No. Ontario has no rebate for a home EV charger in 2026. The province ended its home charging station rebate in 2018, and nothing has replaced it for a house. What is left is a federal incentive on the car, a free charger offered by a private company, and a small gift card from Hydro One for letting it manage when the car charges. None of the three pays for the circuit.
That last point decides how to read every program below. A rebate on hardware does not change the cost of a run from the panel to the garage. If you are pricing a charger, start with the EV charger installation load calculation, because it tells you whether the job is a breaker and a short run or a service change.
What closed, so you can stop looking
Three programs a buyer may still read about are closed to a homeowner.
- The Ontario home rebate. Gone since 2018, per ChargeHub’s Canadian incentive list.
- ZEVIP and ChargeON. Both were for businesses, workplaces, municipalities and multi-unit buildings, never for a single-family house, and metroEV’s rebate page lists both as closed to applications. The same page states that rebates for a single-family home “are not available in Ontario at this time.”
- The Canada Greener Homes Loan. Natural Resources Canada lists it as closed, with its funding fully committed.
The federal money is on the car
The Electric Vehicle Affordability Program is the “$5,000 rebate” people ask about. It covers cars bought or leased from February 16, 2026, and pays up to $5,000 on a battery electric car or up to $2,500 on a plug-in hybrid. You do not apply for it yourself: the dealer submits it, and each person gets one over the life of the program.
Two details matter to someone also buying a charger.
The charger does not count against the price cap. The car has to come in at $50,000 or less, unless it is made in Canada. Transport Canada’s questions and answers list a “Level 2 Charger and charger adapters” among the items excluded from that transaction value. A dealer who bundles a charger into the deal does not push the car over the line.
The amount drops by date of submission, not date of purchase. The battery electric incentive falls to $4,000 in 2027. Transport Canada says the amount depends on when the dealer submits the assessment, not the date you bought the car. A car bought in late December is worth asking about in writing.
A free charger, with conditions
SWTCH’s home charging program ships a Level 2 charger at no charge to Canadian homeowners. The terms on its order page today:
- a $300 deposit, refunded after 1,500 kWh of charging
- a $30 shipping fee
- a choice of a NEMA 14-50 plug at 40A or a hardwired unit at 48A
- payment per kWh you charge at home, 3 cents to start and 11 cents after the first 1,500 kWh, paid out in $100 increments
The page also says new orders are expected to ship mid-October, so check the date before you book an electrician around it.
The program pays for the box, not the wiring. The charger still needs a dedicated circuit sized to the setting you choose, and that circuit still needs a notification to the ESA before the work starts. Our guide on whether electrical work in Ontario needs an ESA permit covers who files it. If your service has less room than the charger’s full rating, the charger gets set down to match, as the level 2 EV charger guide explains.
Hydro One pays for timing, and only at home
Hydro One is one of the distributors in this region. Its myEnergy Rewards program for electric vehicles is the nearest thing to a local incentive, and it is small.
- A one-time $50 gift card when you enrol, and $50 a year after that if you do not opt out of more than 50% of the managed charging sessions.
- You enrol the car, through an app. Enrolment of Level 2 chargers is closed.
- In exchange, Hydro One adjusts when the car charges.
The condition that matters here is the address. The procedures require the car or charger to be at your primary residence, with the primary residence in Hydro One territory, and Wi-Fi that is always on. A charger at a cottage on the bay or in Muskoka fails the first condition, even when Hydro One sends the bill. A cottage charger earns nothing from this program.
If your house is on another distributor, check that distributor’s own site before you count on anything.
The heat pump next to the charger
Home Renovation Savings, run by Enbridge Gas and Save on Energy, pays up to $12,000 on a heat pump. Its list of upgrades has no EV charger on it.
That matters to the load calculation, not the rebate. A house that adds a heat pump for the rebate and a charger for the car has added two large loads, and both have to fit the same service. Have both counted in one calculation before either goes in, so the second one does not arrive to find the first has used the room.
What to do with this
- Count the car incentive at the dealer, and ask for the submission date in writing.
- Decide whether the SWTCH charger suits you before you buy one.
- If the car sleeps at your primary residence in Hydro One territory, enrol it in myEnergy Rewards.
- Get the circuit priced on its own, because no program pays for it.
The last step is the one we do. Our page on EV charger installation around the bay lists what the run and the load calculation cost, whichever charger you end up with.