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Loan program offering green energy improvements being assessed by Lac La Biche County council

The Clean Energy Improvement Program (CEIP) is being explored by Lac La Biche County with community engagement set to take place to gather feedback. 

LAC LA BICHE - Lac La Biche County officials will be embarking on public engagement sessions to assess the viability of a national program aiming to retrofit properties with greener energy options. The Clean Energy Improvement Program (CEIP) is part of an accessible municipal loan program offered to property owners aiming to implement energy-efficient and renewable upgrades. 

The program is offered in partnership with Alberta Municipalities (AM), with additional support and funding opportunities available from FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities). County officials who are aiming to asses public subscriptions in the coming months, will have options to offer the loan either through the County, provincial or federal funds, with recipients paying back the costs over time, said Carl Kurppa, the County’s grants and community funding coordinator. 

The program “provides money for the upfront costs for clean energy improvements to homeowners and then they pay it back through time over property taxes,” he explained during the Oct. 11 council meeting. 

"Once the project is done, the contractors are paid. They’re either paid by AM or the municipality, so not by the homeowner themselves, and then from there, it’s just added on to the tax roll year after year and the cost is recovered to us.” 

Services 

Through the program, property owners will have the opportunity to retrofit utility, infrastructure and electric services, said Kurrpa. 

Items from “heating, ventilation and air conditioning, renewable energy, solar and thermal systems, lighting, water heating, doors, windows, insulation and air sealing, lighting,” can be included, according to information presented. 

Providing opportunities for residents to support costs related to renewable energy efforts is a move in the right direction, said County Coun. Lorin Tkachuk. 

“If it's something we can do to help residents fund these sorts of projects I think it's great,” he added. 

“If we are trying to incentivize people in the community to go with clean energy, we should also be leading by example,” he says, adding, the County should also look for grant opportunities or programs available to municipal governments aiming to implement clean energy. 

“Solar panels on the Bold Center or those types of things would be stepping in the right direction to incentivize people to also look at these programs.” 

Various bylaws to implement the program have seen over 19 municipalities implement various loan services to get the program off the ground, said Kurppa. 

“Currently, there is six municipalities that have active programs, so as big as the City of Edmonton and as small as the town of Athabasca… 19 municipalities in total have either launched the program or are in the process of launching it.” 

However, one of the distinctive features of the program will see the loan—which can range from $3,000 to $50,000 for residential green upgrades or additions—become registered to the property, not the owner, Kurppa explained. 

“This loan is registered to the property so not the property owner, so if they were to sell it, it would stay and the new owner would then take it on.” 

Funding concerns 

County councillors had concerns with how the funding would possibly be provided considering loans are available through fixed or variable rates. 

“The big things the customers have to realize is they’re mortgaging that amount of money” until all costs are paid which can last for years or for decades, said County Coun. Sterling Johnson. 

But considering the County’s potential application of the green improvement program won’t be the first one, there are working bylaw examples to utilize from other municipalities, said County Mayor Paul Reutov. 

“Municipalities already have adopted versions of it, so obviously we’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We can see what options work and how they administrate it.” 

Because public engagement is required, there are many features of the potential program that will need to be clarified, Reutov explained.  

“Grant options and funding should be really clearly laid out… here are your options on how it could be cash, finance or multiple combinations of all of the above,” said Reutov, while also explaining that building relationships with green manufacturers approved by AM would help streamline services in the future. 

Wide reach 

While CEIP aims to support residential services, the program will also see opportunities available to non-residential properties for up to $1 million and farms for up to $300,000 in improvements, Kurppa explained. 

He added that county officials will work with AM to review applications and can recoup up to five per cent in administrative costs from projects if the program is implemented in the community. 

Moving forward, County officials have assessed there is potential for up to 40 subscriptions in the community so far based on discussions with “program administrators and what other municipalities have seen,” Kurrpa explained. 

In the coming months, community engagement sessions will establish the potential buy-in from the community and council will return to discuss implementing the program. 

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