathway to a clean energy future that will protect the environment and keep costs down, all while creating new high-quality jobs across the province.”
