Quote:
Originally Posted by the-rasta-masta
This is one of the reasons the company I work for pays for the energy assessments for our customers, along with using the 15% loan advance as the deposit. It's possible to make sure there's no up front cash payment for a client to move forward with Solar as long as you structure payment terms alongside the loan program policies, and having incentives like the Energy Assessments being covered. I think most of the more established Solar companies do the same. Word of advice to anybody looking at Solar, don't get any assessments before you've gathered quotes as at least in our case that cost would be covered by us, but if you've already started the assessments on you're own your costs are definitely going to be higher.
But you're right, if Solar is the only thing you're looking at doing, it's frustrating to have to complete an energy assessment. The energy advisor simply has a checkbox that says does the home have Solar, and if it doesn't, its going to be listed as a qualified retrofit on the Energuide Report for Greener Homes Loan eligibility.
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One other note (as I quote myself here), in early 2025 NRCan introduced new legislation for the loan that customers using the loan program have to pay for their own energy assessments, so it's no longer something that can be paid for by Solar installers. Homeowners need to deal with this on their own now.