In May 2024, we published Busting Common Solar Power Myths, our answer to the questions we heard most from Canadians thinking about solar. Two years later, a lot has changed. Rebate programs have come and gone, electricity rates have jumped, trade rules on solar panels were rewritten just this month, and one of the worst ice storms in Ontario’s history put grid reliability at the top of homeowners’ minds.
Some of the myths we tackled in 2024 have faded. Others have taken new forms, and a few new ones have appeared. So it’s time to revisit them.
The myths we can (mostly) retire
Good news first. Several myths we covered in 2024 rarely come up anymore:
- Cold weather: Most Canadians understand that solar panels run on light, not heat, and that cold temperatures actually help panel energy production efficiency.
- Maintenance: Few people still believe panels need constant upkeep, and that solar power systems in general are very low-maintenance.
- Appearance: Sleek all-black solar panels have largely addressed the complaint that solar is an eyesore.
- Degradation: Research from the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory puts the median panel degradation rate at about 0.5% per year, so a solar power system is still producing extremely well after 20 or 25 years. Closer to home, Canadian researchers have studied a rooftop solar power array in Varennes, Quebec still operating at peak efficiency after 23 years.
We’re not dwelling on these. The conversation has moved on to money, reliability, and the fine print. So have we.
Myth 1: “Solar is too expensive, and the government help is gone.”
Re-busted: The incentives changed shape. They didn’t disappear.
It’s true that the big federal programs are finished. The Canada Greener Homes Grant closed to new applications in February 2024, and October 1, 2025 was the last day to apply for the interest-free Canada Greener Homes Loan. If a friend told you solar got harder to afford, that’s likely what they were thinking of.
Ontario’s Home Renovation Savings Program has since become the main incentive. It offers up to $5,000 for solar panels ($1,000 per kW) and up to $5,000 for battery storage ($300 per kWh), with each rebate capped at 50% of total costs. One detail matters: to qualify, a battery must be paired with a new solar system, so adding storage to solar panels you already have doesn’t count.
Equipment prices are also shifting. In January 2026, China announced that export tax rebates on solar products would be cancelled as of April 1, 2026, with battery rebates cut from 9% to 6% and eliminated entirely on January 1, 2027. Industry voices expected module prices to rise by around 10% from the rebate removal alone.
Then, on September 17, 2026, Canada’s trade tribunal rescinded more than a decade of anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Chinese solar modules. According to the Canada Border Services Agency, those duties no longer apply to new imports. The net effect on prices will play out over the coming months, but the tariff side of the equation just moved in homeowners’ favour.
Myth 2: “Unless you have cash on hand, you can’t afford solar.”
Re-busted: Low-interest municipal loans are becoming common across Canada.
This is one of the biggest changes since 2024. A growing number of Canadian municipalities offer low-interest financing for home energy upgrades, and solar is eligible in most of them. These loans are usually tied to the property and repaid through your property tax bill. Because the loan stays with the home rather than with you personally, long repayment terms are practical.
Three BetterHomes programs show the pattern:
- Better Homes Ottawa: Offers 20-year loans at a fixed 4.33% of up to $125,000 or 10% of your home’s current assessed value, whichever is less. Eligible upgrades include renewable energy.
- Better Homes Kingston: Offers up to $50,000 in low-interest loans, with up to 50% of the funding available upfront to pay contractors, and you can repay early without penalty. Loans require pre- and post-retrofit EnerGuide home energy assessments, and Kingston offers a $600 rebate toward the assessment for those not already getting one elsewhere. (For a deeper look, see our guide to BetterHomes Kingston financing for solar.)
- BetterHomes Dufferin: Supported by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Green Municipal Fund, this county program charges a 2.5% fixed rate for the full loan term, with an initial disbursement of up to 50% of approved project costs. Projects must achieve at least a 25% reduction in home energy use, and non-repayable incentives of up to $5,000 (up to $10,000 for income-qualified households) are applied against your loan balance once work is complete.
Similar financing exists elsewhere in Ontario too. Toronto’s Home Energy Loan Program (HELP) offers fixed-rate loans for rooftop solar and battery storage, with a 20-year term available for solar projects (see our Toronto HELP guide). If you live outside these areas, check with your municipality. The list keeps growing.
Myth 3: “Solar takes decades to pay for itself.”
Re-busted: Rate-plan strategy can shorten your payback dramatically.
Payback has always depended on what your electricity would otherwise cost. In Ontario, that cost jumped.
On November 1, 2025, the Ontario Energy Board changed regulated electricity prices, and the province raised the Ontario Electricity Rebate from 13.1% to 23.5% to help offset the increase. Standard Time-of-Use on-peak power now costs 20.3¢/kWh. Every kilowatt-hour your system produces, or helps you avoid buying at peak prices, is worth more than it used to be.
On November 1, 2025, the Ontario Energy Board changed regulated electricity prices, and the province raised the Ontario Electricity Rebate from 13.1% to 23.5% to help offset the increase. Standard Time-of-Use on-peak power now costs 20.3¢/kWh. Every kilowatt-hour your system produces, or helps you avoid buying at peak prices, is worth more than it used to be.
Two strategies make the most of that.
1. Load-shifting with the Ultra-Low Overnight (ULO) plan.
Under the OEB’s ULO pricing, electricity costs 3.9¢/kWh every day from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., but 39.1¢/kWh on weekdays from 4 to 9 p.m. That’s nearly double the standard Time-of-Use peak price. A solar-plus-battery system is well suited to this:
- Your panels charge the battery during the day.
- The battery powers your home through the expensive 4–9 p.m. window.
- Big flexible loads, like EV charging, laundry, and the dishwasher, run overnight at the lowest price in the province.
A household that avoids nearly all of its on-peak ULO usage can save a significant amount each year. One caution: if your battery is funded through the Home Renovation Savings Program, the program requires it to be sized to your solar system and designed primarily to store solar energy rather than power from the grid. Design your setup with that in mind.
2. Net metering.
Under Ontario’s net metering program, surplus solar power you send to the grid earns credits that offset the electricity-consumption charges on your bill. Credits can be carried forward for up to 12 months, so summer surpluses can help cover darker months. As electricity prices rise, each credit is worth more. For homes that produce a lot more than they use during the day, net metering can be the stronger long-term choice.
Which path is right depends on how much of your solar power you use yourself versus send to the grid.
Choosing well is the difference between an average payback and a great one. With the right design, rate plan, and financing, solar pays for itself faster in Ontario today than it did when electricity was cheaper. Here at Solar Power Store, we design and engineer solar power systems to achieve a target payback period of around 8 years. The exact number will vary depending on several factors, but this has proven to be a very consistent outcome for the majority of customers we work with.
Myth 4 (new): “I can claim the rebate and sign up for net metering.”
Busted: In Ontario, it’s one or the other.
This is the most common mix-up we hear in 2026, and it’s easy to see why. Our own 2024 article described exporting power for credits and claiming incentives as if you could do both. Under current rules, you can’t.
Homeowners who receive a Home Renovation Savings incentive for solar or battery storage are not eligible for a net-metering agreement with their local utility, because rebated systems must be designed for load displacement only. That means using the power in your own home rather than exporting it.
Homeowners who receive a Home Renovation Savings incentive for solar or battery storage are not eligible for a net-metering agreement with their local utility, because rebated systems must be designed for load displacement only. That means using the power in your own home rather than exporting it.
Neither option is automatically better. It comes down to your usage, as explained in Myth 3. Just make the choice before you design your system, not after.
Myth 5: “Solar power isn’t reliable.”
Re-busted: The grid showed its weak points. But not every solar system provides backup power.
In 2024, we argued that aging grid infrastructure was under strain. Then came the March 2025 ice storm.
More than one million people were affected, and freezing rain fell for up to 35 hours in parts of Ontario. Here in our own backyard, Barrie saw 15 mm of ice buildup and Orillia 19 mm. Alectra reported about 44,000 customers without power at the storm’s peak, with most of the damage in Barrie and Penetanguishene, and more than a week later, over 34,000 customers across the province were still waiting for power to return.
More than one million people were affected, and freezing rain fell for up to 35 hours in parts of Ontario. Here in our own backyard, Barrie saw 15 mm of ice buildup and Orillia 19 mm. Alectra reported about 44,000 customers without power at the storm’s peak, with most of the damage in Barrie and Penetanguishene, and more than a week later, over 34,000 customers across the province were still waiting for power to return.
After that experience, fewer people doubt solar’s reliability than the grid’s. That has created a new misconception worth clearing up: a standard grid-tied solar system does not keep your lights on during an outage. For safety reasons, grid-tied inverters shut down when the grid goes down, so line crews aren’t endangered by power flowing back into the lines.
If backup power matters to you, you need a battery and a hybrid inverter designed for backup operation. A LiFePO4 battery like the Maple Leaf Moose can keep your essentials running when the grid can’t. Our advice: if outage protection is on your list, say so at the start of the design process.
Myth 6: “Solar doesn’t make sense in cloudy Canada.”
Re-busted, with a correction.
Solar panels do produce power on cloudy days, because they can capture diffuse light. But we’ll be straight with you: on heavily overcast days, output drops substantially. Our 2024 article overstated how much panels produce in cloudy conditions, and we’d rather correct that than repeat it.
Here’s what actually matters: solar is judged on annual production, not a single grey Tuesday. Long, bright summer days in Southern Ontario more than make up for darker stretches in November. A well-designed system is sized around your full-year numbers. Snow is usually a temporary factor, since it slides off tilted panels fairly quickly, especially dark ones warmed by the sun.
Myth 7: “Solar panels are toxic waste waiting to happen.”
Re-busted: End-of-life recycling is arriving in Canada.
The worry has shifted from “panels are dangerous to live with” (they aren’t) to “what happens when they wear out?” That’s a fair question, and Canada is starting to answer it. On October 1, 2026, Alberta launches Canada’s first dedicated solar panel recycling program, banning panels from landfills and funding collection and recycling through a $14 environmental fee on each new panel. And panels are mostly recoverable material: by weight, a solar panel is roughly 75% glass, with the rest including aluminum, silver, copper, and silicon.
Solar panels last for decades, so most systems installed today won’t need recycling until the 2050s. By then, recycling infrastructure should be well established.
Myth 8 (new): “Home batteries are a fire hazard.”
Busted: Battery chemistry matters, and so does installation.
Headlines about lithium battery fires in e-bikes and other devices have made some homeowners nervous about home storage. But not all lithium batteries are the same. Home energy storage increasingly uses lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4), which research shows offers better safety performance than the nickel-based lithium chemistries found in many consumer devices. No battery chemistry is completely risk-free, which is why certified equipment and a code-compliant installation matter. Together, they make a modern home battery a well-understood, safe technology.
Myth 9: “Solar panels can hurt my home’s resale value.”
Re-busted: The evidence keeps getting stronger.
The research on this keeps accumulating. A 2025 study found that homes with owned solar systems sold for 5% to 10% more than comparable homes without solar. Leased systems showed little effect, likely because buyers hesitate to take over lease contracts. An earlier Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study of almost 22,000 home sales found buyers were willing to pay about $4 more per watt of installed solar.
These studies are American, and Canadian data is still limited. But the same fundamentals apply here: owned systems, rising electricity rates, and buyers who value lower bills and backup power.
Myth 10: “Installing solar is easy, so just do it yourself.”
Re-busted: It depends on the system.
In 2024, we emphasized how complete kits simplify installation, and that’s still true, especially for off-grid cabins, bunkies, and sheds. Grid-connected systems are a different story. They involve permits, electrical inspections, and utility connection approvals. Rebates add more steps: the Home Renovation Savings Program requires written pre-approval before any equipment is purchased or installed, with a contractor submitting the project forms. Getting the paperwork wrong can cost you the incentive.
Our team can help either way: equipment and support for DIYers, or design, permitting, installation, and approvals through our solar professionals.
The bottom line for 2026
The case for solar in Canada hasn’t weakened since 2024. It has become more strategic. The homeowners getting the best results are the ones who:
- choose between the provincial rebate and net metering with clear eyes,
- pair solar with the right rate plan,
- use low-interest municipal financing where it’s available, and
- decide upfront whether backup power matters to them.
If you’d like help working out which path fits your home, contact our team at Solar Power Store. We’re based in Barrie, we ship from within Canada, and we’d be glad to help you run the numbers.