CaliforniaFIRST Property Assessed Clean Energy Program Comes to Banning

From Western Riverside Council of Governments: The Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG) announced a new partnership with Renew Financial, a leading clean energy finance company, to offer its CaliforniaFIRST Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing program to 14 WRCOG member jurisdictions in Riverside County, allowing even more homeowners to make affordable home efficiency and renewable energy upgrades. Through this new partnership, Renew Financial’s CaliforniaFirst program now offers competitive, customer-friendly financing, providing homeowners with a choice between this and other PACE providers available in this area, specifically the HERO Program, which has operated in Western Riverside County since 2011.

“Now Western Riverside homeowners can join nearly 90 percent of Californians in taking advantage of our affordable, consumer-friendly financing options for energy efficiency upgrades, rooftop solar, water conservation and other home improvement projects,” said Cisco DeVries, CEO of Renew Financial. “This expansion will help more homeowners live comfortably, create new business opportunities for local contractors, produce more jobs in the area and increase environmental and public health benefits for Riverside County. We’re thrilled to be part of all of that.”

“Renew Financial’s entry into the Western Riverside territory means one thing: more competition,” said Ben Benoit, Executive Committee Chair of WRCOG. “And more competition means more choices for homeowners to fund their home efficiency upgrade projects and save money, while helping drive local economic activity. That’s why we’re excited about Renew Financial providing this additional financing option for our communities.”

Under the new partnership, the CaliforniaFirst financing program is now available to homeowners in 14 Western Riverside cities: Banning, Calimesa, Canyon Lake, Corona, Eastvale, Hemet, Jurupa Valley, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Murrieta, Norco, Perris, Temecula and Wildomar. WRCOG will continue to serve as program administrator for both HERO and CaliforniaFirst, providing general oversight and implementing the same exceptional standards for consumer protection and customer satisfaction region-wide.

With the expansion of CaliforniaFIRST into these 14 cities, the financing program now offers the opportunity for efficiency upgrades to more than 300,000 homes in Western Riverside and more than six million homes statewide.

Already Renew Financial estimates that its financing products have:

• Created more than 15,000 jobs across 15 states
• Conserved 877,176,637 gallons of water – enough water for 48 million showers[1]
• Realized over $1.5 billion in energy savings over the life of its projects
• Cut total greenhouse gas emissions by 2.3 million metric tons – equivalent to the yearly emissions of 485,000 cars[2]
• And funded nearly 83,600 projects through the end of 2016

For more information about the partnership, visit here.

Image via Pixabay