Bridgewater wants to lift people out of energy poverty, but helping renters is a struggle

A program aimed at lifting at least 350 households in Bridgewater, N.S., out of energy poverty is having trouble reaching some of the people who are struggling the most to pay for heat and power, putting its long-held goal at risk. 

The South Shore town is working to cut the number of its residents in energy poverty in half by 2030. Its efforts were bolstered by a $5-million federal grant in 2019.

So far, however, the Energize Bridgewater project has been unable to overcome what its director calls a "big gap" created by rental housing and landlords who are downloading the rising cost of energy onto tenants.

"We're not able to help a large portion of the people who are experiencing energy poverty at this point, and we're still trying to find solutions to that," said Jessica McDonald.

A 2022 study by researchers at McGill University found 38 per cent of Bridgewater residents are facing energy poverty, which means they are spending more than six per cent of their household income on home energy expenses. The town had a population of 8,790 as of 2021.

Rising cost of energy

McDonald said Energize Bridgewater's program targets property owners by offering low-interest loans for upgrades like insulation, installing heat pumps, or draft-proofing, for example.

About six apartment buildings with a total of 67 units have taken part, making energy efficiency upgrades and agreeing to keep rents low. That part of the program is funded by Efficiency Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Power and the province. 

However, some other property owners in Bridgewater are drawing up leases for new tenants that don't include heat, power, or other utilities in the cost of rent.

McDonald said this has often been the case among new owners who bought rental properties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"They might keep the rent the same, but they were adding the cost of heat and power onto the tenants," said McDonald. "Then with the rising cost of energy, that cost is even more than it might have been a few years back."

McDonald said until this month, the town thought it would be able to expand the financing program to incentivize more landlords to make energy-efficient repairs. However, it just learned some of its funding comes with restrictions that won't allow the town to make these types of loans, meaning Energize Bridgewater could fall short of its target.

Detailed study of the town

The town has been tracking the success of the Energize Bridgewater project through McGill University's research, which is examining the impact of energy poverty on the lives of residents.

"It's the first study that takes a really deep dive in energy poverty in one community in Canada," said Mylène Riva, an associate professor in the geography department and the Canada Research Chair in Housing, Community and Health. 

So far, the program has given low-cost loans to 116 homeowners to make efficiency upgrades. According to the town's data, this has reduced those homes' energy costs by about $1,000 a year on average. 

It has also provided funds through the South Shores Open Doors Association to help about 600 households, many of which are in arrears on their power bills.

Of the 516 people McGill surveyed for its 2022 study, it found that eight per cent spent a winter in dwellings so cold "that they could see their breath inside," said Riva.

Laurianne Debanné, a PhD student on Riva's team, conducted interviews with almost 40 Bridgewater residents last September to learn how they were coping with the issue. 

Many residents said they were juggling housing, transportation, eating, and heating or cooling. Some said they'd tried to do "makeshift renovations" to their homes. 

"So having blankets on windows and sleeping in the same bed as kids to keep warm," Debanné said. She added many interviewees reported "a lot of stress, a lot of despair."

"A lot of parents with children that were really worried about their kids or even feeling inadequate as parents because they can't provide a warm or cool enough home for their kids," she said. 

On Sept. 26, there will be a public event to showcase the findings by McGill, the town, and the South Shores Open Doors Association.

"You just see that there's a lot of really deep hardships that households are experiencing," Debanné said. "I think in a way [the event] is just showing them that we see what's going on and we're trying to bring attention to that."

In the meantime, McDonald said town staff are trying to figure out how to make the financing work for more property owners, and want to find a way to convince landlords to make the capital upgrades to their buildings that will reduce energy costs for the tenants. 

"It's also an investment in their tenants who are occupying their properties," she said. 

The McGill team will return to Bridgewater next year to update their research. 

Bridgewater is far from the only Nova Scotia community coping with energy poverty. 

According to a December 2023 study by Efficiency One, a not-for-profit related to Efficiency Nova Scotia, the community of Eskasoni in Cape Breton had as many as 87 per cent of its households in energy poverty, followed by Dominion at 68 per cent and New Waterford at 67 per cent.