Race to the HRTC Deadline… and We Made It!
Like probably every home owner in the country, Doug and I just endured long lines and depleted stock at our local home hardware store in the race to meet the deadline for the Home Renovation Tax Credit (HRTC)… which is now less than a week away.
Here is what our garage looks like now – stacked with renovation products; we shall see how many months they stay in the garage! A single hour in the store yielded:
- About 200 square feet of laminate flooring
- Two low-flush, ecoEnergy-authorized toilets
- Glass sliding doors for a new closet
- Steel door for cold cellar in newly insulated laundry room
- Neo-angle shower stall
- Vanity and sink for bathroom
As you can imagine, Home Depot on a Saturday was a zoo. Couples picking through messy aisles of product, occasionally sharing tips with other frantic buyers. I saw no reason not to tell that friendly pair that the toilets they are eyeing qualify for the ecoEnergy retrofit grant money – in case they didn’t know. (They didn’t.) Of course, that kind of helpful sharing stopped when there was only 1 item left that we wanted!
We bought a lot of stuff – more than $2,000 in fact, which is what we needed to spend to reach the maximum amount of HRTC tax credit when we file for 2009.
That maximum is $10,000 and it yields 13.5% tax credit, so we’ll get $1,350 back from the government, thank you very much!
Coming Up…
In the next blog post, I’ll focus on the items we bought that will get us the good ole “Double Dip” (actually triple if you think about it)
- HRTC tax credit
- Rebate from the federal government (ecoEnergy retrofit grants)
- Matching amount from Ontario government (ditto)
Heather and Doug, parents of 3 teens, live in a 1950s drafty house in Dundas, Ontario. Through eco renovations, they are seeking to move their home from a 61 EnerGuide rating to the 82 points required to get government ecoENERGY retrofit grants.
Jamie
27 Jan, 2010
Not sure about Ontario, but I live in Newfoundland and here it is possible to “quadraple dip” on certain energy-efficent upgrades, with added rebates from the power company. For improvements like insulation, windows, etc we get a HRTC credit, federal ecoEnergy rebate + provincial matching and then a separate rebate from the power company.
I hired a contractor to upgrade my attic insulation last week and once I receive the 4 rebates, I’ll actually be making money for doing so (the total rebates add up to more than the contractor charged me to do the job!). As well I recently purchased 4 Energy Star digital thermostats at $30 each, after 4x rebates they work out to roughly $4 each.
It’s worth checking to see if your power company does the same.
Cheers
Heather
27 Jan, 2010
Hey, Jamie,
Wow, you are a superstar in the rebate world! You’re actually be MAKING MONEY for insulating your home; take my hat off to you, sir!
Thanks for the tip; you can be sure we’ll be checking with our power company, Horizon Utilities, now to see if we can’t be “quad-dipping” soon too!
Heather