Ann Arbor-Backed PACE Legislation Can Lower Your Heating Bills

Here’s a way to reduce your heating bill while conserving energy. The best thing about it is how cheap the process will be.

The simplest, cleanest, and most cost effective clean energy program is energy conservation. The greenest energy is the energy we never use. Installing new insulation, energy efficient windows and more efficient lighting are all tactics to jumpstart our economy and save money today. So why aren’t more people doing this, you may ask? Well it's simple, most people do not have the funds, and those who do are skeptical about spending their savings during these rough economic times.

However, under the legislation sponsored by Michigan Rep. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Program would allow property owners to borrow money from their local governments to pay for upgrades ranging from high-efficiency furnaces to solar-panel systems. They would repay the loans through special assessments added to their property tax and the government would get the funding by selling municipal bonds to investors.

The program can be flexible to meet community needs, but most energy audits show that residents can save more money every year in their energy bills than they will pay annually for the improvements --- making this a genuine win-win proposition. Once the costs are paid off, the property owner will stop paying the special assessment, but continue to enjoy the benefits of an improved and more efficient home. If you choose not to participate in the program, your property taxes will remain unchanged.

The bill, introduced in the House by Warren in December of 2009, has made recent progress but with revisions as it passed in the Senate 25-8. Some of the revisions may limit the scope to benefit only commercial properties for now.

“It’s certainly not everything we want now, but it’s a good step forward,” Warren said. "For a lot of our small businesses owners, in particular, it will be a great opportunity and really help them get some savings on their energy bills."

In order to convince our legislators to implement this program and expand it to homeowners, call your legislators and let them know that you support HB 5640.

--- Photo Credit: Mike Bowler Sr.