Energy Efficiency Program (EEP)

Audit and Evaluation Branch
Natural Resources Canada

April 16, 2026

On this page

• Program description
• Evaluation findings
• Recommendations and management response and action plan
• About the evaluation

Program description

The objective of the EEP programs is to encourage and enable the adoption of cleaner and more energy-efficient technologies, products, and practices through a range of activities and outputs targeting energy consumers, industry, the housing and building sectors, and equipment manufacturers. In support of federal commitments to achieve net-zero, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) launched a number of initiatives under the Energy Efficiency Program (EEP).

Evaluation findings

Relevance

The EEP programs are aligned with NRCan and Government of Canada objectives and priorities. There is a continued need for federal funding to support energy efficiency, as federal investments remain essential to addressing barriers to adoption and advancing market transformation. The EEP programs are also complementary to other energy efficiency initiatives across jurisdictions, supporting other federal, provincial, and territorial efforts on energy efficiency.

Effectiveness

The EEP programs made progress towards their immediate, intermediate and ultimate outcomes from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

Overall, engagement and outreach activities conducted by the EEP programs were effective in reaching a broad range of target groups. The programs also engaged Indigenous peoples and communities through targeted outreach and participation in energy efficiency initiatives, supporting Indigenous involvement and contributing to reconciliation objectives.

The CGHG achieved most of its outcomes and exceeded targets for awareness, Indigenous participation, retrofit uptake, and energy savings. Homeowners who undertook retrofits incented by the program are realizing financial benefits, with average annual energy savings estimated between $553 and $825 per household. However, rapid uptake also created delivery pressures, market volatility for home retrofits products such as heat pumps, and capacity constraints. Evidence suggests that effectiveness of the CGHG could have been further enhanced by more explicitly prioritizing high impact retrofit measures in the allocation of grant amounts. Aligning funding more closely with measures that deliver the strongest energy-savings and decarbonization outcomes would help maximize results achieved with available resources.

The OHPA program achieved early results, reaching low- to median-income households and delivering energy savings, emissions reductions and cost savings to Canadians. Households that completed OHPA retrofits are saving an average of $1,377 per year on heating bills.

The other three programs remain in earlier stages of implementation, with targets not intended to be achieved until 2027 or 2030. Within this context:

• The DRAI achieved early results in fostering collaboration and building deep-retrofit market capacity to deliver services to clients. However, it is too early to report on how this translates into results for improved energy efficiency in the buildings sector.
• The CAF made progress toward its immediate outcome by advancing readiness for higher-performance energy codes, while longer-term results depend on provincial and territorial adoption.
• The GIFMP made early progress in engaging industrial stakeholders and leveraging private-sector participation, with outcomes related to energy-savings in the industrial sector expected later due to longer-term implementation timelines.

Efficiency

While variances in expenditures do not appear to have impeded results, analysis suggests opportunities to improve efficiency. Capacity constraints among certain provincial delivery partners and internal administrative and reporting requirements contributed to inefficiencies, particularly during early implementation. These challenges affected both internal program workflows (e.g., lengthy review and approval processes) and external delivery processes (e.g., delays in signing contribution agreements). As programs matured, the introduction of standardized processes and improved coordination helped mitigate these challenges, highlighting opportunities for further efficiency gains through continued process streamlining and strengthened collaboration.

Recommendations and management response and action plan

Recommendation	Management response and action plan
The Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE) should strive to improve the effectiveness of any future home retrofit programs by: a) Prioritizing high-impact upgrade pathways by directing higher grant levels toward retrofit measures with the strongest potential of overall benefits including financial savings, energy-savings and decarbonization (e.g., building envelope improvements, insulation) which reduce costs for households, while achieving greater energy efficiency and GHG emission reductions. b) Enhance the responsiveness of incentive and delivery models to improve accessibility and user experience by adjusting funding formulas and eligibility criteria to reflect climatic variation, market maturity, and retrofit ambition, and by simplifying application, reporting, and verification processes, while maintaining established service standards.	Management Agrees. OEE will continue to leverage its program experience to update its evidence-base and improve future program design, engagement, and delivery speed. Including documenting and integrating lessons learned from its programs into future proposals for home retrofit programs. OEE will conduct a quantitative impact analysis when the Canada Greener Homes Grant (CGHG) and Oil to Heat Pump Affordability (OHPA) home retrofit programs end. The analysis will assess and document incentive levels and results achieved, including which retrofit measures were chosen by Canadians, their relative impacts on home energy efficiency, cost savings or emissions reductions. Potential future home retrofit programs will be able to apply learned experiences and use them to improve effectiveness early in the program and will be in a better position to prioritize the highest impact measures to achieve desired results. OEE’s technological infrastructure and tools will also support potential future retrofit programs, while recognizing that consumer choice will ultimately drive which retrofits are selected. Position responsible: Directors of HPDD with the support of EHD and SPAD on behalf of the OEE DG and the EETS ADM. Date to achieve: March 31, 2027
The OEE should improve operational efficiency and reduce administrative burden across delivery streams by: a) Identifying key internal dependencies early and integrating these into planning and risk management. b) Maintaining and continuously improving centralized repositories for program guidance, decisions, and reference materials to support national programs, effective information sharing, and seamless knowledge transfer across delivery teams.	Management Agrees, but notes that resources through departmental internal services sectors have a role in addressing this recommendation. OEE’s digital infrastructure, teams and tools are indispensable in delivering programs in an efficient and modern way. Going forward, keeping these teams within OEE is essential to continue improving efficiencies, reduce administrative burden, and the success of program design and delivery improvements such as the use of a dedicated grants and contributions platform that facilitates application, data collection and reporting processes. a) OEE will complete a mapping exercise to identify internal dependencies such that they can be integrated into planning and risk management for future programs. Through this exercise, OEE will improve operational efficiencies and reduce administrative burden overall. b) OEE will leverage its governance committees to develop and maintain centralized repositories of internal training and onboarding guides for new program officers. These products will support consistent delivery and effective knowledge transfer for business continuity and consistency in program development and delivery. Furthermore, OEE has initiated work to standardize program documentation (e.g. application guides, evaluation matrices, etc.) to improve consistency in program delivery and efficiency across all programs irrespective of the target audience. OEE regularly consults with other program areas within the Department on best practices, when consolidated departmental internal service groups’ guidance is unavailable. Position responsible: OEE DG on behalf of the EETS ADM. Date to achieve: March 31, 2027

About the evaluation

The evaluation was conducted by NRCan’s Audit and Evaluation Branch (AEB).

The evaluation examined the core issues of relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency over the period between 2020-21 to 2024-25.

A cluster approach was adopted in this evaluation to allow for a systems perspective, showcasing how five different programs address their respective program outcomes as well as those of the overall DRF Energy Efficiency Program.