UPDATE 2021:

The Federal government has a few grants available which can be used to offset some of the cost of lowering or de-carbonizing the home. They can be found here: 

https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/homes/20546

Enbridge also has some funds available for upgrades from mid to high efficiency boilers and furnaces but as I am trying to get people off gas (where it is suitable), I will not be going into much detail about them.

As of February 2017, the Ontario govt has stated that it prefers net metering to the MicroFIT program for PV installations (and the current govt, in 2021) is actively trying to get rid of all commercial solar and wind contracts). Therefore, there will be no new MicroFIT installs.  In my opinion, the people who have pushed for this, including HydroOne, who never wanted solar in the first place, have killed off a good source of manufacturing jobs in this province and reduced the growth in one of the only truly renewable and benign power sources available.

Net metering, as of now, still requires an application (with its fee) to the IESO (formerly the OPA) and also requires a payment to the utility for connection. This could total $2000 depending on the utility just for the privilege of having your meter run backwards. While it is better than nothing, the cost seems a bit steep. To get around these fees, many people are installing “behind the meter” systems or ones that do not send any power to grid, only to the home or to a battery backup system such as the Tesla Powerwall or others by Panasonic, etc.

Still another way to save the power is to use an electric car as a battery for the house. I have still not done this but it is talked about a lot. In Japan it is offered as an option for Nissan Leaf owners and there are products trickling out that may allow us to use it in North America. Tesla has made comments about it, as have others.