By Steve Hubrecht
Invermere has updated its building incentive policy.
The policy was due for an update, having first been put in place more than a decade ago. District staff, led by Invermere environmental planner Amy Fletcher, put forward a revised version of the policy this past January. But Invermere councillors put the matter on pause after local resident Tracy Flynn suggested better aligning Invermere’s building incentive policy update with the Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK)’s new retrofit assist program.
District staff met with their RDEK counterparts later in the winter, and as a result have now incorporated four incentive rebates into the updated policy based on the retrofit assist program. These include for building envelope improvements (such as better windows, better doors, and better insulation); for adding an air-source heat pump; for installing energy recovery ventilators (ERVs) or heat recovery ventilators (HRVs); and for adding a solar panel system. They kept in the most popular rebate from the old building incentive policy: one for converting to low-flow flushing toilets.
Invermere council adopted the new building incentive policy during its Tuesday, Aprill 22 meeting. The policy has a $10,000 budget — $8,000 for the energy retrofit incentives, and $2,000 for the toilet replacement rebate.
During discussion on the policy, councillor Theresa Wood asked about a stipulation that a qualified contractor needed to do the work in order for Invermere homeowners to get the rebate. She wanted to know more about the definition of “qualified,” noting that some energy-related qualifications can be “pretty onerous” to get, while others are easier. If the qualifications are hard to get, and as a result there are few contractors in the Columbia Valley certified to do the work, then not many residents will use the rebates for the simple reason that it will be hard to find someone to do the job, she reasoned.
Councillor (and acting mayor) Kayja Becker replied that, to her understanding, the policy takes a broad definition of qualified contractor. “That’s ideal, because we want people actually using the rebates,” said Becker.
The updated building incentive policy applies to Invermere homeowners, not to renters.
Back in January councillor Gerry Taft had commented that many building incentive rebate policies are specifically for homeowners. “These programs don’t often consider rental households. But when it comes to energy efficiency, the ownership structure (of the home) doesn’t matter. What matters is how much energy it uses,” Taft said at the time. “A lot of Invermere’s long-term rental housing stock is aging homes that are not energy efficient.”
