mluscombe@freure.com

What Brantford Renters Need to Know Before Signing Their Next Lease 200 Brantwood Park is a Gas Free Community,  Why Renting a Gas-Free Unit Could Be the Best Decision You Make When you’re searching for a rental in Brantford, you’re probably focused on the usual things: price, location, square footage, and whether there’s in-suite laundry. But there’s one feature that more renters are starting to pay attention to—and that most people overlook entirely on a listing: whether the unit runs on natural gas or electricity. If you’ve come across an all-electric, gas-free apartment or home for rent, here is why that might actually be a better deal than you think.   1. One Less Bill to Deal With In a unit with gas appliances, you are typically responsible for two separate utility accounts: electricity through Brantford Power or Hydro One, and natural gas through Enbridge. That means two bills, two account setup fees, two monthly fixed charges, and two companies to call when something goes wrong. Enbridge charges a fixed monthly delivery fee just for having the gas service connected—regardless of how much gas you actually use. In the warmer months, when you’re not running the furnace, you may use almost no gas at all, yet you’re still paying that baseline charge. In a gas-free unit, that cost disappears entirely. You have one utility account, one bill, and one less administrative headache every month.  According to Engeryshop.com a typical annual residential gas bill in Ontario is around $1,200, which works out to about $100/month on average   2. Cleaner Air Inside Your Home This one surprises a lot of people. Most of us grew up thinking gas stoves were just a normal, neutral part of cooking. But research has consistently shown that gas stoves release nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and fine particulate matter into the air inside your home every time they’re used—even when the burner is just on a low simmer. In a small apartment or a unit with limited ventilation—common in older Brantford rental stock—these pollutants can accumulate to levels well above outdoor air quality standards. Studies have linked indoor gas combustion to higher rates of asthma, particularly in children, as well as other respiratory issues. An all-electric unit with an induction range produces zero combustion byproducts. The air in your kitchen stays clean, and you’re not adding pollutants to the space where you eat, cook, and spend time every day.   3. Less Carbon Monoxide Risks Gas leaks and carbon monoxide exposure are real risks in any home with gas appliances. Carbon monoxide is odourless and colourless, which means a malfunctioning furnace or water heater can be dangerous before you even realize something is wrong. While landlords in Ontario are legally required to install carbon monoxide detectors in units with gas appliances, the safest version of this scenario is simply not having the risk in the first place. In a gas-free unit, there is no gas line, no pilot light, no combustion process happening inside your living space. An electric heat pump, induction stove, and heat pump water heater operate without any of the combustion-related risks that come with gas. For families with young children, seniors, or anyone with respiratory sensitivities, this is a meaningful safety advantage.   4. More Consistent and Comfortable Heating If you’ve ever lived in a unit with gas forced-air heating, you know the cycle: a blast of hot air, then silence, then the temperature drops, then another blast. Modern heat pump systems work differently—they run more continuously at lower intensity, which means more even temperatures throughout the unit and less of that dry, stuffy air that comes with traditional gas furnaces. Heat pumps also double as air conditioning in the summer, which is increasingly important as Brantford summers get warmer. In a gas-heated unit, central air conditioning is often a separate add-on that may or may not be included. In a unit with a modern heat pump system, heating and cooling are integrated into one efficient system—and you benefit from both without needing two separate appliances.   5. Lower Environmental Impact Without Any Extra Effort. Ontario’s electricity grid is one of the cleanest in North America. It is powered predominantly by nuclear and hydroelectric generation, which means that when you use electricity in Brantford, the carbon footprint of that energy is already very low. Simply by renting a gas-free unit, you are meaningfully reducing your household’s greenhouse gas emissions compared to a neighbour in a gas-heated unit—without any lifestyle changes, without buying anything, and without any additional cost. For renters who care about their environmental impact but feel limited in what they can change as a tenant, this matters. You may not be able to install solar panels or upgrade insulation in a rental, but choosing a gas-free unit is a straightforward, immediate way to reduce your footprint from day one.   6. Cooking on Induction: Better Than You Expect A lot of people who cook have a sentimental attachment to gas stoves, and the hesitation around induction is understandable if you’ve never used one. But induction cooking has quietly become the preferred choice among professional chefs and home cooks who have made the switch. Induction burners heat up faster than gas, respond to temperature changes more precisely, and the cooktop surface itself stays cool to the touch—making spills much easier to clean and reducing the risk of burns. If the rental unit you’re considering has an induction range, give it a genuine chance. Most people who cook on induction regularly say they would not go back to gas. The learning curve is short, and the practical advantages in a rental kitchen—where you may not have a powerful ventilation hood—are significant given the absence of fumes and combustion gases.   7. A Unit Built for the Future Canada and Ontario are moving steadily toward phasing out natural gas in buildings. Regulatory requirements are tightening, gas prices have historically trended upward over time, and the long-term direction is clear: electrification is where