A bipartisan coalition of US Senate and House Members introduced legislation to establish a multi-billion dollar Rural Energy Savings Program they say will create 20,000 to 40,000 energy efficiency jobs a year, while saving families and businesses money on their electric bills, and reduce air pollution.
H.R. 4785 provides $4.9 billion in loan authority through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to electric cooperatives to offer low-interest micro-loans to residential and small business customers for energy-saving retrofit and structural improvements.
The program is expected to be a boon for the domestic manufacturing and construction industries, as energy-efficiency products are almost exclusively manufactured in the United States and installation jobs cannot be exported. The program builds on the existing co-op infrastructure that has strong community ties and a demonstrated 75-year history of on-bill financing for consumer loans.
The bill calls for trained auditors and contractors to conduct energy audits to determine what sorts of energy efficiency improvements are warranted. Typical consumer loans will be $1,500 to $7,000, and will cover sealing, insulation, heat pumps, HVAC systems, boilers, roofs and other improvements that the utility has demonstrated to RUS will produce sufficient savings. Participating consumers repay the co-ops for the installation and material costs through an extra charge on their utility bills within not more than a 10 year window. The energy savings from the upgrade will cover most, if not all, of the cost of the loan.
The lawmakers say every dollar loaned to the co-ops will be repaid to the taxpayers within ten years after the cooperative re-lends the funds to the consumer.
Co-sponsors of the bill in the House include: Rep. Clyburn (D-SC), Rep. Perriello (D-VA), Rep. Whitfield (R-KY), Rep. Spratt (D-SC). In the Senate the sponsors are: Sen. Merkley (D-OR), Sen. Graham (R-SC), Sen. Lugar (R-IN), Sen. Shaheen (D-NH), Sen. Johnson (D-SD), Sen. Bennet (D-CO).
President Barack Obama recently called on Congress to create a home energy retrofit program similar to this, called Homestar. However, under the president’s plan, it would not be run by electricity co-ops, and would be available to all homeowners, not just co-op members.
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