Fix First HomeWhat home-upgrade rebates actually pay — and who you apply to.

Fix First Home › British Columbia › HomeSave Central Kootenays

HomeSave Central Kootenays open

Administered by the City of Nelson with the Regional District of Central Kootenay.

A performance rebate of up to $5,000 for home energy upgrades anywhere in the Regional District of Central Kootenay, for owners and renters, with optional credit-union financing of up to $40,000. The work has to cut the home's energy use by at least 20%, and the rebate is worked out after every other rebate is applied.

source · verified 27 September 2026

What it pays

Rebate
Up to $5,000, performance-based, typically paid within 30 days
Energy cut needed
At least 20% across the approved upgrades
Loan
$5,000 to $40,000 from Nelson & District Credit Union, at the credit union's prime plus 0.5%, a five-year term and a ten-year amortization
What counts
Envelope, mechanical, and solar generation and storage; a dual-fuel heat pump with a gas furnace is eligible
Time to finish
12 months from approval
Evaluations
EnerGuide before and after, with a subsidy while funding lasts

Inside the City of Nelson, Nelson Hydro also lends up to $16,000 per household for energy upgrades, repaid on the electricity bill; residents of the regional district outside the city do not qualify for it.

Who is eligible

Who can apply

  • Homeowners and renters in every community of the Regional District of Central Kootenay, municipal and rural
  • Register and be approved before starting work
  • Equipment bought new from Canadian suppliers; on do-it-yourself work, materials count but labour does not

What disqualifies you

The rules people find out about after the work is done.

  • A stand-alone natural gas furnace upgrade.
  • Work started before approval.

Where the application goes

Register with the City of Nelson.

Where the application goes
If this is youApply here
Registernelson.ca/HomeSave
Questionsnelson.ca

The thing most pages get wrong

The $5,000 is what is left after other rebates, not on top of them. "If you receive rebates from other programs, those amounts are applied first, and the HomeSave rebate is calculated on the remaining eligible project cost." It launched in April 2026 with $2.65 million, mostly from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, over four years.

Dual fuel is fine here

Unlike Saanich's and Nanaimo's loans, which exclude dual-fuel systems, HomeSave accepts a heat pump paired with a gas furnace.