On-bill financing moves forward in Palo Alto, CA

Hello all,

Just wanted to share the news of a win we had last night - the first step to creating an on-bill financing program at the City of Palo Alto (through the City' s municipal utility). Looking forward to hear about everyone else's work on today's call!

Palo Alto to create plan for affordable energy efficiency for small businesses

Saving energy and money while creating “green jobs” to grow the economy is the visionary goal of large-scale energy efficiency efforts. On Monday, the Palo Alto City Council moved a step closer to creating a pilot program that could turn this vision into reality.

The City Council voted 7-0 to direct staff to work with volunteer community members to create an implementation plan for off-bill/on-bill financing, a cutting-edge method to give small businesses the means to finance energy efficiency retrofits of their buildings through their utility bill. With monthly payments designed to be less than energy savings, small businesses would be able to improve their buildings’ efficiency while paying nothing up front and seeing positive cash flow from Day One. Skilled and experienced building and construction trades workers would be needed to perform the retrofits, creating much-needed new jobs.

The potential benefits of this model brought together an unusual coalition of labor, business, environmental and environmental justice organizations to urge the City Council to take action. Working Partnerships USA provided the original proposal for on-bill financing. Wave One, a local nonprofit committed to helping small businesses go green, took the lead in moving the proposal forward at the City. Representatives from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 332 and the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition spoke in favor of the financing model. Organizations ranging from the National Resources Defense Council to Small Business California to the Santa Clara & San Benito Counties Building & Construction Trades Council – along with dozens of local businesses – submitted letters of support.

Over the next three months, community, labor, business and environmental advocates will be working closely with Palo Alto City staff to help draft the implementation plan. Staff’s report back to the Council is due Sept. 30^th.

This is so exciting, Louise! How can community groups and others in the area get involved and support this effort?

For now, easiest way would be to contact me - [email protected].