CEIP in Edmonton: The Program Built for Heat Pump Conversions
Edmonton runs its CEIP differently from the surrounding communities, and the difference is deliberate.
Sherwood Park and Spruce Grove will finance a straight furnace swap. Edmonton won’t. The City built its program to move homes toward heat pumps and deeper energy retrofits, not to replace one gas appliance with a slightly better gas appliance.
If that’s the direction you were already heading, Edmonton’s program is a good tool. If you just need a furnace, it probably isn’t — and we’d rather say that now than after you’ve filled out an application.
What Edmonton's program does well
It's the way to fund a heat pump conversion.
A heat pump is the upgrade this program is designed around. If you've been curious about one but couldn't justify the upfront cost, this is the mechanism that makes it work: the whole project financed, with nothing owed to us at the start.
It'll fund a proper package.
Heat pump plus a matched high-efficiency furnace as backup, plus an HRV, plus a tankless water heater. That's the kind of project Edmonton's program is built for, and it will finance the whole thing.
Up to $50,000, over as long as 20 years.
Repaid on your property tax bill, with a $3,000 minimum project. You can pay it off early with no penalty, and if you sell, the balance goes with the house.
Your credit score isn't the gate.
Same as everywhere else: you need to own the home and be current on your property taxes. The loan is secured against the property rather than against you.
The four rules that catch people out
We’d rather you hear these from us than find them halfway through an application.
A furnace on its own doesn't qualify.
In Edmonton, a high-efficiency gas furnace is only eligible when it's paired with a heat pump — and then it needs to be 97% AFUE or better. A straight furnace replacement, no matter how efficient, isn't covered here. It is covered in Sherwood Park, St. Albert and Spruce Grove.
You need at least three upgrades.
On a first application, Edmonton requires a minimum of three separate upgrades. Not one. So a single furnace, a single water heater, or a single anything won't get you in the door. (The exceptions: if fewer upgrades get your home to net zero, or you've been through the program before.)
Air conditioning and tank water heaters aren't covered.
Central AC is excluded in Edmonton. So are high-efficiency storage tank water heaters. Tankless and heat pump water heaters are still eligible — a tankless unit needs an EF of 0.9 or a UEF of 0.72 here, which is a higher bar than the surrounding municipalities set.
The rate is 6%, and there's no bonus money.
This is the big one. Edmonton charges 6% fixed. Sherwood Park charges 2%. And where Sherwood Park, St. Albert and Spruce Grove each put money toward your job — 5%, $1,400 and 7.5% — Edmonton offers no CEIP incentive at all. There's also an administration fee, calculated as the lower of 1.575% of your eligible costs or 5% of your equipment cost.
At 6% with no incentive, CEIP’s advantage over ordinary financing is much narrower in Edmonton than it is in the suburbs. Worth comparing honestly against our FinanceIt option rather than assuming the municipal program automatically wins.
How Edmonton compares
Every municipality runs its own version of CEIP. Here is where each one stands, so you can see exactly what the 6% and the missing incentive cost you.
| Where you live | Interest rate | Toward your job | Most you can borrow | Term | Open today? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Albert | 1.62%never past 3% | $1,400 | 100% of the job | 20 years | Waiting list |
| Sherwood Park | 2% | 5% of the job | Capped at your yearly property tax | 20 years | Closed — waiting list |
| Sturgeon County | 3% | 5% of the job | $50,000 | 20 years | At capacity — waiting list |
| Spruce Grove | 3.5% | 7.5% of the job | $50,000 | 25 years | Full — waiting list |
| Edmonton | 6%fixed | None | $50,000 | 20 years | Nearing capacity — waiting list |
| Leduc | Was about 1.35% blended | Was $1,350 | — | — | Closed to new applications |
| Stony Plain | — | None | — | — | No program |
Figures current as of July 2026. Rates and waiting lists change — confirm with your municipality before planning around a date.
What you pay up front
Nothing to us. The program advances a deposit directly to us, so we don’t ask you for one. In Edmonton that advance is up to 10% of the project — lower than the 30% the surrounding municipalities allow, but it still means you’re not writing us a cheque to get started.
Two costs can come out of your pocket: the first energy evaluation (a few hundred dollars, which you can add to your financing and get back after the job), and anything the program doesn’t cover or that runs past your approved amount. We’ll mark that clearly on your quote before you sign.
The energy evaluations
Edmonton requires two evaluations by a certified Energy Advisor — one before any work, one after. We can’t do them for you.
Edmonton adds a deadline the others don’t: your post-project evaluation has to be finished within six weeks of your final Upgrade Completion Form. Miss that window and you have a problem. We’ll flag it on your job so it doesn’t get away from you.
Where things stand
Edmonton’s program is nearing capacity and running a waiting list. New applications are placed on the list and processed first-come, first-served.
Worth knowing separately: the City’s own Home Energy Retrofit Accelerator and Solar Rebate programs are fully subscribed. Those are different programs from CEIP, and if you’ve seen them mentioned, they aren’t currently an option.
Is this right for you?
Probably yes if:
- You want a heat pump, or you're open to one
- You're doing three or more upgrades at once, not a single replacement
- You're planning a deeper retrofit and thinking in years, not weeks
- You'd rather keep your cash than pay for a big project outright
Probably not if:
- You need a furnace and only a furnace
- You need air conditioning, or a standard tank water heater
- You have no heat right now, or need this done quickly
- The 6% rate doesn't beat what you can get elsewhere — worth running both numbers
If you’re in the second list, we finance through FinanceIt. It moves faster, it’ll cover a straight furnace or AC replacement, and there’s no waiting list or evaluation to schedule first.
What we provide
Three things, specifically.
A quote your application will accept.
The program only takes estimates from an approved contractor, and the quote has to be detailed enough for the City to work from. You get a properly sized system, a written number, and any part of the job the program won't cover marked clearly.
Guidance at every step.
CEIP has more moving parts than most homeowners expect: the application, two energy evaluations, the completion form, the deadlines. We walk you through the order things happen in and point you toward a certified Energy Advisor for your evaluations.
The install, done properly.
Sized for your home, installed to program specification, and documented so your final evaluation passes cleanly. By a company that will still be here in ten years if a warranty question ever comes up.
We’ve been family-owned in the Edmonton area since 1976, we’re rated 4.8 stars across more than 400 Google reviews, and we’re an approved CEIP contractor — which the program requires, and so is any trade we bring with us.
We’ll also tell you honestly whether the program fits your project. In Edmonton it often doesn’t, and the right answer is a good system financed another way. A program is only useful when it’s the right one.
What we don’t do: run the program, approve applications, or decide who gets funded. That’s the City and Alberta Municipalities. Anyone who tells you they can get your application approved is overselling.
Book a free estimate
The first step is finding out what your home needs and what it costs. That visit is free, takes about an hour, and the written quote is the document your CEIP application is built on.
Want the full picture, including how Edmonton compares to the rest of the Edmonton area? Read our complete CEIP guide.
Modern Air & Water is not affiliated with the Clean Energy Improvement Program, Alberta Municipalities, or the City of Edmonton, and we don’t administer or approve applications. Rates, fees, limits, eligibility rules and availability are set by the City and change over time. Check edmonton.ca or ceip.abmunis.ca for current details. Figures current as of July 2026.