Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association has joined with the Colorado Clean Energy Fund to make no-money-down, low-interest loans available to Tri-State members to electrify their homes and businesses and make the buildings more energy efficient.
Tri-State, a wholesale power supplier that serves Colorado and three other states, said $50 million it received through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy Savings Program will go to help rural residents buy new insulation, windows and doors, water heaters, heat pumps and electric-vehicle chargers.
The program includes home energy assessments and vetting for authorized contractors
The nonprofit Colorado Clean Energy Fund will administer the program. Households and businesses can make the loan payments through their monthly utility bills. The criteria for the loan will assess the consumer’s bill-paying history.
”One of the historic roadblocks to helping consumers and businesses embrace energy efficiency and beneficial electrification has been securing access to the capital needed to make meaningful improvements that reduce their energy costs,” Tri-State CEO Duane Highley said in a statement,
Gov. Jared Polis attended a news conference at the state Capitol on May 3 with Highley and Paul Scharfenberger, the CEO of the Colorado Clean Energy Fund, to announce the program.
Polis said the program will allow rural cooperatives that are Tri-State members to update their heating and cooling systems to be more energy efficient without having to come up with the upfront costs.
The San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative in Monte Vista, a Tri-State member, offered the first phase of the on-bill repayment program in March. The Sangre de Cristo Electric Association in Buena Vista launched the program last week.
Members of those associations can sign up online. Eleven other electric associations are expected to start offering the program later this year.
A plan filed by Tri-State with Colorado regulators calls for the utility to get 50% of its power from clean-energy sources in 2025 and 70% by 2030. In addition, the company expects to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado by 2030 by 89% from 2005 levels.
Tri-State, based in Westminster, serves a total of 41 electric cooperatives, 16 of which are in Colorado. Other members are in Wyoming, New Mexico and Nebraska.
