April 1, 2020

Community efficiency financing: New and existing residential energy financing programs

Source Name
Federation of Canadian Municipalities

Call for applications: Capitalize new and existing community efficiency financing programs

This call for applications will fund municipal programs that finance energy efficiency retrofits and renewable energy in residents’ homes (existing low-rise residential housing). This funding is to capitalize new and existing innovative efficiency financing programs.

To be eligible for this call for proposals, your initiative must:

Provide financing and related services that help homeowners retrofit their homes for energy efficiency or install renewable energy
Meet all of the prerequisites listed below
We are looking for programs with multiple benefits, including:

Address barriers homeowners face when undertaking energy retrofits
Provide proof-of-concept/replicable models that other municipalities can use to deliver energy financing initiatives
Engage a range of stakeholders
Demonstrate strong environmental, financial and social benefits, either directly to your community or through replication in other municipalities
Successful recipients of this funding will have the opportunity to exchange with peers on best practices and lessons learned and will receive financial support to participate in targeted capacity building activities designed to build your teams’ skills and improve your programs’ success.

The provincial and territorial regulatory environment for community efficiency financing varies across Canada. FCM is aiming to provide flexibility to ensure your local program meets the needs of your local community. To ensure this call for applications is accessible to all Canadian municipalities, FCM will fund two types of financing models:

Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing undertaken by municipal governments
Third party lending with municipal support (e.g., utility on-bill financing, non-secured loan products)

Funding for local energy programs must support the following types of initiatives in existing low-rise residential buildings (e.g., detached, semi-detached, row housing):

Energy efficiency improvements (e.g., insulation, heating and cooling systems, windows, doors) and/or renewable energy installations (e.g. solar rooftop PV)
Up to 30% of GMF funding for other home improvements such as water conservation, climate resilience, and health and safety improvements prioritized by a municipality
For more information, visit the FCM website.

Deadline to apply for funding is June 30, 2020.