TORONTO - Ontario is trying to cut greenhouse gas emissions and hydro bills by paying $2.9 million for some low-income renters to plug drafts, install energy-efficient showerheads and replace power-guzzling appliances.
The program, which picks up where critics say the federal government left off, will pay for energy audits for 1,100 households in 15 Ontario communities and cover the necessary improvements to make apartments more energy efficient.
The idea is to target those who are most dependent on electricity for their heating and hot water tanks, helping them to cut their usage and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Ontario Power Authority's pilot project comes less than a week after Ottawa was criticized for leaving low-income renters out of a new $300-million program to help homeowners who pay for their own energy-efficiency renovations.
Clifford Maynes, executive director of Green Communities Canada, which is administering the project, said he hopes the provincial program will be a template for a national energy-efficiency program targeting low-income tenants.
"Canada doesn't have a national low-income program, unlike the U.S. and the United Kingdom," he said. "In the poorest households, people are spending a larger share of their income on energy. Energy costs ... are a contributing factor to poverty, to homelessness."
"This pilot is an important step to addressing the energy burden of low-income households in Ontario."
It's also hoped the program, if it's expanded, will help cut down on Ontario's energy consumption and Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.
Peter Love, the province's chief conservation officer, said Ontario faces a "huge challenge" when it comes to saving energy. This program is expected to save some 1,300 megawatts of electricity, enough to supply 500,000 homes.
While saving electricity is slowly catching on, Love said many people don't realize that 83 per cent of the country's greenhouse gas emissions come from the production and consumption of energy.
"It's pretty obvious where you need to start," Love said.
Dana Milne, with the Income Security Advocacy Centre, said low-income tenants want to do their part for the environment and save electricity, but most can't afford to do so.
"Someone who's on a fixed income can't throw out $100 on energy-efficient appliances or lightbulbs," Milne said. "They don't have that money."
The recently announced federal incentive program doesn't help low-income earners because it only refunds them -- up to $5,000 -- after they've shelled out the cash and paid for an energy audit, she said.
Both the province and federal government have to do more by helping low-income earners and pushing landlords to make improvements like beefing up insulation and buying energy-efficient appliances, she said.
"The needs are known," she said. "What we need is a program that begins to tackle the issue."
David Martin, energy co-ordinator with Greenpeace, said the pilot program is better than previous ones because it doesn't just help low-income residents pay their hydro bills, but helps them conserve energy as well.
Still, he said both levels of government have to help far more than 1,100 households if they want to make a dent in Canada's greenhouse gas emissions. Electric heaters should be fully replaced with more energy-efficient heating systems to reduce our reliance on coal and cut harmful emissions, Martin said.
"It's obvious that the people who have the least ability to invest in conservation are the low-income people, and therefore targeting those people for aid should be a priority," Martin said.
Ontario's pilot program will help residents in more than a dozen communities, including Toronto, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Waterloo, Guelph, Kingston, Brockville, Peterborough and Thunder Bay.
The program, expected to be up and running by March, is only available for tenants who live in private rental units, use electrical heat and pay their own bills.
