Public-Private Partnership Helps St. Charles Residents Go Green

From Renovate America: Renovate America, a leading U.S. provider of home-improvement financing, announced today that more than 115 homeowners in St. Charles County have improved their homes with energy-saving projects through its Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing option, HERO, since its launch in December 2016.

HERO, a public-private partnership between the Missouri Clean Energy District (MCED) and Renovate America, empowers homeowners to make home energy improvements that may lower energy bills, such as installing new windows and doors, replacing an aging HVAC unit, or even going solar. Homeowners who use HERO financing to install eligible products pay for them over time at a fixed interest rate via an additional, voluntary line item on their property taxes. HERO may provide tax benefits for homeowners, and the products installed may help improve property values.

As she planned for retirement, Linda Nielsen of O’Fallon chose to use HERO to finance improvements to her home, including new windows, doors and air conditioning unit. “I love that I can live comfortably now with these upgrades, while making affordable payments and doing my part to help the environment, all without dipping into my savings,” said Nielsen. “Plus, I won’t have to worry about big expenses, like a new furnace, once I do retire because they’ve already been done.”

“Our new energy-efficient AC unit is already making our home a lot more comfortable, and we would not have been able to make this upgrade without HERO,” said Jeremy Mahloch of St. Charles, who used HERO to finance improvements on his 95-year-old home. “The process was very straightforward, and as an accountant, I appreciated that the contract clearly spelled out the details of the financing up front.”

“A big reason I got into this business was to deliver exceptional customer service to homeowners through every stage of the oftentimes high-stress home improvement process,” said Daniel LaGarce of St. Peters-based Budget Heating, Cooling and Plumbing. “Our partnership with HERO has allowed our small business to do just that – and we are flourishing as a result.”

The HERO-financed energy-efficiency improvements completed to date in St. Charles County are on track to save more than 12.3 million kilowatts per hour over the expected useful lifetime of the products installed. That’s enough electricity to power 1,372 homes for a full calendar year. These improvements are also projected to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by more than 5,600 tons – equivalent to taking over 1,200 cars off the road for a year.

“As more municipalities join our mission to make communities across the state more sustainable, it is exciting to see the incredible impact HERO has had since we launched the resource last year,” said David Pickerill, MCED Executive Director. “The benefits are significant not only for the environment, but also communities in that HERO stimulates home renovation activity, increasing demand for local contractor services, and ultimately, brings more money into the local economy, at no cost to local government budgets.”

HERO also offers the strongest consumer protections in the PACE financing industry, including safeguards such as live, recorded telephone calls to confirm financing terms with homeowners and a guarantee that contractors do not get paid until homeowners certify that a project is done to their satisfaction. HERO uses a data-driven contractor quality rating system that tracks customer satisfaction in real-time and removes contractors that fail to maintain excellent or good ratings.

Local contractors interested in learning more about HERO and/or becoming a registered HERO provider should visit here.

Image via Renovate America