Although owning a water heater is not mandatory in Canada, this is a highly recommended appliance for heating and hot water supply at home or business, considering the long winters and how low temperatures can get. To make it efficient, Canadian regulations and standards (below) are in place, ensuring energy safety and efficiency, as rates can fluctuate and impact utility bills. This is also why the federal and provincial governments often offer rebates on such items and services.
To have a better view of the market, this Grand View Horizon graphic shows that the water heater investment is growing each year, and is expected to reach a projected revenue of US$1,709.6 million by 2033. Regarding heat pumps, the government says the number of residential heat pumps installed in Canada doubled over the last two decades to over 800,000 units. Last but not least, as per MRFR analysis, the country’s industrial boilers market is projected to grow from 478.55 USD Million in 2025 to 1435.65 USD Million by 2035.
To make house and business upgrades in a safe manner, there are standards to follow as we said before. Here are some Federal and Provincial regulations:
| Federal/Provincial | Water Heater Regulation |
| National Wide | Electric Water Heater Boilers Regulation |
| National Wide | Gas Water Heater |
| Ontario | Energy and Water Efficiency Boilers Regulation |
| British Columbia | Electric Water Heater Boiler Regulation |
| Alberta | Plumbing and Gas Boiler Regulation |
| Manitoba | Water Heater |
| Saskatchewan | Water Management Boiler Regulation |
READ MORE: Water Regulation/Legislation in Canada per Province
READ MORE: Why you’re Getting High Water Bills and What you Can do About it; causes and solutions
Federal Programs for Residential Consumers
As appliances such as water heaters, heat pumps, and boilers serve both homes and businesses, we added here all the rebates and programs related to this topic, whether Federal or Provincial ones. Usually, rebates vary from $100 to $1000 or more, depending on the program and how many eligible upgrades are completed (heating, thermostat, for example).
Canada Greener Homes Loan Program
The Canada Greener Homes Loan Program is a federal initiative for residents that offers, for those who are qualified, retrofits with financing support ranging from $5,000 to $40,000 to help Canadians make their homes more energy efficient.
As part of this program, the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability program (with a grant of up to $10,000 available to applicants across Canada) helps homeowners transition from oil heating to an eligible electric heat pump system. Details, such as qualification and deadline, can vary by province and territory, and are provided on the website that corresponds to each resident’s location:
- British Columbia
- New Brunswick
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Nova Scotia
- Ontario
- Prince Edward Island
- Yukon
- Manitoba
For those who live in Alberta, the Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec, and Saskatchewan, is no longer possible to apply for a loan, as October 1, 2025, was the last day.
Provincial Rebates and Programs for Businesses
Ontario
City of Toronto
Energy Retrofit Loans
The City of Toronto offers fixed, long-term, low-interest financing to enable building owners to invest in low-carbon, energy-efficient capital improvements by financing up to 100% of project costs at a rate equal to the City’s cost of borrowing, with repayment terms up to 30 years for qualifying projects.
All buildings located in Toronto are eligible, including commercial, retail, and industrial buildings, multi-family residential buildings, condominiums (common areas only, not individual units), social housing, hospitals and long-term care facilities, schools, colleges, universities, not-for-profit organizations, and hospitality establishments.
To start the process is required to visit the City’s Better Buildings Navigation Resource Hub
and complete the application form. Therefore, the City staff will contact you to inform the next steps.
British Columbia
Gas Boiler Rebate
FortisBC is offering up to $45,000 for industrial and commercial boilers to improve operational energy performance and qualify. Rebate amounts are determined by the size (in 1,000 BTU/hour or MBH) and thermal efficiency (TE) of the boiler, and only commercial and industrial customers that use gas for process heat, such as food processors and greenhouses, are eligible for boiler rebates.
To be qualified, you must also be a FortisBC gas customer under any rate class except Rate 1, be a property owner or long-term leaseholder of an existing commercial building, or a builder/developer or property owner of a new commercial construction project. Besides, boilers must be used to meet the site’s process heating needs.
Social Housing Energy Savings Program
The Social Housing Energy Savings Program helps to identify and implement electrical energy retrofits for multi-unit residential social housing buildings. The program offers us the “Equipment upgrade funding”, which, if eligible, the funding is up to 75%, with a maximum of $600,000.
These retrofits must reduce electrical energy consumption and can include upgrades for space heating, ventilation, common area water heaters, lighting, and in-suite refrigeration. The application is online and starts after you have hired the consultant and have the required documents ready.
To be eligible, you are required to be a non-profit housing provider, housing co-operative, local government/provincial housing authority, or Indigenous housing provider operating a multi-unit residential building; be within BC Hydro’s service area or the City of New Westminster. The proposed equipment also must be new, and proposed retrofits must seek to reduce energy consumption for space heating, ventilation, common area water heating, kitchen equipment, lighting, refrigeration, and pool heating in the premises. The engineering consultant must be a member of the Alliance of Energy Professionals.
Heat pump and electric water heater rebates
The program incentivizes the upgrade to high-efficiency electric HVAC equipment and heat pump water heaters for commercial or multi-unit residential buildings to help save on energy. The rebate amount can vary from $200 to $2,000, depending on the upgrade (appliance or unit needs).
To be eligible, consumers need to be a commercial, industrial, or irrigation FortisBC or municipal electricity customer of Grand Forks, Penticton, Summerland, or Nelson Hydro; be an owner or long-term leaseholder of an existing commercial or industrial building, or be a builder/developer or owner of a new commercial or industrial construction project.
The application is online and must be submitted with the documentation no later than 365 days after the purchase date of the product(s).
Quebec
Energy Efficiency Program
Énergir currently offers the Energy Efficiency Program, bringing several rebates for commercial spaces (unit heaters, preheating, boilers, and others) for those who own a rental property with four or more units occupied by low-income tenants, who is a non-profit or housing co-op, or a non-profit, community-based social organization that helps disadvantaged clients.
The “Optimizing boiler systems” option offers up to $340,000 in grants for a boiler by implementing the following program measures:
- Installing an economizer: $300,000
- Installing a micro-modulation system: $30,000
- Installing an O2 probe: $10,000
The terms, conditions of this program are found online.
Efficient Solutions Program
The Efficient Solutions Program is open to businesses with one or more commercial, institutional, industrial, or agricultural buildings that receive electricity from the Hydro-Québec grid or an eligible off-grid, municipal, or cooperative system.
The initiative, which aims to finance energy-efficient equipment for qualified businesses, can be checked online, and the financial support is up to 90%. According to Hydro-Québec, the idea is to use less energy to receive an identical or similar service. In other words, use and waste less energy to meet the same need through measures to recover energy losses or rely on more energy-efficient equipment.
Saskatchewan
The Commercial Boiler Rebate of SaskEnergy encourages the use of a high-efficiency natural gas condensing boiler to maximize energy cost savings while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. According to its terms and conditions, condensing boilers will be calculated as follows:
- $10 per 1,000 BTU/hr for the first 600,000 BTU/hr, and $3 per 1,000 BTU/hr for any amount above 600,000 BTU/hr of total boiler plant input with 90%+ AFUE/Thermal Efficiency in the replacement market.
- $10 per 1,000 BTU/hr for the first 600,000 BTU/hr, and $3 per 1,000 BTU/hr for any amount above 600,000 BTU/hr of total boiler plant input with 95%+ AFUE/Thermal Efficiency for new construction. The maximum eligible rebate is $40,200 per building or property.
This Program commenced on September 1, 2022, had revised terms and conditions in November 15, 2024, and is only available through participating SaskEnergy Network Members.
Commercial Space & Water Heating Rebate
The Commercial Space & Water Heating Rebate is available to SaskEnergy Commercial Customers to cover the purchase of furnaces, boilers, water heaters, and infrared tube heaters, including boilers, tank water heaters, and tankless water heaters. Only eligible equipment qualifies, and to be accepted, is required to be a SaskEnergy Commercial Customer, with a property located in Saskatchewan
Examples of eligible buildings are retail stores, apartment complexes, strip malls, dental clinics, restaurants, municipal buildings, community halls, buildings owned or operated by non-profit organizations, barns, mechanical shops, and non-residential farm buildings. All details can be found on the Program Terms and Conditions page.
Provincial and Municipal Rebates for Residential Consumers
Ontario
Home Renovation Savings Program
This new program, called Home Renovation Savings, offers significant rebates for energy-efficient upgrades like insulation, heat pumps, water heaters, smart thermostats, solar panels, and more, whether you heat your home with natural gas or electricity. The Enbridge Gas and Save on Energy initiative also comes with support from the Ontario Government.
Some of the rebates that require a home energy assessment are for water heater or heat pump, windows and doors, insulation, and air sealing. On the website is also possible to check a list of options that don’t require assessment, such as solar panels, smart thermostat, and others.
Affordable Housing Multi-Residential Program
The Affordable Housing Multi-Residential Program is focused on social and municipal housing providers, shelters, co-ops, and eligible market-rate multi-residential buildings. Eligible market-rate multi-residential buildings will need to demonstrate either that at least 30% of units are rented at less than 80% of the median market rent (determined by comparing existing rent rolls to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation rental data) or that the building has participated in a federal, provincial, or municipal affordable housing funding program in the last five years.
According to Enbridge Gas, the initiative aims to reduce energy consumption and costs, minimize your carbon footprint, boost reserve for other improvements, reduce capital costs with incentives, enhance the comfort and well-being of your residents, through identifying opportunities for natural gas savings in multi-residential buildings.
City of Toronto
The City of Toronto’s Home Energy Loan Program provides low-interest or zero-interest loans up to $125,000 to homeowners who want to make home energy improvements, such as investing in tankless water heaters, air-source heat pumps. View all loans and rebates available.
British Columbia
Rebates for Home Renovations
Up to $12,000, the program is a BC Hydro and Clean BC initiative and aims to promote renovations that make your home more energy efficient, consequently helping with monthly energy bills. The heat pump rebate is a part of this program, and eligible individuals can have up to $4,000 in rebates for replacing their current electric heating system with a heat pump.
To be eligible, it needs to meet:
- General eligibility requirements for the Home Renovation Rebate Program.
- Eligibility requirements for the whole home heat pump rebate or partial home heat pump rebate.
- Product requirements to make sure your heat pump meets the right specifications.
- Installation requirements to make sure your heat pump is installed properly.
- Heat pump and insulation installation must be completed by a Home Performance Contractor Network (HPCN) member.
Heat Pump Water Heater Rebate
According to FortisBC, the Heat Pump Water Rebate is up to $1,000. The program initiative is about replacing the standard electric storage tank water heater with a high-efficiency electric heat pump model.
To be eligible, is needs to have a residential FortisBC natural gas account or a residential FortisBC or municipal electricity account of Grand Forks, Penticton, Summerland or Nelson Hydro. The home must also be a year-round primary residence at least 12 months old. New construction, additions, and garage upgrades are not eligible. Check out the full program rebate requirements to participate.
Home Energy Improvement Bonus
In partnership with FortisBC and BC Hydro, CleanBC brings a bonus worth between $750 and $2,000 for homeowners who install at least three eligible energy efficiency upgrades, including insulation upgrades, windows and doors, heating system upgrades, water heaters, and others.
To be eligible the home must be a year-round primary residence that is at least 12 months old. It is also required to have a residential utility account with FortisBC, BC Hydro, or a municipal utility. The home also must be primarily heated with natural Gas or piped-propane supplied by FortisBC; natural Gas supplied by Pacific Northern Gas; electricity supplied by FortisBC, BC Hydro, or a municipal utility; oil or propane not supplied by FortisBC.
Alberta
City of Banff
The Town of Banff has several rebates for homeowners who want to upgrade its equipments investing in energy-efficient ones, including a heat pump, a heat pump water heater, and a solar water heater.
Medicine Hat
Through the Scratch & Win Incentive Program, customers can win up to $200 for home servicing such as furnace, air conditioner, and heat pump. More details on the website.
Manitoba
Metis Energy Efficiency Offers
According to the Efficiency Manitoba website, heat pumps are efficient and environmentally friendly, reducing electric heating costs by up to 60%, and protecting residents from the impacts of heating costs.
That’s why the initiative by the Affordable Home Energy Program aims to incentivise the upgrade of qualified homeowners to install a ground source heat pump with no upfront cost. Eligible ones are those whom the heat pump is replacing an existing electric furnace/boiler, electric baseboards, or natural gas heating system.
The contractor is registered with Efficiency Manitoba and as an active member of the Manitoba Geothermal Energy Alliance.
Reviewing commercial water costs
Looking to reduce your water costs? Check our Water Hub, which covers a wide range of water efficiency tips for both homes and businesses. EnergyRates.ca can also help you review and reduce your utility costs beyond water usage. Our experienced team of energy consultants can support you in comparing plans for your commercial, large commercial or industrial operations.
Contact us or call us at 1-855-635-9608 for a custom quote based on your water and energy needs.
