Property Assessed Clean Energy Programs

Programs that allow local governments, state governments or other inter-jurisdictional authorities, when authorized by state law, to fund the up-front cost of energy improvements on commercial and residential property, which are paid back over time by the property owners. The program allows property owners who voluntarily choose to participate in a PACE program to implement improvements without a large up-front cash payment and to repay their improvement costs over a set time period (typically 10 to 20 years) through property assessments, which are secured by the property itself and paid as an addition to the owners' property tax bills. Nonpayment generally results in the same set of repercussions as the failure to pay any other portion of a property tax bill. A PACE assessment is a "debt of property", meaning the debt is tied to the property as opposed to the property owner(s), so the repayment obligation may transfer with property ownership depending upon state legislation.