Enercare Water Heater Buyout and Hot Water Tank Rental in Ottawa

Enercare prices a buyout from a schedule: your tank's install year, model and age. A CV40 gas tank installed between 2016 and 2021 costs $560 to buy at 9 to 10 years old, and every model falls to $100 at 15. Under Enercare's current agreement, buying the tank is the only way to end the rental early.

Renting that CV40 costs $25.87 a month plus HST at Enercare's 2026 rate. A 40 gallon gas tank of your own, installed in Ottawa, is $1,500 to $2,200 at Gas Man Ottawa. Which comes out cheaper depends mostly on how old your rented tank already is.

What a hot water tank rental costs in Ottawa

Enercare and Reliance Home Comfort both publish their 2026 prices. Enercare lists one monthly rate per model, plus HST, on its water heater support page. Reliance publishes a range per model in its 2026 Ontario Water Heater Pricing Guide, based on its 7 and 10 year terms. The model codes line up: CV is conventional vent gas, PV is power vent, and the number is the tank size.

Your own rate is the one on your bill, and it moves. Section 4 a) of Enercare's current water heater agreement lets it raise the rate on January 1 each year by up to the Ontario Consumer Price Index plus 2%. Reliance says its rates may be adjusted periodically, and that once the initial term ends you continue month to month.

How the Enercare water heater buyout price is worked out

Enercare's agreement says the buyout price reflects "the unpaid cost of the Water Heater and related installation, finance and servicing costs", among other things. In practice it is a lookup you can do before you call:

1. Find the installation date and the water heater model. Both are boxes at the top of Enercare's agreement form, beside the serial number and your current rental rate.
2. Open the schedule for the period the tank went in. Enercare's support page lists 2016 to 2021, each half of 2022, then 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026. For a tank installed before 2016, call Enercare for the figure.
3. Read across from your tank's age, counted from installation, to your model's column. The first row is 0 to 1 years old; the last is 15 years or more.
4. Ask for it in writing or by phone. The agreement gives a Rental Specialist line, 1-877-334-1846, and says you pay the buyout price when invoiced. Ask whether HST is added, because the schedules do not say.

From Enercare's 2016 to 2021 table and its 2026 table. On both, every model reads $100 at 15 years or more, tankless and high-efficiency units included.

Why two tanks of the same age have different buyout prices

The table is chosen by install year, not by today's date. A CV40 that is 9 to 10 years old reads $560 on the 2016 to 2021 table and $918 on the 2026 table, because the 2026 tank started from a higher price. A quote that looks wrong next to a neighbour's may come from a different year's table, so check your install date before disputing it.

The schedule also shows when a buyout is small next to the rent. The $560 for a 9 to 10 year old CV40 is under 22 months of the 2026 CV40 rate before HST. At the same age a PV40 is $789, about 21 months of its rate, and an Electric 40 is $504, about 26 months. Use the rate on your own bill for your own sum.

What buying out ends, and what it does not

The agreement says you take the tank "in an ‘as-is’ condition, subject to the balance of any transferable manufacturer's warranty", and assume full responsibility for its repair and maintenance. Once the buyout and anything else owing are paid, the rent stops and Enercare has no further obligation to you, including no duty to rent you a replacement later.

Enercare makes the case for staying on its rental vs. buyout page, written for tanks eight years old or more. Its internal estimates of parts and labour on a customer-owned tank are a venter assembly at $827, a gas valve at $526, a flame sensor at $342 and a thermocouple at $183, each plus tax. Set one of those repairs against the months of rent a buyout saves.

How to end an Enercare rental and return the tank in Ottawa

Which exit you have depends on when the tank went in, because Enercare links a different set of terms for each period:

• Installed on or after April 1, 2015. Section 9 of the agreement: "Your sole method of terminating this Agreement prior to the end of the useful life of the Water Heater is to purchase the Water Heater." When Enercare decides the tank has reached the end of its useful life and is not replacing it, section 10 c) says you own it, with removal charged at Enercare's fee schedule.
• Installed between September 15, 2010 and March 31, 2015. The terms for this period say the same: your sole method of terminating is to buy the tank at the age-reduced price on the schedule.
• Installed before September 15, 2010. These terms, under the Direct Energy name, let you end the rental and return the tank at any time. Having Direct Energy remove it costs $75.00 in most cases, and nothing if you are over 32 km from a return location, if pickup takes over two weeks, or after 15 years of rental.

Returning a tank to an Ottawa depot

Returns follow Enercare's drop-off process. Call 1-855-658-5700 before removal to confirm the account and tank details, and leave the manufacturer's rating plate on the tank, because the depot takes it off at drop-off. Ottawa has two Enercare depots, and Enercare says the hours can change:

• Ottawa (West), 50 Frank Nighbor Place, Kanata: Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Takes small and large returns.
• Ottawa (East), 2160 Thurston Drive: Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Small returns only.

Selling the house with a rented tank

Section 5 of the agreement passes the rental to your buyer only if the agreement of purchase and sale says the tank is rented, Enercare gets the buyer's name and the closing date, the buyer agrees to take it over, and you have paid what you owe. Enercare's moving page says that otherwise you stay responsible for the rent and, if the rental is terminated, the buyout price.

How to get out of a Reliance water heater contract

Reliance Home Comfort answers it on its own rent vs. buy page: "You can purchase your rented equipment at any time. The buyout amount is based on the age of the unit. Contact our Billing Department for a quote." Neither that page nor its pricing guide publishes a buyout table, so the figure comes from Reliance rather than from a schedule you can check first.

The same page gives the agreement length as 10 years, then month to month. If you are switching to a tank you own, ask Reliance in writing for the buyout figure, any removal charge and how the old tank leaves the house, before anyone disconnects it.

Why your rights under Ontario law matter before you sign

Ontario has rules written squarely for water heater rentals. Three of them change what a renter in Ottawa can do.

Nobody may sign you up at your door

Since March 1, 2018, section 43.1 (1) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 bars a supplier at your home from soliciting or signing a contract for prescribed goods unless you contacted them first and asked them to come for that purpose. O. Reg. 17/05, section 35.1 (1), puts water heaters on that list, along with furnaces, air conditioners and water softeners.

A contract signed in breach is void under section 43.1 (3). Section 43.1 (6) says that if you then face charges from a third party, such as for removing or returning goods, the supplier must reimburse them. The Province's door-to-door page says you can keep the goods without obligation, and tells you not to rely on a salesperson's opinion that your water heater is unsafe.

If you did invite the company in, you get a 10-day cooling-off period that starts when you receive a written copy of the agreement. A company you called for a repair may not sign you to a new tank during that visit, unless you already have a contract with it and agreed in advance to hear the offer, under the Province's rules for businesses. Consumer Protection Ontario: 1-800-889-9768.

A rental tank can no longer go on your title

Rental contracts were often backed by a notice of security interest on the land title, and Enercare's agreement form dated November 2022 includes a clause letting it register its interest against title.

The Homeowner Protection Act, law since June 6, 2024, bans registering these notices for consumer goods such as a water heater. The Province's notices of security interest page says every consumer notice already on title is deemed expired and no longer affects the land.

You do not have to do anything. If you want an old notice off your title, a lawyer can file to delete it. The Province says to report any company offering to remove one for a fee to the police or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre. The ban does not cancel the contract: the company keeps its rights under it and can go to court if you stop paying.

The Act that protects you is still the 2002 one

e-Laws carries a replacement, the Consumer Protection Act, 2023, and marks the 2002 Act as repealed on a day still to be named. On 21 October 2026 the 2002 Act was the current version, so the sections above are the ones that apply until that day.

What buying and installing a tank costs in Ottawa

A buyout installs nothing: you keep the tank you have. If you return the rental instead, you need a tank of your own, and these are Ottawa companies' published installed prices. A gas tank must be installed by someone holding a gas certificate under O. Reg. 212/01, section 6 (1). Our plumber cost guide for Ottawa covers the permit question and what to ask the installer.

If you want a basic electric tank

No Ottawa company we found publishes an installed price for a basic electric tank, so get a written quote, and do not read AirZone's premium electric line as the basic price. AirZone HVAC says it sells water heaters rather than renting them, and tells renters to get the provider's written buyout, cancellation and return instructions before removal.

Gas, electric or tankless: what changes the decision

• A gas tank: Enercare says gas units heat water more quickly and are often more efficient than electric, and that only power vent units are affected by power outages. A power vent tank pushes exhaust out a sidewall instead of the chimney, which Gas Man Ottawa says is needed where a high-efficiency furnace no longer uses the chimney.
• An electric tank: Enercare says they tend to cost less up front but heat water more slowly and are affected by power outages. It is the cheapest rental on both price lists above.
• Tankless gas: AirZone HVAC says a conversion can need more gas capacity, new exhaust and intake piping, power and a condensate drain, and that Ottawa's colder incoming water lowers real flow compared with warm-climate figures. Gas Man Ottawa says a tank-to-tankless switch typically takes a full day.
• A heat pump water heater: the Home Renovation Savings Program lists $500 for an ENERGY STAR model replacing a gas or electric water heater, on the route that needs a home energy assessment and at least two upgrades. Our guide to the Home Renovation Savings Program in Ottawa explains that route.

How big a tank, and how long it lasts

The publishers size by people and habits, never by floor area, and they do not agree at three people. Reliance Home Comfort says 40 gallons works for 1 to 3 people and 50 or 60 for four or more.

Gas Man Ottawa puts 40 gallons at 1 to 2 person households and 50 at most 3 to 4 person homes. AirZone HVAC says occupancy alone cannot size a tank, and asks about back-to-back showers and a large tub.

How long a water heater lasts

Working life is just as contested. Gas Man Ottawa says a standard gas tank lasts 8 to 12 years in Ottawa, and Reliance says most water heaters last 14 to 16 years. Enercare's schedule falls for 15 years and then holds. If your rented tank is past 10 years, price a tank of your own at the same time as the buyout, so you compare both before you decide.

Finding an installer for a tank you own

The directory lists plumbers in Ottawa and HVAC companies in Ottawa with sourced ratings, and the HVAC cost guide for Ottawa covers the furnace in the same mechanical room. Enercare Ottawa, AirZone HVAC Services and Plumbing Now are listed in this directory. They are quoted here because they publish terms or prices, which does not move them in any list.