Homeowners would be able to make energy-efficiency upgrades to their homes for no money down, with the cost of those upgrades repaid over decades through property taxes.
St. Albert residents will be able to put up solar panels and new insulation next year for no money down under a new $5-million program approved by city council.
St. Albert council voted unanimously May 17 to approve third reading of the Clean Energy Improvement Tax bylaw.
The law lets the city borrow up to $5 million over four years to fund a Clean Energy Improvement Program (CEIP). Under it, St. Albert homeowners will be able to have certified contractors install certain energy-efficiency upgrades to their homes for no money down, with the cost of those upgrades repaid over decades through property taxes.
St. Albert environment manager Christian Benson said in an interview this program would help residents save energy and add value to their homes while also reducing the city’s contributions to global heating.
“I’m really excited as a resident for CEIP,” Benson said.
Green potential
CEIP is known as Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) outside of Alberta, and is seen by many economists as a way to encourage energy-efficiency upgrades to buildings that otherwise would not happen due to their high up-front cost. It also hooks the bill for those upgrades to the building, not the building’s owner, so the owner can sell the place before paying off the upgrade without fear of “losing” their investment.
The U.S. has done some $6.4 billion in upgrades through PACE in the last five years, Leigh Bond of the advocacy group PACE Alberta told council.
A January 2021 market study by the Municipal Climate Change Action Centre found a St. Albert PACE program would likely draw about 254 applicants over four years who would make some $5 million in home improvements. This would save the city $4.1 million, add $17 million to its economy and prevent about 30,700 tonnes of greenhouse-gas emissions over the life of the improvements – equivalent to taking about 6,700 cars off the road for a year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports.
Steven Ottoni, who oversees Alberta’s CEIP/PACE programs through the Alberta Municipal Services Corporation, told council St. Albert’s program would let homeowners make up to $50,000 in approved improvements (which typically include solar panels, heating systems, and insulation) to their homes for no money down. Owners would do a home-energy evaluation to figure out which upgrades have the best paybacks, then have an approved contractor do them. The city would pay the contractor and place a special tax on the property to recover that cash over about 25 years.
Benson told council the city plans to borrow the $5 million from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to fund PACE, and to apply for a $2.45-million grant to offset the program’s administrative costs. Council could also enhance PACE with the proposed Home Energy Retrofit Accelerator program, which is now under development.
Bond said St. Albert should start with a commercial PACE program instead of a residential one. Commercial owners require less administrative support, as they have their own engineers, and commercial buildings tend to be energy hogs with more opportunities for cheap savings.
“(Commercial) PACE programs cost way, way less to administer and have a bigger impact,” he said.
City utilities and environment director Kate Polkovsky said the city wanted to practice with a smaller-scale residential PACE program before rolling out a bigger commercial one.
Bond also said the city had vastly underestimated demand for PACE – he estimated there is demand for about $154 million in upgrades in town between now and 2030 – and should up the size of its program to $50 million.
Ottoni said demand for PACE in Alberta is unclear, as it is a new idea here, and said his group had settled on $5 million based on the experience of other communities.
“We do think there is pent-up demand,” he said of energy efficiency, and $5 million could be an under-estimate.
In an interview, Benson said staff would work out the details of St. Albert’s CEIP/PACE program and hope to launch it next year.
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