Statement by Renew Financial CEO Cisco DeVries on New PACE Data from Leading Credit Ratings Agency
OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 22, 2018 – Today, the DBRS credit ratings agency released a new report that shows delinquency rates for residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) properties in California are “very low” and consistently below the overall property tax delinquency rates for all homeowners. The report also found that the delinquency rate for PACE declines to nearly zero in 12 – 18 months, after almost every homeowner pays his or her semi-annual property tax bill.
The available data in the report “shows strong performance with very low delinquency levels around 2% to 4% at the peak declining to less than 1% within 12 months,” according to the report authors. “PACE delinquency metrics are lower than general aggregate property tax and single-family residential only property tax delinquency levels. PACE also shows consistent performance and very low volatility across tax years.”
“This report shows that PACE is working well for American families,” said Cisco DeVries, CEO of Renew Financial. “We’ve put consumer protections at the heart of our company since our founding. The very low delinquency rates in this report show that PACE financing is a great way to safely and effectively make important home improvements. And new consumer protections and oversight will only make PACE – already one of the most successful energy efficiency financing programs in history – even better for homeowners.”
This report comes after California enacted new consumer protections and industry standards that make one of the most successful energy-efficiency financing programs in history markedly better.
Last year, California Governor Jerry Brown signed two new bills into law that create a comprehensive consumer protection, underwriting and regulatory framework for Property Assessed Clean Energy. Two companion pieces of legislation – AB 1284 and SB 242 – are the result of a year of development and negotiations among real estate professionals, local governments, environmental and clean-energy groups, the banking industry, and private sector PACE administrators aimed at improving PACE by strengthening consumer protections. These laws went into effect on January 1, 2018.
About Renew Financial
Renew Financial Group LLC (“Renew Financial”) is one of the nation’s leading home improvement financing companies. Renew Financial administers and provides multiple financing products across the country, with programs available in several states, including Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs operating in California and Florida. PACE is a financing tool enabled by state and local governments that provides homeowners and business owners with access to private capital to finance the entire cost of renewable energy, energy efficiency, water conservation, seismic, and wind mitigation upgrades, and then pay for those upgrades on their property tax bill. PACE was named by Scientific American as one of the “top 20 ideas that can change the world.” PACE is a job-creating policy tool that enjoys broad support, having been championed in state legislatures and local communities nationwide by business leaders, advocacy organizations and elected officials from both sides of the aisle.
By Cisco DeVries of Renew Financial
