Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that the government will double the top-up to the carbon price rebate for rural Canadians beginning next April.

Trudeau also says there will be a temporary, three-year pause to carbon pricing measures that are applied to deliveries of heating oil, beginning in two weeks.

A government press release says the change will mean that households that use heating oil would save about $250, on average, at the current rate.

Through a pilot project, low- and median-income households in Atlantic Canada are to receive an upfront payment of $250 if they currently heat their homes with oil but sign up for a heat pump through a joint federal-provincial government program.

The amount of federal funding that eligible homeowners can receive for the installation of a heat pump, which the government says can save households save some $2,500 on their energy bills, is also going up.

Trudeau says it means that lower-income households will be able to get an average heat pump for free.