Financials of Solar Hot Water

Get Solar Hot Water for as little as $1 a Day!

Under a financing program offered by Bullfrog Power, and assuming Enerworks' default hot water consumption for a typical Toronto household, the cost of going solar would be roughly $30/month, the same premium paid by Bullfrog's retail electricity customers.

However, with a 20 year lifespan and estimated 10 year payback period, a solar thermal system from Bullfrog offers you FREE energy for roughly 10 years, a huge advantage over buying Bullfrog electricity, which offers no return on investment.

Residents of Toronto

Under the Toronto Solar Neighbourhoods Initiative pilot program, residents in Wards 29, 30, 31 and 32 in east Toronto could go solar for as little as $25/month. The incentive program is completed but the excellent website resources and Federal and Provincial government subsidies are still available.

Subsidies

Solar hot water (SHW) presents a different value proposition than solar PV. Unlike PV which is an investment in power generation that feeds the grid, SHW generates hot water for consumption onsite. As a result, subsidies for SHW are structured differently than PV subsidies.

SHW subsidies are targeted at reducing upfront capital costs and the current combination of subsidies, which begin to expire early next year, have driven SHW to a cost competitive position.
The incentives are outlined below.

Incentive	Description	Expiry Date
ecoEnergy Retrofit-Homes Program (Federal)	$1,250 upon completion of an ecoEnergy Audit	March 31, 2022
ecoEnergy Retrofit-Homes Program (Provincial)*	$1,250 upon completion of an ecoEnergy Audit	March 31, 2022
Home Renovation Tax Credit (Federal)	15% of home reno project costs up to a maximum of $1,350	February 1, 2022
Retail Sales Tax (PST) Rebate (Provincial)	Full Rebate on the RST for hard system costs, equipment, etc.	January 1, 2022
ecoEnergy for Renewable Heat Residential Program(Federal)	$800 and only available through the Enerworks/Bullfrog partnership	A limited number of systems are available
Toronto Solar Nieghbourhoods Initiative (Regional)	$1,000	The program has met its target

*The Federal and Provincial ecoEnergy subsidies layer on each other for a total of $2500 in rebates, however only one audit is required at a cost of $350.

System Production

A solar hot water system will usually be sized to meet 50% of your annual hot water demand. As illustrated below, the system provides for almost all of your hot water needs during the summer months and still offers some heating even in the depths of winter.

Payback

The financial payback for solar hot water systems is dependent on hot water consumption habits
of the individual household. Variables such as efficiency of appliances, number of individuals in the homes, hot water temperature settings and vacation times all affect the payback of the system. As such it could easily be misleading for Our Power to project a payback timeline and highly encourage you to use the simple Enerworks calculator available here.