OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Sept. 28, 2012) - The Honourable Joe Oliver, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, today updated Canadians regarding the success of the ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes program. This initiative was created by our government in 2007 to help Canadians save on home energy improvements and energy costs while protecting the environment.

"Our government has successfully exercised prudent use of taxpayers' hard earned dollars, while encouraging Canadians to make energy efficient choices," said Minister Oliver. "We are pleased to report that over 640,000 Canadian households have now received over $934 million in grants since our government created this program in 2007."

Minister Oliver announced in January that the renewed ecoENERGY Retrofit - Homes program had successfully reached its goal of 250,000 registered homeowners, and as planned, the program stopped accepting new registrations at that time. Overall, the equivalent of one-in-twenty Canadian households benefitted from the program.

"The decision to provide time-limited funding demonstrates sensible management by our Government to ensure that we can return to balanced budgets during this time of fiscal constraint," added Minister Oliver.

Program spending for 2011-12 will reach between $183 to $190 million, bringing total program spending to over $934 million. The ecoENERGY Retrofit Homes - program successfully helped homeowners across Canada save an average of 20 percent on their home energy use.

The following media backgrounder is available: ecoENERGY Retrofit-Homes

NRCan's news releases and backgrounders are available at www.nrcan.gc.ca/media.