N E W S Release
Office of Richmond Mayor Tom Butt
CLICK HERE to download printable version
Contact:
Severn Williams - HERO Program; (510) 336-9566; sev@publicgoodpr.com
Adam Lenz - Richmond Environmental Manager; (510) 620-5537; adam_lenz@ci.richmond.ca.us
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 16, 2015
Richmond launches innovative program to help homeowners conserve water and energy
Financing helps residents install drought-tolerant landscaping, water-efficient appliances, solar panels, energy-saving windows and more; payments are made through property taxes
RICHMOND, Calif., June 16, 2015 – The City Council of Richmond launched the HERO Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Program today. HERO PACE financing enables homeowners to make energy- and water-efficiency improvements and pay for them through their property tax bill. Property owners repay the assessment over 5 to 20 years and the interest is tax-deductible. Homeowners see immediate savings on utility bills. Given the State of California’s newly-adopted regulations aimed at reducing urban water consumption by 25%, PACE financing is a particularly appealing option for homeowners and municipalities.
“Every community in California, including Richmond, is under pressure to use significantly less water,” said Richmond Mayor Tom Butt. “Now, Richmond homes can finance drought-tolerant landscaping, high efficiency toilets, faucets, and even graywater systems. PACE programs like HERO make it easy for homeowners to upgrade and green their homes.”
Five other Contra Costa cities also launched HERO this week: Antioch, Lafayette, Martinez, Pittsburg and Pleasant Hill. Six other cities in the county have launched HERO since November of last year, with 150 projects already completed for more than $2 million in funding. The cities include Brentwood, Concord, Oakley, San Pablo, San Ramon and Walnut Creek. Also in Contra Costa County, Clayton, El Cerrito and Danville are set to launch this fall.
As California's drought drags on, eligible retrofits give homeowners a fast, affordable way to lower water bills and conserve a desperately-needed resource. HERO has a wide variety of products to help homeowners save water, including high-efficiency toilets, faucets and showerheads; drip irrigation systems; rainwater catchment systems; gray water systems; and artificial turf and drought-tolerant landscaping.
A wide variety of energy-saving products are available through HERO as well. Some of HERO’s most popular products include solar panel installations, whole-home heating and cooling systems, energy-saving windows and doors, roofing and insulation.
The HERO Program’s success rests in its extensive contractor network. When a homeowner faces unexpected and inevitable repairs such as a broken water heater or leaking roof, HERO-qualified contractors can steer their customers toward more efficient upgrades. Bringing HERO into the process has many advantages for the homeowner. Homeowners can select a truly efficient product for their repair since they don’t have to put down large amounts of money upfront; they then enjoy immediate savings on water and/or energy bills. Cities and counties benefit through economic stimulus and local job growth, while helping their communities reach state-imposed water and energy savings goals.
HERO has helped fund more than 33,000 residential efficiency projects totaling more than $650 million in financing in California. By stimulating home renovation activity, the HERO Program increases demand for local contractor services. HERO is estimated to have spurred the creation of more than 5,500 jobs in California since beginning in December 2011.
“I see a lot of homeowners putting off improvements they need and want to make to cut down on their utility bills,” said Kevin Comerford, owner of Service Champions Heating and Air Conditioning. “I’m looking forward to being able to offer HERO Financing to my customers.”
HERO’s ongoing contribution to the environment is significant – and growing daily. An estimated 4.5 billion KwHs of energy are already being saved by projects completed to date. This is equivalent to the CO2 emissions from 28,000 homes’ energy use for a year. Water-efficiency projects HERO has helped finance to date will save 790 million gallons of water, or the equivalent of 25 million showers. If every resident of California used HERO, we could save the equivalent of twice the volume of Lake Tahoe, every year.
PACE is relatively new, so it is essential that customers educate themselves about the details of this type of financing. HERO’s consumer protection policy sets the industry standard for PACE financing. HERO-qualified contractors undergo rigorous training aimed at ensuring customers are fully informed about the costs and benefits of the Program. Funding for projects is made available to the contractor only after the homeowner has indicated full satisfaction with the completed project. HERO also staffs a hotline to respond to homeowner queries that is available for 15 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The HERO Program has now been adopted by 319 communities in California and is available to more than 10 million households.
“Between the extended drought and rising energy costs, property owners are eager to make the types of investments HERO supports,” said Blair McNeill, Vice President of Community Development for Renovate America, the company that administers the HERO Program. “We’re happy to provide an avenue for financing that requires no money down and does not depend on personal credit, bringing efficiency improvements within reach for a broad range of homeowners.”
Cities and counties need only pass a resolution to make PACE programs like HERO available to local property owners. The HERO Program has received numerous awards, including the Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award, the Urban Land Institute Best of the Best and the Southern California Association of Governments President's Award for Excellence. Taking part in HERO is 100% voluntary for both jurisdictions and property owners. PACE financing is cost neutral to participating local governments.
To learn more about the HERO Financing Program, and to apply, property owners can visit www.HEROProgram.com or call 855-HERO-411 (855-437-6411).
Program enables Richmond homeowners to pay for energy, water upgrades with property tax bill
Jun 16, 2015
In response to the ongoing drought, Richmond has become the latest California city to launch a low-interest financing program that allows homeowners to use their property tax bill to pay for improvements to energy and water efficiencies, according to Mayor Tom Butt’s office.
This week, the city’s council joined five other municipalities in Contra Costa County to implement the HERO Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Program. Six other cities in the county, including San Pablo, have launched the program since November and more cities such as El Cerrito intend to join this fall as jurisdictions search for creative ways to cut back on water use.
HERO Pace financing offers loan repayment plans from 5 to 20 years with tax-deductible interest for projects that will provide immediate savings on utility bills, according to the mayor’s office. Without putting money down, homeowners can launch retrofits such as high-efficiency toilets, faucets and showerheads; drip irrigation systems; rainwater catchment systems; gray water systems; and artificial turf and drought-tolerant landscaping.
Such upgrades should be particularly appealing given the state’s required 25-percent reduction of urban water consumption, Butt said.
“Every community in California, including Richmond, is under pressure to use significantly less water,” the mayor said in a statement.
Along with water efficiency upgrades, a wide variety of energy-saving improvements can be financed including solar panel installations, whole-home heating and cooling systems, energy-saving windows and doors, roofing and insulation.
Since December 2011, more than 5,500 jobs in California were created by the increase in demand for retrofits resulting from the program, which has helped fund more than 33,000 residential efficiency projects totaling more than $650 million in financing. The projects combined have saved 790 million gallons of water — enough for about 25 million showers — and saved enough energy to power 28,000 homes in a year, according to the mayor’s statement.
To learn more about the HERO Financing Program, and to apply, property owners can visit www.HEROProgram.com or call 855-HERO-411 (855-437-6411).
Want to receive TOM BUTT E-FORUM and other action alerts on Richmond political and community issues delivered to your email address? Email your name and email address and/or the names and email addresses of others who would like to be placed on the mailing list and the message "subscribe" to tom.butt@intres.com. Comments, arguments and corrections are welcome. Tom Butt is a member of the Richmond City Council when opinions and views expressed, without other attribution, in TOM BUTT E-FORUM, they are those of Tom Butt and do not reflect official views or positions of the City of Richmond or the Richmond City Council unless otherwise noted. Visit the Tom Butt website for additional information about Tom Butt's activities on the Richmond City Council: http://www.tombutt.com. Phone 510/236-7435 or 510/237-2084. Subscription to this service is at the personal discretion of the recipient and may be terminated by responding with “unsubscribe.” It may take a few days to remove addresses from the distribution list.
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
To the extent that content is excerpted under the fair use doctrine from other media, I urge readers to subscribe to the print versions of these media to help support professional journalism and the businesses that publish news, and I urge readers to log in to the online versions to access additional content, related content and unrelated news. I especially appreciate local sources of news that include the Contra Costa Times , the San Francisco Chronicle, Richmond Confidential and the East Bay Express.
|
