When the Conservative government slammed the door shut on a rebate program for home efficiency upgrades, a Kamloops tradesman got his wallet stuck on the other side.

Brian Hadwin is a gas fitter and furnace installer who’s been in business for about a year. Like others in the industry, he’s made sure customers are aware of federal and provincial rebate programs.

“I’ve never had any worries,” Hadwin said. “It was always, bam, done.”

The ecoENERGY retrofit program offers rebates for homeowners to install high-efficiency furnaces, insulation and new windows and doors, for example.

But on Jan. 31 the federal Conservative government closed the door on the program, saying the budget was fully allocated when 250,000 people signed up. The provincial program remains open, but it has also closed prematurely in past.

Hadwin said he was comforted by public assurances that homeowners already enrolled in the program would be covered.

“I pretty much presumed they’d get their money back… . I’ve done this many times before.”

But he discovered that his customers failed to take some steps — red tape items that ordinarily wouldn’t matter — and they were no longer eligible for rebates.

That’s when he decided to fill the gap himself.

“I said ‘it looks like I’m the federal government and I’ll give you your money.’”

Hadwin estimates he’s out about $2,000.

Jeff Murdoch, vice-president of Building Insight Technologies, said with the sudden closure of the program “these scenarios arise.”

“For a homeowner who didn’t enrol, it’s not available… . There’s a lot of homeowners who assumed it would go on.”

The B.C. company is part of a national coalition urging the federal government to reinstate the home efficiency rebate program in the new budget year.

“There’s a lot of disappointed homeowners and a lot of disappointed contractors,” Murdoch said. “You don’t plan for a sudden cancellation.”

Hadwin said he’s appealed to a number of federal offices without success.

MP Cathy McLeod said it’s the first time she’s heard of this problem, although she has heard from “someone who wanted to get it done and then the program was fully subscribed.”

McLeod said her office may be able to assist in the unique circumstance.

As for the continuation in the new budget year, McLeod said government is under cost pressures and she can’t speculate about what’s in the budget, expected late this month or early March.