3.1.9Offer innovative loans for energy-related residential and commercial building upgrades

New financing options allow more building owners to undertake energy upgrades. These loans may have flexible repayment plans and may be tied to the property rather than the property owner, allowing current and future owners to share in both the resulting utility savings and the project costs.

This action will be led collaboratively by the Region of Waterloo with support from community capacity builders such as Reep Green Solutions and Sustainable Waterloo Region.

THE REGION OF WATERLOO

The Region of Waterloo has submitted a funding application to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to launch RetrofitWR, an innovative pilot program that provides low interest loans to homeowners to implement energy retrofits.

REEP GREEN SOLUTIONS

In 2021, Reep Green Solutions, in partnership with the Region of Waterloo and WR Community Energy, secured FCM funding to design a  home energy retrofit financing program. The program would include loans that support homeowners with the upfront costs of deep retrofits and renewable installations. With the funding from FCM, Reep brought together a Working Group from area municipalities, local utilities, Conestoga College, and ClimateActionWR to explore the financing options and other supports for homeowners in Waterloo Region. 

In December 2023, Regional Council approved a staff request to proceed in developing the RetrofitWR pilot program. This approval allows us to move forward with the next crucial step: applying for capital funding from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).

 For more information please see Reep Green Solutions.

 For the Program Design, please see Reep Green Solutions’ Report.

SUSTAINABLE WATERLOO REGION

While Sustainable Waterloo Region does not offer loans, there is a resource available to members that provides information, updates, and links to available funding and loan services. Team members are frequently searching for new loans and funding sources available for commercial building upgrades. As such, the resource is updated regularly to reflect the availability of opportunities. The resource is available on the  Impact Network member portal.

CITY OF KITCHENER

The City of Kitchener has partnered with the Region of Waterloo on RetrofitWR with a project start date anticipated for 2025.