Senator Mary Coyle has introduced Bill S-251, proposing a national strategy to end energy poverty.
When we think about what a national strategy could change, we think of people like Melissa, a renter in Vancouver, who wore winter jackets indoors with her child because their rental home’s furnace was unreliable and expensive to run. We also think of Emilie, a Calgary homeowner who spent evenings under blankets with her dog after her furnace failed, worrying that her pipes would freeze while she was away for work.
Their households are among the approximately two million in Canada experiencing energy poverty. While Melissa received support through a multilingual energy education program, and Emilie received upgrades as part of a fully subsidized energy retrofit program for lower-income households, reaching the millions of households still experiencing energy poverty will require a coordinated effort that matches the scale of the problem.
The annual Canada Home Energy Justice Conference in Ottawa brings together people working in housing, utilities, research, public policy, and community programs. Their experience reflects the work already underway across Canada: governments are funding retrofits, utilities are providing efficiency and bill assistance programs, and community organizations are helping residents access support.
These efforts have developed under different mandates, funding arrangements, and regional priorities. A shared national framework would help us understand how they add up, whether energy poverty is declining, which households remain underserved, and where additional investment or a different approach is needed.
In a 2023 Statistics Canada survey, about one in seven households reported cutting back on necessities such as food or medicine for at least one month in the previous year to pay an energy bill.
Responding to that hardship often requires several kinds of assistance. A family may need help paying a bill now as well as insulation to reduce costs over time. A renter may qualify for an upgrade but need their landlord’s participation. Unsafe wiring or other housing deficiencies may need to be repaired before new equipment can be installed, expanding the scope of work beyond energy retrofits.
Melissa’s experience illustrates how those pieces can come together. As a newcomer and single mother working three part-time jobs, she didn’t know renters could qualify for energy rebates. A chance referral from someone cleaning her home’s ducts connected her with Anna, a Mandarin-speaking mentor with Kambo Energy Group’s Empower Me program.
Anna explained the funding, helped communicate with the landlord, and supported Melissa through the application. After a heat pump was installed, Melissa reported a warm home, lower heating costs, and less stress.
The rebate and the support to access it were necessary. A coordinated strategy should help governments and delivery organizations address both, including the community relationships that reach households unlikely to find a program on their own.
Emilie needed a response to an urgent situation. Living alone on a single income, she couldn’t afford to replace her broken furnace and failing hot water tank. The City of Calgary’s Home Upgrades Program prioritized replacing them, then returned to repair doors that weren’t closing properly. She described bursting into tears with relief when the equipment was replaced.
Different programs address different needs, from immediate bill assistance to essential repairs and energy upgrades. A coordinated strategy would help bring those supports together so households can get help with urgent problems and improvements that reduce their energy costs over time.
A national strategy would also offer better data to help us understand who needs assistance in the first place. Energy bills alone cannot show whether someone is adequately heating or cooling their home. A household keeping the thermostat low to save money may appear to use relatively little energy while living in uncomfortable conditions.
Bill S-251 would require national measures covering energy affordability, housing performance, and health and well-being. These would provide a clearer picture of need and help assess whether programs are reaching people facing the greatest hardship. The strategy would also account for differences among housing types and communities, including renters and Indigenous, northern, and remote communities.
Existing investments give us a foundation. Budget 2024 committed $800 million to the Canada Greener Homes Affordability Program, supporting no-cost retrofits for low- and median-income households, including renters. A national strategy would help connect these kinds of investments with other housing, affordability, and consumer protection measures, while identifying additional needs that remain unmet.
If passed, S-251 would require the federal government to table a strategy within two years of Royal Assent. The bill calls for reduction targets, cooperation across governments, consultation with people experiencing energy poverty, and an advisory council. Public reporting would assess implementation and effectiveness, creating an obligation to look beyond individual program results and report on whether Canada is reducing energy poverty. Where progress falls short, that evidence could guide changes to policy, funding, and delivery.
The bill would not itself fund every repair or upgrade. It would establish a framework for deciding what is needed and tracking whether action is working. We’re asking Parliamentarians from all parties to support S-251 and help move it into law, with a commitment to the resources and implementation that must follow.
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