The federal government has expanded the Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program to Quebec, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, directing more than $500 million toward no-cost energy efficiency retrofits — including heat pump installations — for more than 35,000 low- and median-income households. The Greener Homes expansion was announced June 29 at the International Energy Agency's Global Energy Efficiency Conference in Montreal by Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson and Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin.
The expansion marks the first growth of the program since it launched in September 2025, and builds on the federal government's existing partnership with Manitoba. Of the $500 million-plus in combined funding, $300 million is federal.
How the New Greener Homes Program Works
Unlike the original Canada Greener Homes Grant, which reimbursed homeowners after they paid for upgrades, the affordability program requires no upfront spending from participants. Delivery organizations in each province organize and carry out the retrofits at no cost to the household, covering heat pumps, improved insulation, and air sealing upgrades intended to cut both energy bills and household emissions.
The program also opens eligibility to renters, a departure from predecessor programs that centered on owner-occupied homes. Eligibility focuses on low- and median-income households, the segment least able to finance efficiency work but often facing the highest energy cost burden relative to income. Extending the program into rental units pulls landlords into the retrofit equation as well, since delivery organizations must coordinate access and upgrades in tenanted buildings rather than working solely with owner-occupants.
Delivery Partners and Provincial Coordination
The program will be delivered in coordination with all four provincial governments as well as major utilities and efficiency agencies: Hydro-Québec, BC Hydro, FortisBC, and EfficiencyOne. The program will also provide dedicated support to regional Indigenous governments and representative organizations through existing funding agreements, with Indigenous recipients able to apply funding toward related training and other residential energy efficiency priorities.
The utility-delivered structure matters for contractors: retrofit work under the program flows through the delivery organizations' networks, meaning installation volume will be channeled to firms working with those utilities and agencies rather than won directly through homeowner marketing.
What the Greener Homes Expansion Means for the Heat Pump Market
For HVAC contractors in the four provinces, the program represents a multi-year pipeline of fully funded heat pump installations in a customer segment that rarely generates replacement work through conventional channels. British Columbia contractors in particular now see stacked programs: the province separately expanded its Energy Conservation Assistance Program this month with $222 million for free heat pump retrofits, and Hydro-Québec has layered bonus financing onto heat pump conversions in older multi-unit buildings.
Quebec's inclusion is notable for scale alone. The province holds Canada's largest rental housing stock share among the new participants, and Hydro-Québec's role as a delivery partner connects the program to a utility already running its own demand-side management and heat pump financing offers. In Atlantic Canada, EfficiencyOne brings an established retrofit delivery operation in Nova Scotia, while Prince Edward Island joins with a housing stock still heavily reliant on oil heat — the single largest bill-reduction opportunity a heat pump conversion can offer.
The federal expansion pushes in the same direction as those provincial efforts — moving heat pump adoption down-market from early adopters and middle-income buyers into rental and low-income housing stock, where baseline equipment is oldest and efficiency gains are largest.
What Happens Next
Program rollout details, including participating delivery organizations and application processes in each of the four new provinces, will follow through the provincial partners. The federal government positioned the announcement within its broader energy affordability agenda, framing efficiency retrofits as the fastest lever for cutting household energy costs. Because the program covers the full cost of the work, uptake will be constrained less by consumer demand than by delivery capacity — the pace at which partner organizations can audit homes, procure equipment, and schedule qualified installation crews.
With Manitoba's existing partnership and four new provinces now aboard, the program covers a substantial share of Canada's housing stock, and the announcement venue — an International Energy Agency efficiency conference — signaled Ottawa's intent to showcase the model internationally. Contractors and distributors in Quebec, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island should expect delivery organizations to begin engaging installer networks as provincial programs stand up over the coming months. For equipment manufacturers and distributors, the 35,000-household target offers an early read on incremental cold-climate heat pump volume flowing into the Canadian market through 2027 and beyond.
