For the latest updates on NB Power Heat Pump Rebates, visit our latest blog post published on October 1st, 2015: NB Power Announces New Rebates on Heat Pumps.
On December 12th Energy Minister Donald Arsenault announced a bill that would dissolve Efficiency New Brunswick. The Crown Corporation had been responsible for administering a variety of energy efficiency grants for homeowners. These grants helped offset the cost of energy-efficient home upgrades and helped New Brunswickers save money while creating jobs in the construction industry.
These grants were available for a wide variety of energy efficiency upgrades, including a $5,000 grant for retrofitting your home with a geothermal heat pump. In September 2014, these grants were discontinued due to lack of funding and the future of these programs has been unclear until now.
Going forward, the programs administered by Efficiency New Brunswick will now be handled by NB Power. The move was designed to maximize the energy efficiency initiatives for homeowners while also saving money for taxpayers. President and CEO of NB Power, Gaëtan Thomas said that NB Power will create a new unit to handle these programs and that the unit will actively find ways to help New Brunswickers save money and stop using power they do not need.
While there was no mention of whether the traditional energy efficiency heat pump rebates that were administered by Efficiency New Brunswick will return, this new move aimed at improving the province’s energy efficiency initiatives bring hope that these grants have not been eliminated forever, and will be reinstated in some form, in the near future.