Consumers will get an extra incentive to do energy-efficient renovations on their homes under a new conservation program in Ontario’s latest long-term energy plan, the Star has learned.

Upfront financing will be provided, with homeowners paying it back over time on their utility bills, increasing the value of their properties while helping to cut pollution and save energy, said sources familiar with the plan to be unveiled Monday by Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli.

The “on-bill financing,” which will begin in 2015, could include retrofits such as new windows or increasing attic insulation.

Chiarelli’s energy blueprint for the next two decades comes as the minority Liberal government is under fire for rising electricity prices, with an election expected as early as next spring — meaning the financing plan would become part of Premier Kathleen Wynne’s campaign platform.

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An increased commitment to conservation is cold comfort to Ontarians, Progressive Conservative energy critic Lisa MacLeod warned.

“When they’re curbing their energy use and their bill still goes up, they’re starting to question it,” MacLeod (Nepean-Carleton) told reporters in a conference call Friday.

Full details on the renovation payback — such as how much money has been earmarked and the fee for financing — are slated for Finance Minister Charles Sousa’s spring budget, sources said.

Toronto is working on a similar program that would allow homeowners to undertake renovations, such as replacing an old and inefficient furnace, and increase the value of their properties.

“If a property is subsequently sold, any outstanding balance … will remain with the property … the responsibility for repaying the outstanding (balance) will be assumed by the new property owner,” the city’s website explains.

Chiarelli has been boasting that the government has taken steps to stem the rise in electricity prices by quashing new nuclear reactors planned for Darlington, renegotiating a controversial renewable energy deal with Samsung, and lowering prices for electricity purchased from small generators on the feed-in tariff program.

“The average residential consumer will pay less than forecast in 2010, but they will still pay more than now,” one source acknowledged, referring to the last long-term plan three years ago that warned electricity bills would double by 2030 thanks to nuclear expansion and more renewable power.

Chiarelli dropped some hints last week on the conservation effort to come.

“What we are doing is taking very significant steps to allow people to better control their consumption and other factors that allow them to impact on their rates,” he told reporters.

“There is no government that’s going to commit, or be able to honour a commitment, to reduce rates from where they are now,” he added in a shot at rival parties in the legislature.

The government has already launched a new web page called emPOWER Me to tutor consumers on energy issues and explain complicated terminology.

Electricity prices went up 3 per cent on Nov. 1 — an extra $4 monthly for the average household — with the biggest hike in off-peak rates, which went up 7.5 per cent to 7.2 cents per kilowatt hour after 7 p.m. weekdays and on weekends.

Critics said that was a blow to consumers who save tasks such as laundry and running the dishwasher for evenings and weekends.

Opposition parties have raised suspicion that the new energy plan will be more spin than substance given the growing likelihood of a spring vote if the Sousa budget goes down to defeat.

“It’s a very political document. It’s a sales document,” predicted New Democrat energy critic Peter Tabuns (Toronto-Danforth).

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Tabuns said the NDP has long favoured more grant and loan programs to help homeowners and businesses improve their energy efficiency because “many can’t afford to replace their windows or insulate their attics.”

Chiarelli’s plan comes a day before Wynne is scheduled to testify again Tuesday before a legislative committee investigating the $1.1-billion scandal over natural- gas-fired power plants cancelled before the 2011 election.

Updated from the last energy blueprint in 2010, Chiarelli’s plan turns its back on the tradition of governments sketching out grand schemes for vast new energy projects — be they renewable power, nuclear plants or mammoth hydro dams — to focus instead on conservation and curbing demand.

That’s simply yielding to reality, since the demand for electricity in Ontario has fallen 10 per cent and stagnated since hitting a high in 2005. There’s no urgency to build new power plants in Ontario, as the province frequently has to ship surplus power to neighbouring states and provinces — often at a loss.

The energy surplus, combined with the daunting and uncertain cost of building big new power plants, prompted the Liberals to turn down a proposal by Ontario Power Generation to construct two new units at the Darlington nuclear station earlier this fall.

Conservatives, however, have said they favour building more nuclear units to provide reliable baseload power.

The original version of the plan predicted that demand for power in the province would grow by 26 per cent over 20 years following 2010. Current trends show that simply isn’t happening. Consumers have trimmed their demand with more efficient appliances and light bulbs. And Ontario’s industrial base, traditionally a heavy user of power, hasn’t fully recovered from the 2008 recession.

The Liberals’ political problem is that while demand declines, prices continue to rise, as an increasing proportion of Ontario’s power is generated by more expensive methods such as natural-gas-fired generators, and by renewable technology such as wind turbines and solar panels.

The new entrants are also privately owned, demanding a rate of return higher than that earned by publicly owned Ontario Power Generation.

The province’s decision to introduce time-of-use pricing has also irritated many consumers, who complain that prices are highest when they need power most — such as during cold winter nights and hot summer afternoons.

Adding to the problem, the difference between high, peak-time prices and low, off-peak prices has narrowed significantly since time-of-use pricing was introduced. Turning on the dryer at 11 p.m. no longer yields the same savings it once did.

And as prices rise, hydro bills have become much harder to understand.

An increasing part of the bill is now made up of the “global adjustment” charge — a mishmash of fees and prices that’s roughly triple the market price for power. (The market price has averaged 2.6 cents per kilowatt hour this year; the global adjustment in December is 7.61 cents per kilowatt hour.)

As bureaucrats toured the province consulting customers about the energy plan earlier this year, they discovered widespread bafflement and frustration about what’s on consumers’ hydro bills, and about how the power system works.