SAN DIEGO — Renovate America, a leading provider of residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing, announced it has partnered with the Electric & Gas Industries Association (EGIA), a leading energy-efficiency home improvement contractor network. Renovate America will become EGIA’s preferred PACE financing provider. EGIA’s membership of more than 21,000 contractors (5,300 in California), 85 distributors, and six major manufacturers will have immediate access to Renovate America’s HERO program, with over $1.3 billion of originations in California. The partnership brings greater financing options to contractors and homeowners for energy and water efficiency and renewable energy projects.
“EGIA shares our mission of protecting homeowners while making energy efficient home improvements easily accessible and affordable through the industry-leading HERO financing program,” said Nick Fergis, COO and co-founder of Renovate America. “EGIA’s national network will provide a powerful way to engage contractors as we scale our business in California and other states.”
Through the partnership agreement, Renovate America and EGIA will work together on contractor outreach, education, consumer protection initiatives, and a range of additional programs to support EGIA’s members and the communities they serve. The activities will initially focus on California, where Renovate America currently has 7,000 HERO registered contractors, and will expand to include the company’s future markets.
“HERO will give our contractor network access to the market-leading HERO financing program and we are excited to be partnered with such an innovative and forward-thinking company as Renovate America,” said Bruce Matulich, EGIA’s CEO and executive director. “This is good for our contractor, manufacturer, and distributor networks, and, most important, will be great for consumers.”
Renovate America partners with local governments to provide its version of PACE, the HERO (Home Energy Renovation Opportunity) Program, to homeowners to enable them to finance a variety of product installations to conserve energy and water. These installations include energy-efficient products like HVAC, windows, and roofing; renewable and alternative energy products like solar; and water efficiency products for indoor systems and outdoor landscaping. HERO provides 100 percent financing for energy and water savings products for up to 20 years with fixed interest rates designed to make payments affordable. Homeowners make payments reflected on their property taxes, and in the event the property is sold, the remaining balance may be able to transfer to the new owner. The HERO Program’s consumer protections include: payment is made to contractors only when customers sign off that the job is complete to their satisfaction, contractors must meet standards and have a good track record, pricing must be fair in the marketplace, products must be rated as efficient, and seniors get extra care to help ensure they fully understand the terms.
Since 2011, the HERO Program has financed more than $1.3 billion in home improvements which are projected to save more than $2.3 billion on energy bills, conserve more than 8.6 billion kWh of electricity, reduce emissions by more than 2.3 million tons, and save more than 3.5 billion gallons of water. It has already created more than 11,000 jobs across California and has had a local economic stimulus of more than $2.3 billion.
For more information about Renovate America, visit www.renovateamerica.com.
For more information about EGIA, visit www.egia.org.
Publication date: 4/4/2016
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