Eight percent will be added to the following products and services, dry-cleaning, electricity, heating oil or gas, internet services, service calls by electrician, plumber, carpenter, landscaper, lawn care, and snow removal, hotel rooms, taxis, camping sites, domestic air, rail and bus travel originating in Ontario., magazines purchased by subscription, home renovations, private resale of vehicles, gasoline or diesel fuel, real estate commissions, new homes over 400k, legal fees, home inspectors, home audits, message therapy services, vitamins, green fees (golf), gym and athletic memberships, children's, ballet, karate, hockey, or soccer lessons, fitness trainer, barber or hair stylist, tickets for live theatre (3200 seats or less), hall and hockey rink rentals, funeral services. Cigarettes & other tobacco purchases, nicotine replacement products, stamps.
What Will Not
Children's clothing, footwear up to size 6, basic grocery, municipal water, home insurance, municipal public transit, GO transit, books, newspapers, Child car seats, auto insurance, pharmacist dispensing fees, prescription drugs, some medical devices (hearing aids, walkers, glasses, contacts) feminine hygiene products, diapers, music lessons, condo fees, residential rents, child care services, legal aid, financial services.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
The Ontario Home Energy Audit
I’m sure many of you have heard that the Ontario government passed a law last year that said, “ All homes should have home energy audits“. In typical government fashion they make the law, and still have not written the rules and procedures.
This, I think, will be a good thing, once every one understands the process and is able to understand the results. A house that scores 52 has not just barely passed, in fact it could be in the top section of it’s category i.e. older home not updated. As energy cost rise and the push to be “green” is more important, I think that these audits will become even more important. The score is out of 100, but realistically it is out of 80. Only very efficient homes that have no commercial energy consumption score over 90. The average home in Ontario scores 66.
When it was first introduced it was a joint project with both the federal and the provincial government. The federal government has recently withdrawn it’s funding from the program and it is only the provincial funds that are available now. Still up to $5,000, can be refunded, so it is worth looking into. With the present program the work must be completed by March 2011. The audits may be stopped at any time if the government feels they don’t have the funds to reimburse the people already registered in the program..
How the process works is you apply for a Home Energy Audit. It costs approximately $300.00. The company comes and inspects your home on the outside and the inside to determine its energy use. They send you a report highlighting the items that could be updated to increase the home’s efficiency. Regardless of whether or not you do any work, you will get a refund of $150.00 for having the test preformed.
With the results will come a present rating, plus they will give you an idea of the potential rating if you do all the work. The refund is not based on how efficient you have made your home or how much money you have spent. It is based on a price per item. If you replace the furnace with hi-efficiency one you can receive up to $790. If you replace a toilet with a low or dual flush model you will receive $65.. If you replace a window with an energy star rated one you will get back $40. If you replace your water heater with an “on demand” type you will receive up to $375., even if you rent your hot water system. Also if you are handy, you can do the work yourself, you don’t have to hire a professional.
Once you have completed the work you call back the auditors and they return and retest your house (costs an additional $150.). This gives you your new rating. Once the law comes into effect you will have to disclose to purchasers what your homes’ score is. In places where this type of program has been in effect for a while, they have noticed that homes with high scores for their category sell for more money and in a quicker time period. It is thought that this rule will come into effect in Ontario later this year or early new year.
If you have any questions, please give me a call and I will try and answer them.
This, I think, will be a good thing, once every one understands the process and is able to understand the results. A house that scores 52 has not just barely passed, in fact it could be in the top section of it’s category i.e. older home not updated. As energy cost rise and the push to be “green” is more important, I think that these audits will become even more important. The score is out of 100, but realistically it is out of 80. Only very efficient homes that have no commercial energy consumption score over 90. The average home in Ontario scores 66.
When it was first introduced it was a joint project with both the federal and the provincial government. The federal government has recently withdrawn it’s funding from the program and it is only the provincial funds that are available now. Still up to $5,000, can be refunded, so it is worth looking into. With the present program the work must be completed by March 2011. The audits may be stopped at any time if the government feels they don’t have the funds to reimburse the people already registered in the program..
How the process works is you apply for a Home Energy Audit. It costs approximately $300.00. The company comes and inspects your home on the outside and the inside to determine its energy use. They send you a report highlighting the items that could be updated to increase the home’s efficiency. Regardless of whether or not you do any work, you will get a refund of $150.00 for having the test preformed.
With the results will come a present rating, plus they will give you an idea of the potential rating if you do all the work. The refund is not based on how efficient you have made your home or how much money you have spent. It is based on a price per item. If you replace the furnace with hi-efficiency one you can receive up to $790. If you replace a toilet with a low or dual flush model you will receive $65.. If you replace a window with an energy star rated one you will get back $40. If you replace your water heater with an “on demand” type you will receive up to $375., even if you rent your hot water system. Also if you are handy, you can do the work yourself, you don’t have to hire a professional.
Once you have completed the work you call back the auditors and they return and retest your house (costs an additional $150.). This gives you your new rating. Once the law comes into effect you will have to disclose to purchasers what your homes’ score is. In places where this type of program has been in effect for a while, they have noticed that homes with high scores for their category sell for more money and in a quicker time period. It is thought that this rule will come into effect in Ontario later this year or early new year.
If you have any questions, please give me a call and I will try and answer them.
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