WESTLOCK — Westlock residents will soon be eligible to apply for $845,520 in loans provided through a partnership between the Government of Canada and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) to retrofit their homes to be more energy efficient.
On Oct. 17, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson and FCM president Scott Pearce announced that $13.5 million is being provided to five Alberta communities, including the Town of Westlock, for energy efficiency retrofits.
Westlock’s share of that funding was just over $1.2 million, while the other four municipalities — Strathona County, Sturgeon County, the City of Grande Prairie and the City of Cold Lake — received the remaining $12.3 million.
Though this funding is being provided through the FCM’s Green Municipal Fund, the loans will be based on a Property Assessed Clean Energy financing mechanism employed by the Clean Energy Improvement Program (CEIP), which is itself administered by Alberta Municipalities.
Town of Westlock CAO Simone Wiley explained that homeowners will soon be able to apply to the CEIP for the $845,720 in loans, which will in turn paid back through charges added to their property taxes.
Wiley said these loans will have to be paid back based on the life cycle of the upgrade that’s being made — to use an example, a loan for a new hot water tank will be repaid over X years, while new energy-efficient windows will be repaid over Y years.
However, because CEIP is being administered by Alberta Municipalities, Wiley said the association has to assign a program administrator to process loan applications, and the cost of that administrator is being charged to the Town of Westlock via a fee.
That's why the funding announcement also came with a $422,760 grant that will cover the town’s administration costs.
Wiley said they are hoping to provide more details about how residents can apply for the loans in early November, adding that there will be further announcements via the Town of Westlock’s website and social media.
Wiley noted that it’s taken a lot of work for the town to secure this funding, but it ultimately is for the betterment of the community.
“The town worked on this largely because we know we have an aging housing stock out there,” Wiley said.
“And as we’re seeing across the province and Canada, there’s a housing shortage. So to modernize and bring up those aging dwellings is going to increase the longevity of the Town of Westlock.”
In a release from the federal government, energy minister Jonathan Wilkinson said that increasing energy efficiency lowers costs for Canadian families and emissions in our communities.
“This investment will support municipalities across Alberta to implement innovative approaches to ensure more efficient homes and create good, local jobs,” he said.
