CEIP in Sherwood Park: 2% Financing and 5% Toward Your New Furnace
Strathcona County runs one of the better CEIP programs near Edmonton. It's also one of the busiest.
If you live in Sherwood Park or elsewhere in the County and you’re looking at a new furnace, heat pump or water heater, here’s where things stand.
Strathcona County pairs one of the lowest rates in the region with 5% of the job paid against your loan. The catch is demand: the program is popular enough that your place in line matters as much as the terms do. Here’s what it covers and how to get started.
What you get
2% interest.
Lower than almost any loan or line of credit you'd get for equipment, and a third of what the City of Edmonton charges on the same kind of project.
5% of the job, from the County.
Worked out on the amount you finance and applied against your loan once the work is done. On a $12,000 furnace and heat pump that's $600.
Up to 20 years to pay it back.
Repaid through your property tax bill, with no penalty for paying it off early. If you sell before it is cleared, the balance goes with the house.
Nothing to us up front.
The program advances our deposit directly to us. One limit to check on a big job: your yearly payment can't exceed your yearly municipal and education property tax. For most homes that's plenty of room.
How the 5% actually works
This trips people up, so here’s the plain version.
Think of it as the County making a payment on your loan for you. You don’t get a cheque. The money comes straight off what you owe.
Here's a $12,000 furnace and heat pump:
| Our quote | $12,000 |
|---|---|
| What you pay us up front | $0 |
| What your loan starts at | $12,000 |
| The County's 5% | – $600 |
| What you pay back | $11,400, at 2% |
Three things to know:
It comes at the end.
You get it after the job is finished, your final energy evaluation is done, and your paperwork is in — not when you're approved.
You only get it if you borrow.
The 5% is worked out on the amount you finance. If you pay cash for the job instead, there's nothing for it to come off. You'd be walking away from $600.
It can run out.
There's a limited amount of this money, handed out first-come, first-served. The County says plainly it can't promise the money will still be there when your job finishes. One per job.
One more thing worth saying: the 5% doesn’t come out of our price. We quote $12,000, you finance $12,000, and the County’s $600 comes off your loan on top of that. Our quote is the same either way.
The waiting list
Strathcona County’s program is full and closed to new applications right now. People already on the waiting list are being processed as room opens up.
That’s not a reason to do nothing. It’s a reason to get in line and get your paperwork ready, so you’re not starting from zero when space frees up. Check with the County or Alberta Municipalities for the current situation — this changes.
What's covered
Heating and cooling
A high-efficiency furnace, a heat pump (sized to handle at least half your heating), central air conditioning, a high-efficiency boiler, an HRV or ERV, or a geothermal heat pump.
Water heating
A tankless water heater, a heat pump water heater, a high-efficiency tank water heater, or a drain water heat recovery unit.
Everything has to be ENERGY STAR certified. Any equipment we’d recommend for an Edmonton-area winter already meets the requirements.
One local rule: ECM furnace motors aren’t covered in Strathcona County, even though they’re covered elsewhere. If someone has quoted you an ECM motor as a CEIP job here, ask them about it.
The step most people don't expect
The County requires two energy evaluations by a certified Energy Advisor — one before the work starts, one after it’s done. We can’t do them for you. They’re not optional.
The first one has to happen before we touch anything. Miss the second one and you lose both your financing and your 5%.
You pay for the first evaluation yourself. You can then ask to have both added to your financing and get that money back once the job is finished. So it’s money out of pocket for a while, not money gone.
Book the Energy Advisor early. Waiting on one is the most common reason these jobs get delayed.
How Sherwood Park compares
Every municipality runs its own version of CEIP. Here is where each one stands.
| 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.
Is this right for you?
Probably yes if:
- Your furnace is old and you're planning ahead
- You can wait — the waiting list plus the evaluations means weeks, possibly months
- You'd rather keep your cash
- You're staying in the house a while, or you don't mind passing the balance to a buyer
Probably not if:
- You have no heat right now
- You need this done in the next week or two
- You want the equipment paid off outright with nothing attached to your title
If you’re in the second group, that’s fine — we finance through FinanceIt, which moves quickly and doesn’t involve the County.
What you do pay for yourself
We’d rather say this plainly than let “nothing down” do more work than it should.
You pay us nothing up front. The program advances our deposit straight to us, so we don’t ask you for one. That part really is zero.
Two costs can still come out of your pocket:
The first energy evaluation.
You pay the Energy Advisor yourself before work starts, usually a few hundred dollars. You can add both evaluations to your financing and get that money back after the job, so it comes back to you. But it leaves your account first.
Anything the program won't cover.
If part of the job isn't eligible, or the total runs past your approved amount, you pay us for that portion directly. Work around the equipment, such as venting, electrical or duct changes, is where this usually shows up.
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 County 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.
Sherwood Park is one of our steadiest markets. If the waiting list doesn’t work with your timeline — and with a failing furnace, sometimes it can’t — we’ll say so and show you what else is available.
What we don’t do: run the program, approve applications, or decide who gets funded. That’s the County 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 Sherwood Park 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 Strathcona County, and we don’t administer or approve applications. Rates, bonus amounts, limits and availability are set by the County and change over time. Check strathcona.ca or ceip.abmunis.ca for current details. Figures current as of July 2026.