Enbridge tapped to help cut natural gas use

‘Like getting the fox to guard the henhouse,’ critic says of firm taking over Greener Homes Grant

The federal government has entrusted one of Canada’s largest purveyors of fossil fuels to run a massive public program to reduce demand for its own product.

Starting Jan. 1, Enbridge Gas will be taking over the Greener Homes Grant from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) in Ontario. A big part of the government’s plan to fight climate change, the program offers homeowners grants worth as much as $5,000 for renovation projects to make their houses more energy efficient.

Enbridge and the government say the new program will be more accessible and easier, providing homeowners with a one-stop shop for as much as $10,000 from several such subsidies that they previously had to apply for separately.

Filings with the OEB, meanwhile, reveal how the company tried and failed to prolong subsidies for new natural gas furnaces and water heaters that “will have little to no impact on natural gas or greenhouse gas emissions reductions.”

Enbridge sells natural gas, which is mostly made up of methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas that causes 80 times more warming than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, according to the UN.

The Greener Homes Grant was designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions from residential buildings, the vast majority of which come from natural gas heating.

“This is like getting the fox to guard the henhouse,” said Kent Elson, an environmental lawyer who argued in front of the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) against Enbridge’s new role.

“Enbridge wants as many people to use as much natural gas as possible, which is entirely contrary to the purpose of the program.”

While natural gas has been touted as a cleaner “bridge fuel,” recent studies have shown that emissions from natural gas have been underestimated due to widespread leaks in the extraction process, pipeline network and connections to households. When these “fugitive emissions” are factored in, natural gas is just as bad for climate change as coal, according to the Atmospheric Fund.

The federal government has struggled to implement strong and effective measures to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change while maintaining a large oil-and-gas sector that employs more than 400,000 people and contributes more than $100 billion annually to the economy.

Over the next five years, Enbridge will be given $34.4 million to administer the Greener Homes Grant in Ontario for the federal government, which has earmarked almost $580 million for the program.

Enbridge has budgeted contributing an additional $118 million for the grants, to be taken from gas-distribution charges that it collects from customers and is required to use for energy-efficiency programs.

An NRCan spokesperson said the Ontario government suggested they partner with Enbridge because the company was already running a similar provincial energy efficiency program and “will provide homeowners a simple, singular path to optimize energy savings in their homes.”

“Co-delivery provides the opportunity for Enbridge Gas and NRCan to drive stronger program results more cost effectively for Ontario energy consumers than could be achieved without a co-ordinated approach,” said Keean Nembhard, a spokesperson for Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson.

Enbridge spokesperson Krista Luxton added that “this approach will avoid homeowner confusion that may inhibit or delay decisions to enhance energy conservation.”

“Conservation programs are only one tool that Enbridge Gas is using to support the move to a net zero emissions energy future,” Luxton said in a statement.

“We’re also investing in and advancing a number of new business initiatives including hydrogen, renewable natural gas (RNG), geothermal and hybrid heating initiatives, and wind and solar as our industry moves through the energy transition.”

The new combined grant program provides more money for renovations and will make it easier for homeowners to cut their carbon emissions and save on their energy bills, Elson says. That is thanks to the OEB, which last month approved the NRCan-Enbridge deal, but overturned several conditions Enbridge had placed on the subsidies.

Had Enbridge got its way, homeowners who went above and beyond in their renovations and stopped using natural gas entirely — switching to all-electric space and water heating, cooking and clothes drying — would have been prevented from getting the full $10,000 grant.

Co-delivery provides the opportunity for Enbridge Gas and NRCan to drive stronger program results more cost effectively for … consumers.

KEEAN NEMBHARD S POKESPERSON F OR NATURAL RESOURCES MINISTER JONATHAN WILKINSON