Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) 

PACE FAQs

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• What is Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE)?

  PACE stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy. It is a method of financing energy improvements to residences with payments made through a special assessment payment along with the property tax payment. The creation of the district gives eligible residential homeowners in the municipality access to financing for energy improvements to their homes.

• How does a town become a PACE district?

  In order to become a PACE district in Vermont, a municipality must hold a public vote to create a district. In addition, cities and towns can authorize Efficiency Vermont to act as PACE administrator, on their behalf, to facilitate the financial qualification process, billing and reporting.

• Is my town a PACE town?

  As of March 2012, 54 Vermont towns have designated themselves as PACE districts, listed below:

  • Albany 
  • Arlington 
  • Barre City 
  • Barre Town 
  • Berlin 
  • Braintree 
  • Brattleboro 
  • Burlington 
  • Cabot 
  • Calais 
  • Charlotte 
  • Cornwall 
  • Craftsbury 
  • Dorset 
  • Dummerston 
  • East Montpelier 
  • Essex 
  • Ferrisburgh 
  • Halifax 
  • Hardwick 
  • Hartford 
  • Hartland 
  • Hyde Park 
  • Jericho 
  • Killington 
  • Marlboro 
  • Middlebury 
  • Middlesex 
  • Middletown Springs 
  • Monkton 
  • Montpelier 
  • New Haven 
  • Newport Town
  • Norwich 
  • Putney 
  • Randolph 
  • Richmond 
  • Ripton 
  • Shelburne 
  • Shoreham 
  • South Burlington 
  • South Hero 
  • Strafford 
  • Thetford 
  • Topsham 
  • Underhill 
  • Vershire 
  • Waitsfield 
  • Westford 
  • Westminster 
  • Wilmington 
  • Woodbury 
  • Woodstock 
  • Worcester

  
  

• I am a town clerk or official, and my town elected to become a PACE Town. Now what should I do?

  Efficiency Vermont is here to help you figure out how PACE will work for you and the residents of your town. For the most up to date information on PACE for your town we recommend that you sign up for our regular email updates.

  Sign up for PACE email updates.

• Will PACE create a big administrative burden for my town?

  Admittedly there is a lot of administrative details for a program like PACE. We know that town officials have a lot of competing priorities and PACE can be a complex process. Efficiency Vermont has been named as a contract administrator for PACE. Towns have the choice of using Efficiency Vermont to provide the administrative work to implement PACE, or the town can be the administrator.

• How does PACE financing work?

  Residential property owners will apply for the program, describing the energy improvement(s) they wish to make. If approved, the property owner will enter into an assessment contract with their municipality. The municipality will advance the cost of the improvements to the contractor and place an assessment lien on the taxpayer’s property. The property owner then repays the municipality for the improvements as an assessment on his / her property tax bill over a 10, 15, or 20 year period. If the property owner sells the property before the assessment has been completely paid off, the obligation to pay the assessment stays with the property and is repaid by the new owner of the property, or the assessment can be paid off in full with no penalty.

• How much money can be financed through a PACE assessment?

  The amount of money that can be financed through PACE is 15% of the assessed value of the property or $30,000, whichever is less. The term of the assessment is for a maximum of 20 years or average measure life of the improvements, whichever is less.

• How will the funds be repaid to the municipality?

  PACE participants will be billed for their assessment on the same schedule as the municipality’s tax bill and will be collected in the same manner.

• What will the assessment cost participating property owners?

  Payments will need to cover the costs advanced to the property owner plus the cost of borrowing any funds, administrative expenses and an allocation to a loan loss reserve fund. Exact costs will be determined after funds have been secured. Vermont’s PACE programs are likely to have an imputed interest rate of about 2% higher than 30-year fixed-rate mortgages.

• Residents of my town are concerned that the non-participating property owners will need to absorb some of the costs of operating a municipal PACE program. Is this true?

  No. Vermont’s law specifies that PACE participants shall be obligated to cover the costs of operating the district, although the municipality may use other available funds to operate the district.

• What types of properties will be eligible to participate in PACE?

  Any residential dwelling - primary residence, vacation home, 1 – 4 unit owner occupied structure, manufactured home or condominium - located in a PACE district.

• What types of energy projects can be financed by PACE?

  PACE can finance renewable energy or energy efficiency improvements as well as repair or health and safety measures that may be required to secure the energy savings of the project. Energy efficiency projects must meet the following requirements:

  • The improvements are permanently attached to the property for which PACE financing is being secured;  
  • Net energy requirements for the affected building are reduced;

  
  

  Renewable energy projects must meet the definition of “renewable” in 30 VSA § 8002(2) of Title 30, which states "renewable energy means energy produced using a technology that relies on a resource that is being consumed at a harvest rate at or below its natural regeneration rate,” specifically including “flammable gases produced by the decay of sewage treatment plant wastes or landfill wastes and anaerobic digestion of agricultural products, byproducts, or wastes” but excluding “solid waste, other than agricultural or silvicultural waste,” any “form of nuclear fuel” and hydroelectric energy from a plant over 200 MW.

  
  

  See a complete list of PACE eligible measures.

• Where can I download the latest PACE documents I need from Efficiency Vermont?

  We’ve developed a resource list of the documents, forms, and guidelines that town officials need for PACE. Please see a list of the most relevant and up to date resources at the top of this page.