Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program
Loans with interest tied to Treasury rates for eligible rural electric utilities to finance consumer energy-efficiency and conservation programmes.
This programme finances a utility-designed energy programme rather than lending directly to households or businesses. Your utility can use the loan for measures on consumer premises or relend the money to customers, including through repayment on their electric bills.
Eligible uses include energy-efficiency measures, on-grid or off-grid distributed renewable generation, demand-side management, energy audits, consumer education, power-factor correction equipment and efficient lighting.
The loan normally runs for no more than 15 years. A longer term may be available for ground-source loop investments or technology whose useful life, assessed across the programme, exceeds 15 years.
Eligibility
Your organization must have direct or indirect responsibility for providing retail electric service to people in an eligible rural area. It may provide:
- retail electric service to consumers;
- wholesale electric supply to distribution utilities; or
- transmission service to distribution or generation utilities.
In each case, your organization must provide the relevant service using electricity-system assets it owns or controls. Check its published tariff: the public schedule that sets out the service and rates. The organization and any associated regulator must have authority to adjust that tariff.
For this programme, a rural area is generally a town or unincorporated area with no more than 20,000 inhabitants. An area in the service territory of a borrower with an outstanding loan can also qualify, and eligible communities may be combined into a service territory with more than 20,000 inhabitants.
How to apply
- Status
- Open continuously
- Round restrictions
- RUS accepts applications year-round and describes an ongoing October 1 to September 30 programme cycle.
Contact the Rural Utilities Service General Field Representative for your area to begin the loan application process. RUS accepts applications year-round; the programme page also provides background materials and a toolkit under To Apply.