The Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT) program cost the government more than $3.5 million in subsidies and rebates. It audited more than 7000 homes in seven years.

Both Environment Minister Simon Corbell and the lone Greens MLA in the Assembly, Shane Rattenbury, have had the audit done in their own homes.

However, the HEAT program will close on Saturday. It is understood the company contracted by the government to deliver the program, Sustainability Advice Team Pty Ltd, received one week's notice that it was being canned.

Fifteen people have lost their jobs as a result of the program closing.

Mr Corbell said HEAT had been a valuable scheme but was expensive and did not reach as many households as needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Rattenbury said he was disappointed to see the demise of the program and a better outcome would have been giving it time to adapt rather than ''come to a shuddering halt''.

The HEAT audit was available for homes built in or before 2006.

Mr Corbell's office said the government paid a subsidy of $285 per visit and the household paid $30 per visit. Any household that spent at least $2000 on energy efficiency improvements identified in the audit also received a $500 rebate from the government. They also had their $30 fee returned.

It is understood the government paid out about $2 million in subsidies and $1.671 million in rebates.

Mr Corbell said the government now favoured the Outreach program which helped low-income residents improve energy efficiency and the Energy Efficiency Improvement Scheme being delivered by ActewAGL which installed energy-saving light-bulbs, door seals and standby power controllers.

Mr Corbell said the HEAT program was not means-tested and was skewed towards households able to spend at least $2000 on improvements. ''This program is quite an expensive way to reach a small number of households. We need to reach not thousands but tens and tens of thousands of households to achieve our greenhouse gas abatements,'' he said.

''The Energy Efficiency Improvement Scheme will abate three-quarters of a million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over its life. The HEAT scheme does not come anywhere close to achieving that level of abatement.''

Mr Corbell said the Energy Efficiency Improvement Scheme was designed to reach more than 70,000 households and the Outreach program had reached 2500-3000 households in less than two years.

However, ActewAGL general manager retail Ayesha Razzaq told The Canberra Times it believed the HEAT program complemented the Energy Efficiency Improvement Scheme.

''HEAT provided ACT residents with independent advice to help save money by reducing energy consumption in and around the house,'' she said.

''Under the Energy Efficiency Improvement Scheme, ActewAGL installs free energy-saving products that can help with reducing energy costs.''

There had been no public announcement by the government of the closure of HEAT other than a notice on the website.

The Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate was ''currently developing a new residential energy advisory service, which will be launched later in 2013''.

Mr Corbell said that service would be a free online advisory scheme.

''And of course householders can still engage services from companies like HEAT and others, if they want more specific advice,'' he said.

''The cost is a couple of hundred dollars probably to get that audit.

''My view is that householders who are able to be considering spending $5000 or $10,000 on retro-fit activities in their home are able to afford to engage a private consultant to assist them with that.''