LiveSmart's death wounds companies

Ann Hui
Times Colonist
August 18, 2009

Demise of rebates for 'green-energy' leaves support sector out in the cold

The phones at City Green have been ringing since Friday.

The calls have mostly been about the sudden end of LiveSmart B.C., a rebate program for energy-efficient homes. And about 15 to 25 per cent of them, said Peter Sundberg, executive director of City Green, have been calling to cancel their energy assessment appointments. The program's demise might be hurting homeowners, he said, but it's hurting those in the "green economy" even more.

"The energy advisers, the window gal and the home renovation guy were all being supported through this program. The impact is huge," he said.

LiveSmart allowed homeowners to receive hundreds of dollars of rebates on home energy assessments, as well as energy-efficient upgrades such as heating, windows and appliances.

Just 15 months into the program, however, Energy Minister Blair Lekstrom announced on Friday that the $60-million budget has been fully committed.

Due to the current economic climate, he said, additional funds would not be injected into the program.

Federal grants such as those under its ecoENERGY program still exist. But in some cases, they are not as extensive as what LiveSmart offered.

Energy advisers said they've already started to feel the hit.

Dave Smith, a certified energy adviser with Ridge Energy Consultants, has had half his appointments this week already call to cancel.

Jeff Murdock, vice-president of Building Insight Technologies, said that about a quarter of existing appointments were cancelled, and that at least one of the company's newly trained energy advisers has been told to prepare to move to Ontario since the announcement.

Energy-efficient contractors are taking a hit as well.

Clay Crust, spokesman for Foster Air Conditioning, said heat pumps make up a large portion of the company's sales. The Live-Smart program, coupled with federal grants, covered almost 20 per cent of the cost of a heat pump for homeowners.

Now, he said, people have begun to call the company to cancel planned installations.

"There was no warning. There wasn't even any grace time," Crust said.