The RDN pays $2,000 outside the town limits
If your address is in a Regional District of Nanaimo Electoral Area and oil, gas or propane heats the house, this is the one.
Who gets the $2,000
A rebate decided by the property line, not by income.
The Regional District of Nanaimo pays $2,000 towards a heat pump when the house it goes into is heated mainly by natural gas, oil or propane, and the old system comes out. That is worth saying twice, because the province has nothing for that switch down here unless the household is income-qualified. For a lot of Oceanside homes on propane or oil, the RDN rebate is the only money on the table.
It is run as part of the RDN's Green Building Incentive Program, funding is limited and handed out first-come, first-served, and one application per rebate type is allowed per household.
Which areas that means around here
Four of the seven Electoral Areas sit on our side of the district.
Nanoose Bay
The whole of Nanoose Bay, right next door to us.
Coombs and Errington
Coombs, Hilliers, Errington, Whiskey Creek and Meadowood.
French Creek and Dashwood
Englishman River, San Pareil, French Creek, Little Qualicum and Dashwood.
Bowser and Deep Bay
Bowser, Qualicum Bay and Deep Bay, up the highway from the shop.
Areas A, B and C are eligible too: Cedar and Yellowpoint, the Gulf Islands, and the ground around Nanaimo. They sit on the far side of the district from us, so tell us the address and we will say plainly whether we can get a van there. We do cover Parksville and Qualicum Beach, which is exactly where this rebate stops.
The conditions attached to it
Five of them, and the last two are where applications come unstuck.
| The condition | What it means on the job |
|---|---|
| In an Electoral Area | The residence has to be in an RDN Electoral Area and an eligible home type. Check the address before anything else. |
| Heated mainly by fossil fuel | Natural gas, oil or propane has to be the primary heat now. An electrically heated house belongs in the Home Renovation Rebate instead. |
| Not a breakdown replacement | Replacing broken heating equipment is not eligible. Plan the switch while the old system is still limping. |
| A qualifying product, a listed contractor | The heat pump has to be on the CleanBC Better Homes Qualifying Products List and installed by a contractor listed with CleanBC Better Homes. |
| The old system fully out | Fossil-fuel and back-up systems have to be removed in full, and the invoice has to show it. Leaving the furnace in place as a spare ends the application. |
The documents and the deadlines
Four dates and two documents. Miss the 90 days and the rest of it does not matter.
- Within 90 days Applications go in within 90 days of purchase, with proof of purchase. The RDN allows exceptions at the program administrator's discretion, which is not something to count on.
- Jan 1 to Dec 14 The intake runs January 1 to December 14 each year. A December install can fall outside the window even though it is inside the 90 days.
- The invoice It has to show the service provider, the physical installation address, the purchase and install of an eligible heat pump with make and model, that the existing system was disposed of, that the invoice is paid in full, and the date the install was completed.
- The permit A copy of the electrical permit goes in with the application.
- 4 to 6 weeks That is what the RDN asks for to process a complete application and send the cheque.
Does it add to anything else?
Sometimes. The RDN terms say its rebates may be combined with the Canada Greener Homes Grant, the Home Renovation Rebate and CleanBC Home Efficiency Rebates, and BC Hydro or FortisBC home rebates, as long as the combined total does not go past what you paid.
In practice, for a fossil-fuel house down here, there is usually nothing provincial to stack it with. The Home Renovation Rebate's fossil-to-heat-pump stream is limited to homes at or north of 100 Mile House, and the income-qualified Energy Savings Program is not named in the RDN's combining list at all. Ask the RDN before you build a budget on two rebates.
Questions from out that way
Do Parksville or Qualicum Beach homes qualify?
Our furnace just died. Can we use this to replace it?
What do I have to send in, and when?
Can I take the RDN rebate and a provincial one at the same time?
Where this comes from
The three RDN pages behind every figure here.
- Regional District of Nanaimo, Fossil Fuel to Heat Pump Rebate
$2,000, Electoral Areas only, the four municipalities excluded, the fossil-fuel and broken-equipment rules, the qualifying product and listed contractor rules, the removal rule, the January 1 to December 14 intake, the document list and the 4 to 6 week processing time.
- Regional District of Nanaimo, Green Building Incentive terms
The 90-day application window, one application per rebate type per household, limited first-come first-served funding, and which other rebates may be combined with it.
- Regional District of Nanaimo, Electoral Areas
Which communities sit in Areas E, F, G and H.
More for houses out that way
Every Island rebate in one place
What applies to electric, fossil-fuel and income-qualified homes, each with its official source.
ReadHeat pumps and home heating
Ducted and ductless systems sized for an island winter rather than a catalogue average.
ReadFurnace repair
Service on the equipment you already own, before anyone tells you to replace it.
ReadFour things before an application is worth starting
The first one decides whether the other three matter. Applications go in within 90 days of purchase, and the intake runs January 1 to December 14, so a December install can miss the window while still being inside the 90 days.
-
The address, confirmed as an Electoral Area
Nanaimo, Lantzville, Parksville and Qualicum Beach addresses do not qualify. Everything else here starts after that question is settled.
-
Natural gas, oil or propane as the primary heat
And a system still running, because replacing broken heating equipment is excluded from this rebate.
-
An invoice that shows the removal and a zero balance
Service provider, installation address, make and model, disposal of the old system, completion date and paid in full.
-
A copy of the electrical permit
It goes in with the application, so it is worth asking for it at the end of the job rather than six weeks later.
Tell us about the house
Say where it is, what heats it now and roughly how big it is, and we come back with a quote for the heat pump and the install. We reply within 24 hours.