Ottawa details heat pump rebates: $10,000 and $2,000 tiers, stackable with provincial programs

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has released the details of its national heat pump rebate program, one day after announcing the plan in Sherbrooke, Que. As Apna News reported Thursday, Ottawa will spend $2 billion over eight years to fund one million home retrofits across Canada, with the National Heat Pump Rebate targeting up to 820,000 households switching to electric cold-climate air-source heat pumps, according to the Prime Minister’s Office release.The release spells out two rebate tiers: eligible below-median-income households can receive up to $10,000, while other eligible households can receive $2,000. Both rebates can be combined with existing provincial programs, the PMO says.Ottawa is pitching the program as fast and simple. Applications run through an online portal, no energy audits are required before or after installation, and approval is confirmed within 24 hours, according to the release. The PMO notes about 80 per cent of heating-system replacements happen because the old system broke down without warning, and puts average annual savings at $1,400 for households heating with oil or electric baseboards.A second track targets apartment buildings. CMHC and the Canada Infrastructure Bank will help owners retrofit 280,000 units over eight years, with CMHC covering up to 250,000 units through Multi-Unit Mortgage Loan Insurance and the CIB covering 30,000 through its Building Retrofits Initiative. Together, the measures are meant to support one million retrofits and cut emissions by more than 25 megatonnes, as part of the National Electricity Strategy (Powering Canada Strong, launched in May 2026).The program launches in early 2027 and will be retroactive to fall 2026. Federal officials also acknowledged the switch may not save money where natural gas is cheap, saying the government will make the cost implications clear to Canadians, as Apna News reported Thursday.Source: Prime Minister’s Office release, Oct 8, 2026 (pm.gc.ca).