Ontario Furnace Rebates 2026: Enbridge, Greener Homes and More

Why 2026 Is the Right Year to Upgrade Your Ontario Furnace

Ontario homeowners are sitting on a rare window in 2026 where federal, provincial, and utility rebate programs overlap enough that a high-efficiency furnace replacement can return $3,000 to $6,500 in incentives depending on your home size, existing equipment, and which programs you qualify for. Natural Resources Canada (NRC) has extended the Canada Greener Homes Grant funding through eligible delivery partners, Enbridge Gas continues to operate its Home Efficiency Rebate Plus (HER+) program in partnership with the federal government, and the Ontario Energy Board has been pushing utilities to support demand-side management. Taken together, these programs have never been better aligned for a homeowner who does a little planning.

The urgency is real. The average Ontario forced-air gas furnace installed in the mid-2000s operates at around 80 percent Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE). Replacing it with a 96 percent or 97 percent AFUE condensing furnace cuts your heating fuel consumption by roughly 20 percent per heating season. In a province where natural gas prices have remained above $0.12 per cubic metre and a typical semi-detached home in Toronto or Ottawa burns 2,000 to 2,800 cubic metres per heating season, that efficiency gap translates to $300 to $600 in annual fuel savings before you factor in any rebate. Stack the rebates on top and the payback period on a $5,000 to $8,000 furnace installation can fall under three years.

• Federal and utility rebate programs are currently aligned, creating a rare stacking opportunity
• A 96+ AFUE furnace typically saves 20% on annual heating fuel versus an 80 AFUE unit
• Ontario gas prices and Canadian winters make the business case for upgrading unusually strong in 2026
• Payback periods under three years are achievable when rebates are stacked correctly

Enbridge Gas Home Efficiency Rebate Plus (HER+): The Cornerstone Program

The Enbridge Gas Home Efficiency Rebate Plus program — commonly called HER+ — is the most accessible rebate for Ontario homeowners because it is delivered directly by the utility that already bills you for gas. Administered by Enbridge Gas in partnership with Natural Resources Canada, HER+ provides a rebate of up to $1,000 for a qualifying high-efficiency furnace replacement, with the exact amount tied to the AFUE rating of the new equipment. To receive the furnace-specific rebate, the replacement unit must be a Natural Gas Furnace with an AFUE of 95 percent or higher and must be installed by an Enbridge-approved contractor. The program also requires a pre-upgrade home energy assessment conducted by a Registered Energy Advisor (REA) accredited through NRC — a step that unlocks the larger rebate tiers and also positions you to claim additional incentives at the federal level.

What many homeowners miss is that the HER+ furnace rebate is only the beginning. The program is structured as a whole-home incentive, meaning you earn additional rebates for bundling upgrades. If you pair your furnace replacement with attic insulation, for example, you may be eligible for an additional $800 to $1,600 in insulation rebates on top of the furnace amount. Enbridge also offers a smart thermostat rebate of $75 to $100, which most contractors will bundle into the same visit. The total HER+ rebate for a homeowner who upgrades furnace, insulation, and thermostat in a single project can reach $3,000 or more. Applications must be submitted within 90 days of the installation date, and all work must be completed by a registered contractor — do-it-yourself installations are not eligible.

Canada Greener Homes Grant: Federal Money Still on the Table

The Canada Greener Homes Grant was one of the largest federal home-energy retrofit programs in Canadian history, offering up to $5,600 in grants plus up to $600 toward the cost of a pre- and post-retrofit EnerGuide evaluation. While the original grant intake closed in early 2024, the federal government has continued to fund home energy improvements through affiliated delivery channels and through the Canada Greener Homes Loan — a zero-percent interest loan of up to $40,000 repayable over 10 years for eligible retrofits. As of 2026, Ontario homeowners who did not previously access the grant may still qualify through provincially administered streams or top-up programs, and the Greener Homes Loan remains open for applications via Natural Resources Canada. A furnace replacement that achieves a measurable improvement in the home's EnerGuide rating qualifies as an eligible retrofit under the loan program.

The Greener Homes ecosystem is worth understanding even if you missed the original grant window, because the pre-retrofit EnerGuide assessment — which costs between $300 and $600 and is partially reimbursed — serves double duty: it unlocks Enbridge HER+ rebates at the same time. An REA visits your home, measures airtightness using a blower door test, maps the thermal envelope, and models your heating load using HOT2000 software endorsed by NRC. The resulting EnerGuide rating and renovation roadmap tells you exactly which upgrades will deliver the best energy improvement score — and furnace replacement, particularly moving from 80 to 96+ AFUE, consistently ranks near the top of the improvement list for Ontario homes built before 2000. After your upgrades are complete, a second post-retrofit evaluation confirms the improvement and triggers the rebate payment.

Ontario Rebate Programs and Municipal Top-Ups

Beyond the federal and Enbridge programs, Ontario has its own layer of incentives worth knowing. The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) runs the saveONenergy program, which historically has offered rebates for high-efficiency heating equipment where it connects to electricity savings — particularly relevant for homeowners adding a variable-speed ECM blower motor, which draws significantly less electricity than a standard PSC motor over the course of a heating season. The Ontario Energy Board (OEB) also has provisions for low-income households under the Ontario Electricity Support Program and related frameworks that can extend to heating equipment in certain circumstances. The City of Toronto has periodically offered supplemental retrofit grants, and Ottawa's EnviroCentre acts as a delivery partner for federal programs with local wrap-around support.

One underutilized resource is the Ontario Renovates program administered through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) in partnership with local Service Manager offices. While it is primarily aimed at accessibility and structural repairs, homes in critical need of heating system replacement may qualify for forgivable loans under specific income thresholds. Homeowners in smaller Ontario cities and rural communities — Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Kingston, Barrie — should check with their local Service Manager office, as delivery and eligibility vary by region. Indigenous homeowners in Ontario may also have access to the Indigenous Off-Diesel Initiative or Northern Isolated Communities Initiatives under NRC, which apply different criteria. The bottom line is that Ontario's rebate landscape is deliberately multi-layered, and doing 30 minutes of research at the municipal and regional level can uncover an additional $500 to $2,000 that is simply not advertised at the provincial level.

What Equipment Actually Qualifies: AFUE, Variable Speed, and More

Not every new furnace earns the maximum rebate, and understanding the equipment thresholds before you shop is how you avoid leaving money on the table. For Enbridge HER+, the minimum qualifying AFUE is 95 percent — so a furnace rated at 92 or 93 AFUE, which many older high-efficiency models achieved, will not qualify. The current sweet spot for rebates is the 96 to 97 AFUE range, which captures the maximum Enbridge rebate without the cost premium of the highest-end modulating variable-capacity units unless your home specifically benefits from the comfort features they deliver. Under Canada Greener Homes Loan criteria, the equipment must be certified by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and must result in a measurable improvement to the home's EnerGuide rating — meaning it must be sized correctly for your heating load, not oversized. An oversized furnace that short-cycles can actually worsen your energy rating score even if its nameplate AFUE is high.

Variable-speed ECM blower motors deserve special attention in the Ontario context. A variable-speed furnace runs the blower continuously at low speed between heating cycles, which improves air filtration, distributes heat more evenly across the home, and draws roughly 70 to 80 percent less electricity than a single-speed PSC motor during non-heating blower operation. In a province like Ontario where electricity rates are time-of-use priced and can reach $0.18 to $0.24 per kWh during on-peak periods, this electricity saving adds up over a season. Some variable-speed models also qualify for combined HVAC incentives if your home has central air conditioning on the same air handler. Use the efficiency savings calculator on Furnace.sale to model how much a variable-speed upgrade pencils out for your specific home before you commit to a particular model tier.

How to Stack Rebates: A Step-by-Step Walkthrough

The single biggest mistake Ontario homeowners make with furnace rebates is acting in the wrong order. Rebate programs are almost universally designed to reward planned retrofits, not emergency replacements — which means the pre-retrofit EnerGuide assessment must happen before installation in most cases, or you risk disqualifying yourself from the largest incentive tiers. Step one is to book an REA through an NRC-registered service organization (Enbridge HER+ lists approved assessors on its program portal). The assessment typically costs $300 to $500 and takes two to three hours. Step two is to use the REA's report to select a qualifying furnace model and get three quotes from Enbridge-approved contractors. Step three is to apply for the HER+ rebate pre-approval if required, and simultaneously check whether you qualify for the Greener Homes Loan for any remaining balance. Step four is installation. Step five is the post-retrofit assessment, which triggers your federal rebate reimbursement. Step six is to submit your Enbridge rebate claim within the 90-day window.

The financial math on a properly stacked rebate project looks like this for a typical Ontario semi-detached home: furnace installation (96 AFUE, variable-speed, 80,000 BTU) costs approximately $5,500 to $7,500 installed including labour, permits, and disposal of the old unit. The Enbridge HER+ furnace rebate returns up to $1,000. If you bundle attic insulation, that adds another $800 to $1,600. The EnerGuide assessment is partially reimbursed for up to $600 under Greener Homes. If your municipality offers a local top-up, add $300 to $500. Your net out-of-pocket on the furnace-only portion after all rebates can fall to $4,000 to $5,500, with the remainder financeable at zero percent interest over 10 years through the Greener Homes Loan. At current gas prices and a 20 percent efficiency improvement, the fuel savings alone close that gap in four to six years — and the comfort improvement and resale value increase are immediate.

Choosing the Right Contractor: Approval, Permits, and Red Flags

In Ontario, furnace installation is regulated work. The contractor must hold a valid G2 gas fitter licence issued by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), and the installation must be permitted and inspected by a TSSA-licensed inspector. Any rebate program — Enbridge HER+, Greener Homes, or municipal — will ask for proof of permit and inspection as part of the claim documentation. An unlicensed or unpermitted installation voids your rebate eligibility entirely and, more importantly, voids your homeowner's insurance coverage in the event of a fire or carbon monoxide incident. Before you sign anything, ask the contractor for their TSSA licence number and confirm the permit will be pulled in your name. Reputable contractors do this automatically; a contractor who suggests skipping the permit to save money is a contractor to walk away from.

For rebate-specific projects, Enbridge HER+ and Greener Homes both maintain lists of approved contractors and registered service organizations. Using an approved contractor is not just a paperwork requirement — these contractors are trained on program requirements, know which equipment models qualify, and can submit rebate documentation on your behalf, which reduces the administrative burden on the homeowner considerably. When getting quotes, ask each contractor explicitly which rebate programs they are registered with and whether they will handle the rebate application or leave it to you. A contractor who is not familiar with HER+ at all is probably not the right fit for a rebate-optimized project. Furnace.sale's network of vetted installers in Toronto and Ottawa includes contractors with current HER+ registration — you can connect with them through the quote tool.

Timing, Deadlines, and What to Watch for in 2026

Rebate programs are funded programs, and funded programs close when the budget runs out. The HER+ program has historically operated on an annual budget cycle, with higher uptake in the fall heating season as homeowners replace failing furnaces before winter. The Greener Homes Loan is funded federally and replenished through NRC's capital allocation, but access has tightened as uptake accelerated. The practical implication is that the best time to start your rebate process is not October when your furnace fails — it is March through June, when REA availability is high, contractor schedules are less compressed, and program budgets have been refreshed. An emergency replacement in January almost never qualifies for pre-retrofit assessment rebates, and some programs explicitly exclude replacements completed before an assessment is booked.

Watch for announcements from the Ontario Ministry of Energy in the second quarter of 2026. Provincial budgets passed in spring often include supplemental home retrofit incentives, and the federal-provincial data-sharing agreement under the national Housing Action Plan has created mechanisms for Ontario to deliver additional retrofit support to homeowners earning under $70,000 per household income. Sign up for Enbridge Gas program alerts at their website and check the NRC Greener Homes portal at least once per quarter. If you are not ready to replace your furnace immediately but know it is aging, booking the EnerGuide assessment now locks in your baseline rating and keeps all rebate doors open when you are ready to move — most programs allow a reasonable gap between assessment and retrofit completion.