The short version
- A water heater rental never ends. The monthly charge keeps coming long after the tank has been paid for several times over.
- Buying costs more on day one and nothing after that. Installed tank prices start at $1,950 + HST on our pricing list, with financing from $42 a month.
- Do the arithmetic from your own bill: take the rental line, multiply by 12, then by the years you plan to stay in the house.
- Before you switch, get the buyout figure and the notice period in writing. That is where the cost of leaving sits.
Why so many Ontario homes rent the water heater
Renting a water heater is normal in Ontario and unusual almost everywhere else in Canada. Our tanks are no different. The reason is history.
From the 1950s the gas utilities worked with builders to put a gas water heater in the house before anyone moved in. The utility owned the tank, looked after it, and added a monthly charge to the gas bill. Nobody chose it, so most people never questioned it.
Those rental books were later sold on to service companies and the charge moved onto its own account. Plenty of houses in Mississauga are on their third or fourth tank under an agreement nobody has read since it was signed.
So if you have never thought about it, that is rather the point. The question is worth asking once, and the moment is when the tank nears the end of its life. Here is how long a tank lasts.
What a rental costs over ten years
You do not need our numbers for this part. You need yours.
- Find the rental charge on your bill. It may sit on the gas bill or on a separate account.
- Multiply it by 12. That is one year.
- Multiply that by the number of years you expect to stay in this house.
That total is what the rental will take, and the tank is still not yours at the end of it. Rates also tend to rise over the term, so treat your number as a floor.
Now set it against buying. Installed prices are published on our pricing list, they are one-time prices, and they include hauling the old tank away.
| Renting | Buying | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost on day one | Usually nothing | From $1,950 + HST, or financing from $42 a month |
| Cost each month | A charge with no end date | Nothing once it is paid for |
| Repairs | Included in the agreement | Yours, or covered by a maintenance plan |
| A new tank when this one fails | Included in the agreement | Yours to buy again |
| When you sell the house | The buyer takes it on, or you buy it out at closing | The tank goes with the house |
| Ending it | Notice, a buyout figure, and sometimes a return | Nothing to end |
For a household that is staying put, the two columns cross somewhere in the middle years of the tank's life. After that the rental is the more expensive option, for as long as you live there.
What a rental does cover, and when it is the right choice
A water heater rental is not a trick. You are buying two real things: no bill the day the tank dies, and somebody else's phone number when it breaks.
- No cost on day one, which matters when a tank fails in a month you cannot absorb.
- Repairs are included, so a failed valve or thermostat is a phone call rather than an invoice.
- The replacement tank at the end of this one's life is included too.
That is worth money to some households. Renting is still the sensible choice if any of these describe you.
- You expect to sell the house within a couple of years.
- Cash flow matters more to you right now than the ten-year total.
- You would rather not think about the tank at all, ever.
What the rental does not buy you is ownership. Ten years in, the charge is the same as it was and you own nothing.
How to buy out a water heater rental, and your rights
Two numbers decide whether leaving makes sense, and both live in your agreement rather than on a website.
- The buyout figure, which usually falls as the tank gets older.
- The notice the agreement asks for before you end it.
Call the company, ask for the buyout figure in writing and what notice they need. Then ask what happens to the tank itself. Some agreements have you return it, others leave it with you. Get that answer before anyone disconnects anything.
Ontario has tightened the rules around these contracts. Water heaters are a restricted product, so a company cannot sell you one at your door unless you asked them to come. Ontario's door-to-door rules also give you 10 days to cancel a contract signed at home, for any reason and without penalty.
The rules for water heater suppliers go further. Every contract needs a signed cover page setting out your rights, and it has to state the overall cost and any cancellation fee. Where that did not happen, the cancellation window can run to a year.
A notice on your title is not a bill
Rental equipment used to be registered against the house as a Notice of Security Interest. Ontario's Homeowner Protection Act banned new consumer notices on 6 June 2024 and treated the ones already registered as expired. Two things follow from that. You do not need to pay anyone to clear one off your title, and the ban does not cancel your agreement. You still owe what the contract says until you buy out or end it properly. Ontario publishes the detail on notices of security interest.
When buying is the better call
For most people staying in the house, buying wins on the ten-year total. It also puts you in charge of what goes in.
- You choose the tank. Size, conventional or power vented, and the brand are your decision.
- A tankless water heater becomes an option if you want the floor space back.
- Nothing leaves your account each month once the install is paid for.
The honest limits. You pay for the repairs and you pay for the next tank in eight to twelve years. An annual service or a maintenance plan covers part of that, and a flush each year is what gets a tank to the far end of that range.
Our figures, to set against your arithmetic above. A 50 gallon conventional vent tank is $1,950 + HST installed and a 40 gallon is $2,100 + HST. Power vented tanks run from $2,250 + HST up to $3,500 + HST for a 75 gallon. A tankless unit starts at $3,750 + HST. All of them include removal of the old tank.
We will not pretend the switch is always worth it. If your buyout figure is high and the tank is young, waiting is often the right answer. Send us both numbers and we will say which way it falls.