A statewide movement to retrofit commercial buildings with energy-efficiency upgrades has made its way to Bastrop County.
On Monday, the Bastrop County Commissioners Court approved a program that will help local businesses finance building upgrades that can help lower utility bills.
The Property Assessed Clean Energy program, or PACE, allows commercial building owners to borrow money for energy-efficiency upgrades — such as adding insulation, installing solar panels or adding LED lighting — and pay it back over time instead of paying for the costly upgrades up front.
Unlike traditional loans, upgrades made under the PACE program will be financed by a property tax lien placed on the property, which is then paid back over several years through property tax payments collected by the county tax collector.
During that payback period, the upgrades should diminish energy usage and, therefore, utility bills. After several years, the savings generated from lowered utility bills can exceed the cost of the upgrades, thereby the upgrades pay for themselves.
Bastrop County is the 14th county in the state to adopt the program since the Texas Legislature passed PACE-enabling legislation in 2013 and 2015. Five cities across the state have also adopted the program, such as Dallas, Houston, Rockdale, Amarillo and Farmers Branch.
Energy-efficiency upgrades can include HVAC upgrades, plumbing improvements — anything from low-flow toilets to outdoor rainwater collection — window treatments, solar panel installation and insulation.
“It’s also applicable to a wide variety of businesses, whether you have a restaurant or hotel or agricultural operation, ranching, farming, a warehouse, and industrial building, an industrial complex — it doesn’t matter how small or how big,” said David Parker, who represented the solar panel installation company Native Solar.
“My company does solar, so we install a lot of solar systems on people’s businesses. A lot of times we do that in concert with other energy conservation measures that are being performed at that same time using PACE,” Parker said.
Monday’s approval of the program also cemented a professional services agreement with the Texas PACE Authority, which will help the county vet proposed projects and approve tax liens.
Travis County became the first local government in Texas to adopt the program in 2015. The program has so far loaned $2.2 million for upgrades to four businesses and nonprofits in Travis County, effectively reducing CO2 emissions by 860 tonnes per year, and saving 658,000 gallons of water and 1.6 million kilowatts of electricity per year, according to the Texas PACE Authority.
“Travis County’s PACE program has enabled large commercial businesses and small nonprofit organizations alike to significantly reduce their energy costs,” said Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector Bruce Elfant. “This is a win-win for their bottom lines and for our environment.”
The program was originally established in Berkeley, Calif. in 2008 and now exists in more than 30 states , according to PACENation, a PACE information and advocacy group.