from the ground up - The Tyee

On-bill financing not only gets more people to investin retrofits, but they tend to do more work overall,says Peter Sundberg, executive director of City GreenSolutions, a Vancouver non-profit that provides energyefficiency services for single-family homes, aswell as commercial and multi-family buildings.“We’re not guaranteeing that the loan will be commensuratewith energy savings,” explains Ramslie,“but we’re trying to get so that in most cases, the energysavings will be around what you’re paying extraon property taxes.”“What you can afford to do now is obviously a hugepart of it for the majority of people,” Sundberg says.“A lot of people who go through the LiveSmart program...don’t go through the whole potential becausethey don’t necessarily have cash in hand.”In addition, he points out, grant programs likeLiveSmart are often prescriptive, rather than focusedon overall energy use in the home.“The program, behind the scenes, is weighted so thatit’s giving larger amounts of money to upgrades thatresult in more greenhouse gas emission reductions,”Sundberg says. Which means even though energy efficientwindows may cost more than a new furnace orboiler, there is a lower rebate attached.“I think the on-bill financing would be a really goodsolution for a lot of different people,” says Sundberg.“What’s the interest going to be on on-bill financing?How does that compare to just getting a regular loan?Is it more attractive?”David Ramslie, Vancouver’s sustainable developmentprogram manager, says the city’s priority is to use itsposition to offer economies of scale and certainty topotential lenders, but will not be a lender itself. “Weare trying to be absolutely responsible to the Vancouvertaxpayer,” says Ramslie. “Taxpayer dollars are notbeing utilized to finance private homeowner energyefficiency retrofits.”At this stage of development, the city offers fewdetails on the pilot it’s developing. It’s not clear wherethe loans will come from, what the terms will be, andif there will be one lender or several lenders.While sources say that VanCity Credit Union is alikely financial partner, Ramslie says the city has notyet entered into a formal agreement with any financialinstitution, and is open to proposals.76