Editor’s note: This op-ed is by Jake Brown, the director of communications/government affairs at the Vermont Natural Resources Council.
Thousands of Vermonters (including you, possibly) now have a new way to pay for insulating their homes, putting solar panels on their rooftops or installing wood pellet heating systems.
Here is the scoop: Nearly two dozen towns approved the new Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, program at town meetings on March 6, bringing the total number of towns that have voted to create PACE districts to 35.
What does this mean? It’s very good news for anyone who does not have lots of cash sitting around and would who like to boost the value of their homes, and save money over the long run (anybody?). This new financing mechanism – the passage of which the Vermont Natural Resources Council and others supported in the Legislature for several years – will help Vermonters save money and more easily move toward cleaner, smarter, more sustainable energy sources, if they so choose.
Under PACE, if you are a property owner, live in a town that has a program and want to get upfront cash for energy improvements, you could identify specific improvements you want to make to your home, and then apply to get financing from your town. Assuming your application is approved, you would then work with a contractor to get the project done. Once the contractor completes the improvements to your home, the municipality would pay the contractor. The town then places an “assessment lien” on your property to secure repayment.
Then, depending on your agreement with the town, you would repay the amount financed over a 10-, 15- or 20-year time period at an interest rate expected to be one to two percent higher than the rate for 30-year fixed mortgages. As long as you owned the house, you would pay that extra charge until the financing was paid off. If you sold the house in the meantime, the new owner would start paying the charge. And, at any time, the entire lien could be paid off. The maximum amount a homeowner could finance through PACE would be 15 percent of the assessed value of the property, capped at $30,000. Meanwhile, you and any subsequent owner of the house would be enjoying energy savings every year.
The following cities and towns have approved PACE districts: Albany, Barre City, Brookfield, Burlington, Calais, Cornwall, Craftsbury, Dorset, East Montpelier, Ferrisburgh, Glover, Halifax, Hartford, Hartland, Hyde Park, Manchester, Marlboro, Montpelier, Middlebury, Monkton, Newport town, Norwich, Plainfield, Putney, Richmond, Ripton, Sharon, Strafford, Thetford, Tunbridge, Vershire, Waitsfield, Westminser, Weybridge and Woodstock.
If they want to, towns can choose to use a third party like Efficiency Vermont to help administer the program, at no charge to the town. Efficiency Vermont will be able to manage the lion’s share of the logistics for the program, helping to create and process the applications, approve contractor payments, manage customer billing and more.
Efficiency Vermont is following up with towns and working with VNRC, the Vermont League of Cities and Towns and others to help with the implementation of PACE.
Vermonters are very fortunate to have this new opportunity to save money, save energy, make their homes more comfortable, and even improve the value of their homes. If your town has passed PACE, you should be hearing details in the coming months on how you can apply for financing. If your town has not passed PACE, consider getting it on next year’s ballot in your town.
For more information about PACE click here. http://pacevermont.wikispaces.com/Welcome+to+PACE+Vermont
