Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Program in Ontario

In short

The Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Program stopped accepting applications on July 31, 2026. Homeowners approved before that date must complete the installation and submit receipts by January 31, 2027. An oil-heated Ontario home that missed the deadline can still claim the provincial Home Renovation Savings Program rebate of $1,250 per ton, up to $7,500, for a qualifying heat pump.

How much you can get

Oil-to-heat-pump conversion grant (federal) Closed: last day to apply was July 31, 2026
Applicants approved before the deadline Up to $10,000; finish and submit by January 31, 2027
Ontario per-ton rebate for an oil-heated home $1,250 per ton, up to $7,500
Propane, wood or electric heat as the existing fuel Was never eligible for OHPA
Oil tank decommissioning and removal See the program page

Who qualifies

New applications are not being accepted: the intake closed on July 31, 2026.
If you applied before the deadline, your application is still processed under the original rules: oil as the primary heating fuel, the income test, owner-occupied home, qualifying electric heat pump.
Approved applicants must complete the work and upload receipts and the contractor attestation by January 31, 2027.
Oil-heated homes that missed the deadline remain eligible for the provincial per-ton rebate, which needs approval before the installation.
Program status can change. Check the Natural Resources Canada page before planning around it.

The federal oil-to-heat-pump grant closed its intake on July 31, 2026, so this page now covers two things: what applicants already in the queue need to finish, and what an oil-heated home can still claim. Oil is a small minority of heating systems in southern Ontario, and the households still on it usually pay the most per unit of heat.

If you applied before July 31, 2026

Applications submitted before the deadline continue to be processed. If yours is approved, the installation has to be finished and the receipts and contractor attestation uploaded by January 31, 2027. Book the work early: a winter conversion involves electrical work, duct changes and the removal of the oil appliance, and none of those should be squeezed into the last week of January.

If you missed the deadline

The provincial rebate is what remains. An oil-heated home sits in the non-gas tier of the Home Renovation Savings Program at $1,250 per ton, up to $7,500, and the approval has to land before installation day. Income-qualified households should also look at the Energy Affordability Program, and every option is compared on the Ontario heat pump rebates page.

Why the grant was so much larger than other rebates

OHPA was designed to remove most of the price barrier in one step, not to shave a percentage off a purchase. Up to $10,000 against a conversion is close to the full cost of a modest ducted heat pump install, and it existed because oil heat is expensive to run and hard to escape without capital.

That generosity came with the strictest screening of any program on this site: an income test and documentary proof of the fuel you burn. Those rules still govern applications already in the queue.

The income test and the proof of oil heat, for applications in progress

Eligibility is tied to a published after-tax household income threshold that scales with household size, so the answer depends on your specific circumstances rather than on a single number we could print here. If your application is in progress, the thresholds that applied when you filed are on the Natural Resources Canada page.

For proof of fuel, expect to show that oil actually heats the house — a recent delivery invoice is the usual document. A decommissioned oil tank in the corner of the basement beside a working gas furnace does not qualify anyone.

The Ontario per-ton rebate for an oil-heated home

An oil-heated home is in the non-gas tier of the Home Renovation Savings Program, which pays $1,250 per ton. A 3-ton cold-climate system therefore earns 3 × $1,250 = $3,750 provincially, subject to the program's rules and to the approval landing before installation day. Applicants approved under OHPA before the deadline can receive that on top of the federal grant.

For those approved applicants the combination is why an oil conversion can be close to cost-neutral, and why the paperwork deserves care: two programs, two sets of evidence, one install. For everyone else the provincial rebate is the only grant on the table.

The oil tank is a separate job — plan for it

An out-of-service oil tank has to be properly decommissioned and removed; leaving it in place creates an insurance and contamination problem later.
Fuel oil work in Ontario is its own licensed trade, separate from gas and HVAC — we will tell you plainly that tank removal is not in our scope and should be quoted by a fuel oil contractor.
Insurers ask about oil tanks at renewal, so keep the removal documentation with your house records.
Budget for the electrical side as well: an oil-to-electric conversion often means service and panel work that a gas-to-heat-pump conversion would not.
If you are on a well and septic with no gas main, plan the backup strategy before the first cold snap, not during it.

Where oil heat still turns up around Burlington and Hamilton

It follows the gas main. Inside built-up Burlington, Oakville and lower Hamilton, almost everything is on Enbridge gas. Oil and propane show up where the mains stop: rural-edge properties above the Niagara Escarpment, the farm-lot houses out past Waterdown and Binbrook, and older country properties in Caledon and north Halton.

Those houses also tend to be the hardest to heat — exposed, older envelopes, long duct runs — so the heat-loss calculation matters more here than anywhere. If you want to see how this equipment behaves in deep cold before committing, the cold-climate heat pump guide covers capacity and defrost in plain terms. We cover this territory from Burlington; see heating services for what a conversion involves, or request a site visit and we will walk the basement with you before quoting.

How ZK Mechanical helps

Assess whether the existing ductwork can carry a heat pump or whether ductless heads make more sense in an older country house.
Size the system against a real heat-loss number, since oil-era ducts were designed around much hotter supply air.
Coordinate the electrical capacity check early, because oil conversions almost always touch the panel.
Prepare the equipment and invoice documentation the provincial claim requires, and the federal one if your application was approved before the deadline.
Refer the tank decommissioning to a licensed fuel oil contractor rather than pretending it is our trade.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still apply to the Oil to Heat Pump Affordability Program?

No. Natural Resources Canada lists July 31, 2026 as the last day to apply. Applications submitted before then are still being processed, and approved applicants must finish the work and upload their documents by January 31, 2027. Check the program page for any successor program before assuming nothing is available.

Does propane heat qualify for OHPA?

No, and it never did. The program targeted heating oil specifically. A propane-heated home is in the higher provincial tier at $1,250 per ton, so there is money available, but not this grant.

Can I keep the oil furnace as backup?

For an application already approved, the program is built around getting off oil, so keeping the oil appliance as backup generally works against eligibility. If you want a fuel backup, discuss the configuration with the program before installation rather than after.

What can an oil-heated home claim now that OHPA is closed?

The provincial per-ton rebate applies at the higher non-gas rate of $1,250 per ton, up to $7,500. The federal interest-free loan that used to cover the balance is also closed to new applications, so budget for lender financing on the remainder.

How long does an oil-to-heat-pump conversion take?

Most residential conversions are a multi-day job rather than a single afternoon, because the electrical work, the duct modifications and the removal of the old appliance all have to happen in sequence. We schedule them as a project, not a service call.

Will a heat pump actually keep the house warm out here?

A properly sized cold-climate unit produces heat well below freezing, but capacity does fall as it gets colder. Ask for the manufacturer's output at -15 °C and -25 °C, and make sure the backup heat strategy is written into the design.

Official sources

All Ontario HVAC rebates Heat pump rebates in Ontario Heat pump rebate calculator Heating services All rebate programs