How much you get
The province's Home Renovation Savings Program offers a rebate for heat pump water heaters that replace a gas, electric, or oil tank. It sits in the assessment-required tier, alongside insulation and windows.
Heat pump water heater
Replaces a gas, electric, or oil tank.
To claim it, you'll need a home energy assessment (about $600, refunded as a rebate) and at least two qualifying upgrades. A water heater plus one other measure, like insulation or windows, gets you there. Complete three or more upgrades and you also unlock an extra $500 bonus on top.
Financing with Better Homes Peterborough
Up to $50,000 at 4.5%, repaid through your property tax bill
Water heaters are an explicitly eligible upgrade under Better Homes Peterborough, the city's retrofit loan delivered through EnviroCentre, relaunched February 19, 2026 through March 2029. It offers a secured loan up to $50,000 at 4.5% interest over 15 years through your property tax bill, or an unsecured loan through Kawartha Credit Union. Call 1-888-284-9417 or visit betterhomesptbo.ca.
What's actually different about Peterborough
Peterborough grew up as an industrial town, home to the Quaker Oats plant and other manufacturing operations along the Trent-Severn Waterway, and a lot of the housing built for that workforce decades ago is exactly the kind of older stock where an original tank is likely to be near end-of-life.
Trent University's presence adds a rental-housing dimension to Peterborough's market similar to other Ontario university towns, with landlords making a meaningful share of these upgrade decisions in the neighbourhoods closest to campus.
Tankless and heat pump water heaters, compared
In Peterborough's older industrial-era housing, a tank is a common candidate for the kind of replacement where a tankless unit's 15-plus year lifespan and roughly 97 percent efficiency (against about 67 percent for a standard tank) shows up fastest in the numbers. A heat pump water heater is the other high-efficiency option, with a coefficient of performance around 2.5 to 3.5, and it's the technology the $500 provincial rebate is built around.
Water Heater installers in Peterborough
We haven't independently vetted specific water heater installers in Peterborough yet, so we're not going to invent names or star ratings for this page. Browse our installer directory to compare local companies yourself, or run the free assessment below and we'll help connect you with someone once we have vetted options in your area.
Browse the HomePowerRebate installer directory →
Common questions
How much is the water heater rebate in Peterborough?
$500 for a heat pump water heater that replaces a gas, electric, or oil tank, through Ontario's Home Renovation Savings Program. This rebate is part of the assessment-required tier, so you'll need a home energy assessment and at least two qualifying upgrades to claim it.
Can Better Homes Peterborough finance a water heater upgrade?
Yes. Water heaters are listed as an eligible upgrade under the Better Homes Peterborough loan program, which can lend up to $50,000 at 4.5% interest, repaid over 15 years through your property tax bill or through Kawartha Credit Union.
Do Peterborough rental properties near Trent University qualify?
Yes, a landlord who owns the property can apply the same way an owner-occupier would. Given how much of the housing near Trent University is rental, this is a common path for the rebate in that part of the city.
Your utility: Peterborough Utilities Commission
Peterborough Utilities Commission bills electricity across the city as a municipally owned provider. The $500 water heater rebate is a provincial program rather than a Peterborough Utilities incentive, but the commission is your contact for capacity questions and worth checking for its own conservation offers.
Next steps
View all Peterborough rebate programs → or check the official Home Renovation Savings Program site → for the current source of truth.