California’s GoGreen Home Energy Financing Program has financed more than $100 million in home energy efficiency improvements, including high-efficiency heating and air conditioning systems, insulation, Energy Star appliances, and efficient windows. The program launched as a pilot in July 2016 and became a permanent program in April 2020. State treasurer Fiona Ma, in announcing the milestone, said the program has helped over 6,000 California households make a combined $100.9 million in improvements.
GoGreen Home is administered by the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority (CAEATFA), which Ma chairs as state treasurer, and enables lenders to offer low interest rates, extended terms for affordable monthly payments, and broader eligibility, including accepting borrowers with lower credit scores. GoGreen Home manages a loan loss reserve fund that serves as a backstop for lenders, providing up to 90 percent reimbursement in the event of default by the borrower. GoGreen Home serves owners and renters, and there is no property lien with the financing.
“Reaching $100 million in lending is a major milestone for the GoGreen Home program and proves there is a strong desire for an affordable financing mechanism to make energy efficiency upgrades,” said Treasurer Ma. “GoGreen Home gives us a great blueprint of how California can achieve its climate goals with good policy and programs. My office will continue working to scale the GoGreen Home program to make energy saving projects accessible to even more Californians.”
The $100 millionth dollar was lent to a homeowner in rural Yuba County who installed a cool roof at a cost of $23,600 with a fixed interest rate of 4.99 percent and a 180-month (15-year) term. Cool roofs can save more than 1000 kWh per year by reflecting solar radiation and reducing the need for air conditioning.
GoGreen Home offers standard loans from credit unions for larger purchases (up to $50,000) as well as marketplace microloans for the purchase of energy-efficient appliances (up to $5,000).
The $100 million in GoGreen Home projects were funded with $15.7 million in credit enhancement funds from utility ratepayers. The program’s credit enhancement facility operates as a revolving loan fund. To date, more than $1.3 million has come back as loans have been paid off and is now ready to be redeployed to finance other energy upgrades.
Notable GoGreen Home data and facts:
Loans Made: 6,182
Amount financed: $100.9 million
$99.4M in standard loans (5,223)
Average interest rate (last 12 months): 5.07 percent
Average rate for same lenders without GoGreen Home: 9.4 percent
Average term length 110 months (market average 60 months)
$1.5M in marketplace microloans (959)
Average interest rate 9.58 percent
Equipment
3,442 high-efficiency HVACs
1,033 heat pump HVACs
12,152 individual EE windows installed (945 projects)
920 cool roofs
519 attics insulated
714 Energy Star washers and dryers through utility marketplaces
214 Energy Star refrigerators through utility marketplaces
Energy savings
More than 748,000 therms
More than 5,035 tons of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions averted – like taking 1,000 cars off the road for a year, or Californians NOT driving 11.7 million miles.
