HatSmart will align with provincial rebates

New rebates for city utility customers to improve their homes and conserve energy will align with a similar provincial program, a council committee was told on Thursday.

HatSmart’s 2018 schedule of incentives lists money for solar panel systems, new home construction, energy-rated clothes dryers and work to seal drafty homes, according to documents.

City council will consider the $210,000 rebate program at its Dec. 18 meeting, and if approved utility customers could begin application process on Jan. 2.

“Our people have worked very closely with Alberta Energy Efficiency,” commissioner Cal Lenz told the utility committee. “These are complementary with the programs.”

Chair Coun. Phil Turnbull said the city is known across the country for HatSmart, which he called progressive and well received.

Last year, the city launched a one-year rather than two-year program with the hopes to update it for 2018 after the province announced its own rebate program for carbon levy funds.

That Alberta program provided amounts for better insulation, windows, doors, solar panels, as well as appliances and solar panels.

This year, Medicine Hat will again stack grants for customers who install solar photo voltaic systems, offering up to $5,000, which could combine with another $5,000 from the province.

“We’re going to match that,” said utility business support manager Jaret Dickie.

A total of $80,000 is available in the category, paid out at 75-cents per volt of capacity. Combined, the two programs could pay about one-third the cost of typical residential system that could save homeowners about $700 per year in energy costs.

The city is also linking an Alberta appliance rebate, offering $75 to those who purchase Energy Star clothes dryers (the province rebates Energy Star clothes washers).

Last year administrators argued against continuing the popular appliance program because it was meant to act as an incentive to choose more efficient appliances. Since most appliances on the market meet the standard, homeowners don’t have the option.

One area where the city won’t double up with the province is on insulation.

Dickie said “a handful” of customers who stacked city and provincial insulation grants in 2017 came away with no out-ofpocket cost after grants were paid.

However, the two governments gave rebates based on different measurements leading to complicated calculations.

Also, city money was fully spent halfway through the year, and now, local administrators felt it better to provide incentives to seal in insulation bought in part by provincial grants. “Even though your house is better insulated, you’re still leaking air and heat,” he told the committee.

Those homeowners who have work done to seal homes could see between $500 and $700 paid depending on the level of upgrades. A before-and-after blower test would determine air leakage had been reduced by a minimum of 30 per cent.

A total of $78,000 would be available, meaning 111 grant applications cold be fully paid.

Completely new this year is an incentive to homebuilders to meet federal government standard of energy reduction and apply for up to $100 for every gigajoule of energy saved by using modern construction techniques. An average home uses about 120 gigajoules of natural gas per year. Reducing that by about 80 per cent would earn a grant of $10,000.

The category has $40,000 available.