Rebates and Programs for Businesses by Province

Commercial and industrial businesses consume large amounts of water daily, and often work to save on water costs in multiple ways, such as investing in water valves, smart meters, regular maintenance, water audits, or other effective initiatives that focus on cutting business water costs.

But there is more. Some Canadian provinces offer water audits, utility rate discounts, equipment upgrade rebates, and technical support to help businesses become more water efficient. For this article, we’ve gone through the main provinces and their water incentives or rebates for businesses.

PROVINCES	INITIATIVES
Alberta	Water Innovation Program
Toronto	Capacity Buyback Program
	Industrial Water Rate Program
British Columbia	CleanBC Commercial Express Program
	Commercial and industrial heating system optimization rebates
Great Victoria Area (BC)	Once-Through Cooling System Program
	Hand Wash Faucet Aerator Program
Quebec	AquaEntrepreneur
Manitoba	Commercial Energy Audit Program
Saskatchewan	Waterflood Development Program

Alberta

The Water Innovation Program

The Alberta Innovates initiative aims to improve efficiency, conserve supply, and protect the ecosystem, making it ideal for companies that are developing or adopting new water-saving technologies.  According to them, Alberta faces the daunting challenge of managing finite water resources in a sustainable way with a population predicted to almost double in the next 35 years, and protecting the environment is the main goal.

The program description says the initiative uses a continuous intake process, as described in the Agriculture and Environment Application Guide. The application guide can be accessed from the online application portal under funding opportunities. In addition, periodic calls for proposals (with specific priorities and criteria) will be issued to award grant funding, along with a dedicated program description and application process guide.

Updated in July 2025, the website HelloDarwin informed that the program supports projects that enhance water security and promote sustainability through innovative approaches. Regarding the eligibility, the criteria would be:

• Developing strategies for sustainable management of water supplies and watershed management.
• Creating and implementing tools and strategies to maintain healthy aquatic ecosystems impacted by population growth and climate change.
• Innovating technologies to enhance water conservation, efficiency, and productivity to support economic and community growth while preserving environmental flows.
• Developing solutions to address the input and impact of contaminants on surface and groundwater quality, focusing on rural and remote communities.

Ontario

Toronto

The Capacity Buyback Program

The initiative encourages and rewards industrial, commercial, and institutional organizations that reduce water use. According to the municipal website, the program allows the City to buy back water capacity that has been freed up by participants who have reduced water use in their operations.

To check the eligibility, first is needed to send an email to savewater@toronto.ca or call: 416-392-7000. After that, the City will contact the company to discuss the eligibility. If the criteria are met, the City will arrange to have a professional engineer complete a thorough walkthrough and review of your organization’s water use.

To better explain, the program website page shows an example. In 2025, an organization that reduces water use by 10,000 litres (10 m3) a day could receive:

• A free water audit.
• $3,000 one-time program incentive (10,000 L x $0.30).
• $17,108.28 in annual water bill savings (10 m3 x 365 x $4.6872/m3, current water rate).

The Industrial Water Rate Program

The program offers a discounted water rate to manufacturers in Toronto to help support economic growth and encourage water conservation (also called the Block 2 water rate). Open to manufacturers that:

• Use more than 5,000 cubic metres annually (m3/yr).
• Falls within the industrial property tax class.
• Are in full compliance with the City’s Sewers By-law.
• Submit a comprehensive water conservation plan to the satisfaction of the General Manager, Toronto Water.

As the same with the anterior program we wrote about, to check the eligibility, first is needed to send an email to savewater@toronto.ca or call: 416-392-7000.

British Columbia

The CleanBC Commercial Express Program

The initiative helps building owners cut greenhouse gas emissions by supporting small, energy-efficient upgrades through up to a maximum of $100,000 per project for improvements such as heating, cooling, and water heating systems. To be eligible, is required:

• Must be a commercial or multi-unit residential building.
• Must be located north of and including the District of 100 Mile House (latitude 51.628°N).
• Must be a commercial customer on SGS, MGS, or LGS rates.
• Reside within BC Hydro’s service area.
• Must reduce GHG emissions and use technologies not covered by other programs.
• Must be hardwired or permanent and accessible for inspection.

To apply is needed to read about the initiative (participant’s guide), contact the CleanBC Small Buildings Energy Coach, BC Hydro Business Account Representative, or the Key Account Manager for additional questions.

The Commercial and industrial heating system optimization rebates

According to FortisBC, rebates can help lower the cost of optimizing the performance of the existing gas heating equipment, with rebates up to 75%. These improvements can help the business decrease energy use and operational costs.

To be eligible is needed:

• Must be a FortisBC gas customer under any rate class except Rate 1.
• Must be a property owner or long-term leaseholder of an existing building or a builder/developer, or a property owner of a new construction project.
• Your hot water or steam boilers must be used to meet your site or facility’s loads, e.g. process load, sanitization, or space heating. Boilers installed to meet other operational needs (backup, standby, or secondary boilers) are not eligible.
• The hot water or steam boilers must use gas only.
• Retrofit-only combination offer not available for new boiler systems or new construction.
• Purchase date of products or services (as shown on the paid invoice) must be after December 19, 2024.
• Is needed to submit an application and supporting documentation no later than 365 days after the purchase date of the product(s) or service(s) (as shown on the paid invoice).

To apply is needed to contact a gas or mechanical contractor licensed, complete the application, and once approved, receive the rebate within six to eight weeks.

Greater Victoria Area

The Water Conservation for Businesses

Industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) businesses in the Capital Regional District (CRD) use over 11 billion litres of water per year, according to the CRD website. A quarter (26%) of all water use in the Greater Victoria Area.

Therefore, using water efficiently means lower water bills and, consequently, less environmental impact. The goals followed by the CRD water efficiency programs are helping eligible businesses and institutions use less water, save money, and protect the environment by providing rebates, free audits, technical services, and equipment. The main local programs for businesses are:

The Once-Through Cooling System Program

Through the program, eligible companies can get a rebate of $600 to replace a mid-sized OTC cooling condenser unit and $300 for a mid-sized ice maker, and up to a maximum of $2,500 per account to replace OTC equipment.

The Hand Wash Faucet Aerator Program

According to the program details, a new aerator uses less than two litres of water per minute (compared to 11 litres per minute on older faucets); therefore, the goal is to reduce the amount of excess water used, while saving money and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

The eligible are any business or institution within the CRD Water District, and aim to change out aerators to maximize water efficiency on all hand-wash sinks (including bathroom sinks). To sign up on the website: www.crd.bc.ca/ic or call by phone to 250.360.3103.

Quebec

The AquaEntrepreneur

The AquaEntrepreneur is the only program in Quebec dedicated exclusively to the commercialization of water technologies. The initiative aims to help companies analyze and find their needs through personalized coaching. According to the institutional website, the program creates direct channels between start-ups, SMEs, and municipal and industrial partners wishing to reduce their water-related impact on the climate.

To be eligible, companies must have innovative solutions that address economic security issues related to water within municipal, industrial, or ag-tech sectors. The company must also fit these criteria:

• Be incorporated in Quebec.
• Be innovation ready for real-world deployment (TRL 7+).
• Have a strong economic, environmental, and/or social impact.
• Have strong growth and deployment potential.
• Have revenues less than CAD$5 million.

From its creation in 2022 to these days, AquaEntrepreneur has supported for 46 Quebec companies. To be a candidate, the company must fill in the application form to express your interest.

Manitoba

The Commercial Energy Audit Program

As we said in this article, an energy audit can bring strategies and internal analysis to improve energy saving in general, being commonly the first step in identifying key opportunities for building owners. The program offers financial incentives and technical support for building owners who complete ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) level 2 or 3 audits for eligible commercial buildings.

To be eligible is required:

• The building is used in a commercial capacity.
• The energy auditor is a pre-qualified consultant.
• The building owner is a current Manitoba Hydro customer paying a commercial service rate.
• The building is being heated primarily by electricity or natural gas supplied by Manitoba Hydro.
• The application must be approved prior to on-site assessment work.

To participate is needed submit the application, get the approval, select the consultant, complete the audit, and receive the report.

Saskatchewan

The Waterflood Development Program

The local initiative offers repayable royalty/freehold production tax deferral for eligible wells that have been converted to injection wells or newly drilled injection wells for the purpose of waterflooding an oil reservoir. Still, according to the governmental page, to qualify for the WDP program is needed:

• Does not have outstanding debts that are past due to the Ministry of Energy and Resources.
• Has a Licensee Liability Rating (LLR) of 2.0 or greater as established by the Ministry of Energy and Resources.
• The applicant’s cumulative value of outstanding royalty deferrals does not exceed 30% of the applicant’s average monthly value of oil production.
• Provide any additional information, as requested by the Minister of Energy and Resources.

Reviewing industrial water costs and treatment options  

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Contact us or call us at 1-855-635-9608 for a custom quote based on your energy needs.