Recent Newspaper reports reported that:
Ontario residents won't be able to sell their houses or condos without first getting a home energy audit – which now costs about $300 – under the proposed new Green Energy Act.
That's one of several measures in the legislation unveiled by Energy Minister George Smitherman to boost incentives for electricity conservation and encourage renewable sources of energy.
The legislation was applauded by environmentalists as ambitious, although the David Suzuki Foundation says its green intent is undermined by government plans to build a new nuclear power plant at Darlington.
But critics fear the energy audits and Smitherman's estimated 1 per cent rise in household electricity bills as a result of the law will pinch pocketbooks as the recession deepens.
"It'll be used to beat down the seller of a home," Progressive Conservative MPP and energy critic John Yakabuski warned of the audit, which would put detailed information on a home's energy efficiency into the hands of buyers.
Toronto homeowners are already concerned about the impact the city's new land transfer tax – in addition to the provincial one – is having on sales and prices. Both taxes add up to thousands of dollars even on cheaper houses.
Forcing homeowners to get $300 energy audits before they sell is a thinly disguised new tax, critics said yesterday, putting Premier Dalton McGuinty on the defensive over his proposed Green Energy Act.
Growing controversy over the audit requirement in the act prompted the premier to say it might cost a bit more but ultimately will save money and help the environment.
"When it comes to buying the single most expensive thing that you're likely to buy during the course of your lifetime – a home – you're entitled to know what kind of costs you're going to incur on energy," he told reporters yesterday.
But hiring an energy auditor to come in still amounts to a squeeze on the pocketbook at a time when house prices are already under downward pressure in the sagging economy, said Progressive Conservative MPP and energy critic John Yakabuski.
"It can be viewed by reasonable people as another tax on the sale of your home."
Suggesting the proposal isn't set in stone, McGuinty and Energy Minister George Smitherman hinted buyers could end up footing the bill for audits, which will still qualify for government subsidy of up to $150.
