HRSP (with assessment)
Active · limits applyUp to $10,000 per home for insulation, windows and air sealing, plus $600 back on your assessments — if the follow-up assessment is done by December 31, 2026
Audit required
Regional guide · updated October 2, 2026
The Peterborough & Kawarthas home energy guide
Peterborough has run community energy programs longer than almost anywhere in Ontario — GreenUP has been evaluating local homes for decades — and the region's mix of century town stock and lake-country conversions keeps its auditors busy.
The housing stock, read like an auditor
The city core holds solid century homes — brick and frame — with the usual empty walls and original attics, while East City and the avenues add early-1900s workers' housing. Outside town, the Kawarthas contribute cottage conversions on Chemong, Stoney, and the Otonabee: seasonal envelopes now heating year-round, often on propane or electric baseboard. Rural properties add oil furnaces and wood-stove hybrids to the diagnostic mix.
What audits find in Peterborough & the Kawarthas
- Century-home leakage and knob-and-tube flags in the city core
- Cottage conversions with uninsulated floor systems and crawlspaces
- Propane and baseboard heating primed for heat-pump conversion math
- Wood-heat hybrid homes needing combustion-safety checks before tightening
- Thin attics across every era — the region's default first fix
Tests to ask for by name
- Blower door test — the leakage number that reorders your plan
- Infrared scan — finds the empty walls without opening them
- CSA F280 heat-loss calculation — before any heat pump quote
- Radon test — Health Canada recommends it for every home
Run the planner for the full test list matched to your house — it carries into your audit request automatically.
The rebate angle
GreenUP anchors the local audit supply alongside province-wide providers. It isn't one of the seven organizations approved for Home Renovation Savings assessments, so the program's $600 assessment rebate and insulation rebates need one of those (its heat pump rebates don't need an assessment at all). City of Peterborough homeowners can also use Better Homes Peterborough, delivered with EnviroCentre and GreenUP: property-tax loans from $10,000 to $50,000 at 4.5% fixed over 15 years, or a shorter variable-rate loan through Kawartha Credit Union, with a $450 application fee, a required pre-retrofit EnerGuide assessment, $600 back toward that assessment, and performance incentives of $1,000–$2,000 (up to $3,600 for the first 26 deep retrofits). For lake-country conversions on propane or baseboard, the heat pump rebate (up to $7,500 for a cold-climate air-source unit) plus a proper heat-loss calculation is the region's highest-value combination.
HRSP (no assessment)
ActiveHeat pumps up to $7,500 ($12,000 ground-source), solar with battery up to $10,000, plus attic, thermostat and appliance rebates — no assessment needed
No audit required
CMHC Eco Improvement
Active25% back on your CMHC mortgage insurance premium after $20,000 of energy renovations
No audit required
Monitor & test in Peterborough & the Kawarthas: air, water, and what's in the walls
Beyond energy, every area has its own home-health checklist — driven by local geology, water sources, housing eras, and weather. Here's Peterborough & the Kawarthas's, each item linked to its full guide. The 30-second screener personalizes this to your exact house.
Radon — Shield-edge geology
Peterborough sits where limestone meets the Canadian Shield, the kind of transition geology where radon surprises happen. The winter kit is the answer, city and county alike.
Kawartha wells
County homes and converted cottages run on wells and lake systems — free bacterial testing through the health unit, and treat any 'the water's always been fine' history as a reason to test, not skip.
Wood heat and CO
Wood and oil heat linger in the county. Annual servicing, WETT checks for stoves, and in-date CO alarms adjacent to sleeping areas are the baseline.
Older-home materials
The city's Victorian and post-war cores carry lead paint and asbestos-era materials — test before renovating, especially in homes being opened up for insulation.
The gear side — monitors, alarms, kits — lives in the gear guides.
Registered advisors serving Peterborough & the Kawarthas
All 6 are NRCan-licensed service organizations — with direct links to their Google, HomeStars, and BBB reviews. Only assessments from the seven HRSP-approved organizations qualify for the $600 Home Renovation Savings rebate; each card says whether the provider is one of them. Full directory view →
GreenUP
Non-profitNRCan-licensed service organization
Peterborough and the Kawarthas
The Energuy
CompanyNRCan-registered service organization
Province-wide Ontario coverage; also active in BC, AB, SK, MB and several US states
Canada Energy Audit
CompanyNRCan-registered service organization
Ontario-wide on NRCan's registry, from a Richmond Hill head office; also active in BC
Energy Werx
CompanyNRCan-registered service organization
Regional offices across Ontario: Toronto 416-558-8546, Eastern Ontario 613-686-5949, Niagara and Haldimand 289-267-2803, plus Mississauga, Southwestern Ontario, Windsor and the North
The Home Inspectors Group
CompanyNRCan-registered service organization
Ontario-wide from a Markham office, with local lines for the GTA (647-792-0276) and Ottawa (613-417-0432); its own list includes Kingston, Peterborough, Barrie, Waterloo, London, Niagara, Hamilton–Halton and Windsor–Essex
Greenbrain
CompanyNRCan-registered service organization
Ontario-wide on NRCan's registry; also Alberta, BC and Manitoba
Common Peterborough & the Kawarthas problems, diagnosed
Drafts and cold rooms →Heating bills feel too high →Ice dams and icicles →Thinking about a heat pump →
Local questions
We heat partly with wood — does that complicate an audit?
It makes one part more important: the combustion safety and spillage check. Tightening a house changes how stoves and chimneys draft, so the audit verifies venting before air-sealing work — a safety step, not paperwork.
Who does audits in Peterborough?
GreenUP is the community non-profit with decades of local evaluations, and it does the EnerGuide assessments for Better Homes Peterborough. For Home Renovation Savings assessment rebates you need one of the program's seven approved organizations; The Energuy, Canada Energy Audit, Energy Werx, Greenbrain and The Home Inspectors Group all serve the area. All are NRCan-licensed service organizations.
Plan it properly in Peterborough & the Kawarthas
Tell us about your home and we'll match you with a registered service organization — with the right tests flagged for your situation.
Email us what you’re planning, your postal code and the type of building (a house, a duplex or triplex, or a larger multi-unit building) — we’ll reply with registered service organizations for your area and which rebates apply.
Email dave@clickshift.ca