We could look at this in two phases. The first priority is if we could unblock next year's funding in the REDI program and continue, we would go a long way toward meeting the immediate needs of Rob and his constituencies. However, there's the issue of what comes after the previous program that was going to expire at the end of 2006-07.
The program to date on the solar side has been providing a 25% capital subsidy for investments in solar technologies used in the commercial and industrial sectors. It has not been available for programs in the residential sector. We are undertaking a number of pilot projects. The technology that's closer to being economic is solar hot water heating. We are evaluating the results of those pilot projects, and that is one area as we look toward the future.
Certainly, in letters to the minister, we receive a lot of interest from individuals and homeowners. We are working within the program on some of the other barriers to residential hot water heating. I think Rob mentioned a difficult problem in Ottawa, where it's still not legal, and we're working with the standards people to get certified hot water standards. I think that whole area of the residential sector is something we're not really active in now and it could be something we should take a look at on the basis of our pilot projects.
In a sense, on the solar side, our deployment incentives go toward those technologies that are closest to being commercial. They've tended to be the thermal technologies in the commercial and industrial sectors. Photovoltaics, which Rob spoke about, are supported and delivered more through R and D. Discussion and maybe differences of opinion continue as to whether we've got the balance right, and that continues to be an element of debate. There certainly have been jurisdictions, such as California and most recently Ontario, that have adopted programs for the production of electricity from photovoltaics. Currently, the Canadian market for those technologies is largely an off-grid applications niche.
The question of whether that is or is not good public policy.... To some extent, these issues are addressed at the state level in the United States and the provincial level in Canada. It's really a question of how much you want to force your consumers to pay higher prices for electricity to support an industry whose cost of production now is quite high but coming down rapidly. Different jurisdictions reach different decisions on that. Certainly the Government of Ontario is moving much more aggressively than it had previously.