Heat-pump marketing in New Brunswick

The New Brunswick heat-pump market

Answer first: electricity and heat pumps dominate, so the opportunity is in upgrading and replacing, not only converting.

According to Statistics Canada, 39% of New Brunswick households used electricity for primary heating in 2023, 6% used wood, and heat pumps were the primary system for 27%. In practice that means:

• owners of older units approach replacement age, and some will want a newer cold-climate model rather than a like-for-like swap
• homes with one ductless head often have cold rooms, which multi-zone or ducted systems can fix
• remaining oil-heated homes are a shrinking group, and the co-delivered oil program has closed to new registrations

Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton are the three largest markets, followed by Dieppe, Riverview, Quispamsis, Miramichi and Edmundston, each small enough that a contractor's local reputation does much of the selling. Several of these markets include many French-speaking households, which affects language choices in your marketing.

Climate and seasonality

Answer first: cold, snowy winters with a coastal-inland difference.

Along the Bay of Fundy, winters are milder than they are inland or further north. That matters for messaging: coastal homeowners may be satisfied with a single ductless unit, while inland and northern homeowners often need stronger cold-climate performance or a backup.

For marketing:

• Late summer and fall: the main window for replacements and new systems.
• First cold snap: a surge of "my heat pump isn't keeping up" enquiries, which are upgrade opportunities.
• Summer: cooling-led enquiries, especially in the southeast.

Programs as of October 2026

Answer first: NB Power's efficiency programs are listed as open, and the oil-to-heat-pump co-delivery has closed.

• Total Home Energy Savings Program. Run by NB Power through Save Energy NB, with incentives for energy-saving renovations including windows, insulation and heating.
• Enhanced Energy Savings Program. Income-qualified energy-efficiency upgrades, listed on Save Energy NB. We did not confirm current details, so check before promoting it.
• Oil to Heat Pump Affordability (NB co-delivery). Closed: registration ended 2026-06-30, paperwork was due 2026-10-01, and upgrades must be finished by 2027-03-31, according to Save Energy NB. Existing participants may still need installs, so it's worth a line on your site for them.

New Brunswick had no CGHAP agreement as of October 2026. The federal rebate expected in 2027 is covered in our federal readiness guide.

Regulators and language

• Technical Inspection Services: licensing for electrical contractors and plumbing, plus permits for boilers, pressure vessels and gas installations.
• Skilled Trades NB: apprenticeship and certification.
• WorkSafeNB: workplace safety.
• Financial and Consumer Services Commission: consumer protection.

New Brunswick is Canada's only officially bilingual province. The Official Languages Act gives residents the right to deal with the provincial government in either language; it places no bilingual obligation on private companies like yours. Whether to market in French is a business decision, and where many of your customers are francophone it's usually a good one.

How we'd market heat pumps in New Brunswick

Answer first: market to existing owners, and make bilingual content a deliberate choice.

1. Target upgrade intent. Content on "older heat pump not keeping up", "adding a second head" and "ductless to ducted" meets the large group of homeowners who already own a unit.
2. Show cold-climate depth. For inland and northern customers, proof of installs that perform in hard winters is the differentiator. Our specialist positioning work is built around that.
3. Serve OHPA participants. Homeowners already registered need their upgrade done by 2027-03-31. A short, dated page helps them find you.
4. Offer French where your customers are. Bilingual pages for the communities where you serve francophone households, written natively rather than machine-translated.
5. Build service relationships. In a mature market, maintenance customers become replacement customers.

Our heat-pump search and content service covers bilingual content planning. Compare Atlantic provinces on the areas hub.