ST. PAUL – St. Paul town and county residents could be eligible to access funding to support clean energy upgrades to their homes and businesses if local municipalities choose to participate in the program.
Regional Energy Manager Ron Dechaine provided both the County of St. Paul and Town of St. Paul an overview of the Clean Energy Improvement Program (CEIP) at their meetings late last month.
Dechaine explained the program is a financing program administered by Alberta Municipalities. The CEIP gives residential and commercial property owners access to long-term financing up to 100 per cent of project costs for “clean energy renovations.
The program is a loan for the residents to do energy-efficient upgrades to their house and they get the money from the municipality instead of going to the banks. It is taxed onto their property tax as an improvement tax, and it stays with the property.
Dechaine highlighted the benefits and the role of the municipalities in the potential implementation of the program within their jurisdictions, one being reducing barriers for property owners to undertake energy-efficient upgrades and pay the financing back through their property taxes.
Dechaine said the CEIP is municipality-led, where “municipalities must first pass an enabling bylaw, then partner with Alberta Municipalities to deliver the program.”
Municipalities may borrow through funding sources including Federation of Community Municipalities (FCM) or use “internal funds to capitalize” the program, said Dechaine. Then property owners within the municipality can visit to pre-qualify for the program at the CEIP website.
Once the project is approved, funding will be requested from the municipality to pay the qualified contractor of the retrofit project. Dechaine said the payment to the financing is integrated into the property tax assessment bill, which ties the payment to the property.
County CAO Sheila Kitz explained this means that if the owner of a property undergoing renovation sells their property, the new property owner will continue to pay the financing through the tax assessment. The information will also be “transparent” to the purchaser of the property.
Dechaine said the program offers competitive interest rates with long repayment terms available up to 25 years depending on the type of the project.
"The interest rate would be passed over to the homeowner," noted St. Paul Mayor Maureen Miller during Dechaine's presentation to the Town. "So, it would actually be of no expense to us either."
Town CAO Steven Jeffery pointed out the property owner pre-qualification process through CEIP, means the municipality will not need to do that.
"One good thing to note is the applicant has to be in good standing with the municipality and has to have been in good standing with us for a period of time and we would write that into the bylaw."
The eligible energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy installations, according to Dechaine, include furnaces, windows, solar PV, combined heat and power, insulation, and water heater. Contractors would need to be on an approved list before funds are released for the work.
He added that the legislated project capital cost maximums are “roughly” $50,000 per residential property, $1 million per non-residential property, and $300,000 per farmland property.
Program launch suggestion
Dechaine suggested a path to launching the program to the municipalities which includes the approval for municipal staff dedicated to working on the CEIP. Municipalities would be responsible for verifying the applicant is in good standing, executing the financing agreement with property owner, recording and collecting the clean energy improvement tax and paying the contractors.
"We pay the contractor, so they are guaranteed payment. You would think a contractor would want to certify themselves as quick as they could," Miller said.
In addition, Dechaine suggested first steps include the creation of an internal CEIP team, as well as the development and passing of the CEIP bylaw. The municipality, “if applicable," can also apply for the FCM Community Efficiency Financing (CEF) that could be used, for example, to cover the first four years of the program’s administration costs. The program does not count against a municipality's debt limit.
The presentations to both councils were for information purposes only at this point.
