Ontario’s new Home Renovation Savings Program is a welcome step toward a cleaner energy future. But with a few key improvements, it could go even further.
Rooftop solar plays a key role in building a cleaner, more resilient energy system – especially when paired with battery storage. It empowers households to generate their own clean energy, reduces strain on the grid, and offers long-term cost savings.
At TAF, we’re encouraged to see the provincial government and the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) introducing new incentives for residential solar and storage. However, several aspects of the current program risk limiting its potential. To maximize uptake, impact, and accessibility, we recommend the following improvements:
1: Allow net metering for all rebated solar programs
Currently, homeowners who receive a rebate for rooftop solar under the program are not eligible for net metering. That means that they can’t earn credits for surplus electricity they send back to the grid.
This restriction weakens the financial benefits of solar under the program, especially for residents who are unable to install or are uninterested in battery storage. Net metering is a proven way to make solar more affordable by compensating households for the surplus energy they produce and send to the grid. Without it, homeowners do not receive fair – or any – compensation for the energy they contribute, which can make residential solar programs financially untenable. According to TAF’s analysis, a $5,000 rebate for non-net-metered projects does not make sense for most homeowners. The payback period for a 10 kW net-metered system is about half that of a non-net-metered one, even with the rebate.
Allowing all rebated solar installations to participate in net metering would make residential solar more accessible and financially viable, while also supporting grid reliability by reducing peak demand.
2: Extend battery rebates to existing solar installations and stand-alone batteries
The program currently offers up to $5,000 for rooftop solar and an additional $5,000 for battery storage – if both are installed at the same time.
This leaves many early adopters behind: those who have already installed solar and now want to add battery storage to get more value and resilience from their systems. Batteries can enable users to store power for use during periods of high demand or outages, helping to stabilize the grid.
Standalone battery systems, which store energy directly from the grid, provide homeowners with a backup supply of energy in the event of a power outage – an alternative to polluting gas or propane generators.
We recommend expanding the program to include battery additions for existing solar systems and stand-alone battery installations. This small change would help more households get the full benefits of clean, flexible energy.
3: Raise the rooftop solar size limit
Ontario currently caps microgeneration projects, including residential solar installations, at 10 kilowatts (kW), limiting how much clean energy households can produce – even if they have the space and resources to install more.
Raising the cap would allow larger rooftop installations that leverage economies of scale, generate more power, reduce consumption from the grid, and contribute more clean energy to Ontario’s overall supply.
The bottom line
With Ontario’s electricity demand forecasted to rise by 75%, the province needs all the clean energy supply it can get, from large to small scale. As the impacts of climate change become more severe and unpredictable, Ontario needs practical, scalable solutions that benefit both households and the energy system as a whole. Rooftop solar is one of those solutions, but only if the incentives are designed to support meaningful adoption. By enhancing the Home Renovation Savings Program to support broader adoption and greater system impact, Ontario can unlock the full potential of solar energy and build a cleaner, more resilient future
Laura, I have been personally reaching out to the LDC’s and the home renovation program to understand why Net-Metering was excluded. It doesn’t make any sense. We should talk. The folks at TAF know me.
Aaron Goldwater, Goldwater Solar
You left out a fourth obvious step – revise the definition of “net metering” to eliminate the cap and open up the market for small generators to supply more power to the grid than they consume. There should be two charges… a fixed charge for grid tie-in and the right to buy and sell to the grid and variable rates for the actual energy charge/payout based on the market price for electricity at the moment the power is drawn or supplied. If necessary to cover the overhead cost of managing the market, there might well be a wholesale and retail price where the customer pays a higher unit rate for the electricity they draw than for the electricity they supply. This would give an even greater incentive for localized battery storage to enable customers to sell at peak demand/price times and buy at low demand/price times.
With electricity demand projected to grow by 75% and the government scrambling to find additional supply including contemplating costly nuclear and GHG-emitting gas plants, concentrating on smart grid infrastructure and enabling a well-structured market to pay for it should be top priority. I can’t understand why no one even seems to be talking about it.
Hi Jordan,
Thanks for your comment, you raise an important point about the broader definition and structure of net metering.
In this piece, we focused on specific adjustments to the Home Renovation Savings Program to maximize the benefit of this new program; but we agree that Ontario’s net metering framework itself requires modernization to better encourage and compensate small-scale generation, storage, and smart grid integration.
Hi,
Can you confirm the Ontario 10KW cap ? A friend of mine had a system installed of 12.75 in May, 2024 in Ottawa . If this is true, how did they get the permits?
Hi Simon,
In Ontario, microgeneration is defined by the Ontario Energy Board’s Distribution System Code as generation facilities with a capacity of 10 kW or less. Local distribution companies apply this definition when processing and connecting net metering applications.
This classification streamlines the connection process for small, distributed energy projects like residential solar, avoiding the more detailed engineering reviews required for larger systems.
Systems above 10 kW are still eligible for net metering, but they are classified as small generation rather than microgeneration. This triggers a Connection Impact Assessment – a more time-consuming and costly process. As a result, many projects are intentionally kept within the microgeneration threshold, even when a larger system would provide greater benefits. By comparison, some provinces set much higher residential microgeneration limits; for example, BC and Manitoba allow up to 100 kW.