No solar rebate applications being accepted as P.E.I. government hits pause button

Raphael Caron · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 14, 2025 11:27 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

The Prince Edward Island government's determination to intermission caller applications for its star rebate programme is raising concerns among immoderate businesses that instal star panels.

At the extremity of February, Efficiency P.E.I. notified installers that it would nary longer process caller pre-approval letters.

Gilles Arsenault, the Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Action, said the programme is presently "oversubscribed," and the intermission is indispensable to reappraisal its structure.

"Everybody that's been pre-approved is gonna beryllium serviced, and the ones that are applying arsenic caller customers volition beryllium paused astatine the infinitesimal until we redefine what we're going to bash with the program," helium told CBC News.

Arsenault said it volition beryllium precocious summertime earlier the state starts accepting immoderate caller applications to the program.

The authorities wants to guarantee the programme is being administered efficaciously and successful a fiscally liable mode portion besides reviewing eligibility criteria for applicants, helium said.

Arsenault added that the caller iteration of the programme could see artillery storage, but whitethorn also include eligibility limits tied to income.

According to the Efficiency P.E.I. website, the programme was designed to marque star powerfulness much accessible by providing fiscal incentives for Island homeowners, farms and businesses to instal star photovoltaic panels.

Homes and businesses tin receive up to 40 per cent of installed costs of the panels, for a maximum of $10,000 successful rebates.

According to the P.E.I. government, 979 applications were processed and a small much than $9.2 cardinal successful rebates was handed retired successful 2024-25. Since the programme began successful 2019, determination person been 4,197 applications and $38.6 cardinal successful rebates.

Concerns from businesses

Darcie Lanthier, income manager astatine Renewable Lifestyles Ltd. successful Summerside, said her company, which sells and installs star panels passim the province, has been signing customers passim the wintertime to purchase the panels with the rebate programme successful mind.

Now, with the intermission successful spot and nary wide timeline, she said some her concern and customers are near successful limbo.

"We don't cognize what to archer our customers. We don't cognize however galore panels to order. We don't cognize however galore radical to hire," Lanthier said.

"It conscionable leaves america successful this abstraction of not knowing anything."

Path the nett zero

Lanthier, who is besides a erstwhile national Green Party campaigner successful Charlottetown, believes it doesn't marque consciousness for the state to steer distant from renewable energy despite indicating different successful the past.

"On 1 hand, you person the state putting a chill connected the star industry; connected the different hand, you person Maritime Electric asking for fractional a cardinal dollars worthy of infrastructure that's conscionable going to pain fossil fuels to marque power," she said.

"It doesn't truly marque sense. It's 2025. We should beryllium spending our wealth connected star and upwind and renewable vigor and efficiency and storage."