As of 2019, over 200,000 property owners have made
$5 BILLION
in energy efficiency and other improvements to their
properties through PACE financing.
CPACE’s unique assessment mechanism offers various advantages to property owners and developers. It can stretch out the price of the renovation, free up your yearly budget, save you money on energy, and lower your credit risk.
What is the Property Assessed Clean Energy Program (PACE)?
States across the country have passed legislation allowing local governments to offer PACE financing for energy-efficient projects on their property or business. Participation in the PACE Program is voluntary and allows property owners to repay their improvement costs over a set time period – typically 10 to 20 years – through property assessments.
How It Works
Qualified PACE service providers work together with building owners to select cost-effective projects for renewable energy.
PACE allows property owners to finance upfront costs of energy or other reliable improvements on a property and then pay the costs back over time through a voluntary assessment. Through PACE, the assessment is attached to the property rather than that individual.
Property owners are allowed to implement improvements without a large, up-front cash payment.
BENEFITS OF PACE FOR YOUR PROPERTIES:
- Covers 100% of an upgrade project
- Allows long term financing terms that result in savings
- Lowers eclectic and gas bills
- Improved quality of indoor air and weather resilience
- Lowers your carbon footprint
- Preserves working capital and can improve property NOI
- Increases building value
- Offers a range of accounting treatments
How can property owners benefit?
At any point in the economic cycle, retroactive financing with PACE can help commercial property owners and developers bolster capital stacks and access liquidity, but it is especially beneficial during periods of capital market constriction and economic uncertainty, such as we are currently experiencing.
In general, retroactivity is offered as follows:
While traditional loans or equity may not be sufficient to fund efficiency initiatives:
- PACE offers long-term, 100% financing of hard and soft expenditures with no out-of-pocket fees
- Frees operational and capital budgets
- Positive cash flow from Day 1
The majority of traditional types of financing and energy performance contracts are recourse to the owner and accrue interest upon sale or foreclosure.
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But,
- Owners have no recourse under PACE.
- Interest rates and payments are fixed for a 10- to 30-year period, and cannot be accelerated under any circumstances, including default or bankruptcy.
Owners are often unwilling to invest in long-term efficiency improvements if they anticipate selling the building before recouping their investment.
- PACE liens are attached to the property, passing automatically from one owner to the next so that the building owner only pays for them when he uses them.
- Underwriting is mostly dependent on the property.
- Because of the long payback terms (10-30 years), yearly PACE payments are often lower than the savings achieved by efficiency projects.
- Energy savings obtained exceed project expenses + financing costs (total PACE assessment) from Day 1.
- Any tax credits and/or refunds received as a consequence of the project are retained by the owner.
When corporate money is utilized to fund initiatives under various lease agreements, the savings achieved flow straight to the tenant’s bottom line, resulting in a negative cash-on-cash return for the owner.
- Because of the assessment process, PACE is frequently passed on to renters for recovery in the same way as property taxes are.
- Tenants benefit from utility savings that exceed the property tax assessment.
- Property owner and renter interests are aligned.
- PACE upgrades enhance the life of the structure.
- Tenants grow more interested in the building.
- Deferred maintenance concerns are addressed.
Businesses in the United States spend almost $200 billion per year on utilities, at least 30% of which is unnecessary.
- Reduced utility bills
- Lower maintenance costs
- Boosts net operating income (NOI).
Select your state to learn about your state's PACE Program.
TESTIMONIALS
What Our Clients Are Saying
