Ygrene Continues Missouri Expansion Adding St. Charles County and Show Me PACE Clean Energy District

April 16, 2019 ST. CHARLES, MO. – Ygrene, a national leader in energy efficiency and resiliency financing, announced today that the company’s Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program in Missouri has expanded to include St. Charles County through the Show Me PACE Clean Energy District. St. Charles County is located in the metropolitan St. Louis region and is steadily growing with an estimated population of more than 400,000. The added jurisdiction is contiguous to Ygrene’s current Missouri operations including St. Louis County’s 88 municipalities and unincorporated areas and the City of St. Louis.

“In 2017, we launched our residential program in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. To date, we have registered nearly 90 local, independent home-improvement contractor companies in the region,” said Rocco Fabiano, President and CEO of Ygrene Energy Fund. “Today’s expansion, which includes St. Charles County and Show Me PACE, will allow more homeowners and local contractors in the region to access the benefits of PACE – accessible and affordable long-term financing for energy efficiency and renewable energy upgrades.”

The Missouri PACE program is made up of four Clean Energy Development Boards which, in the last six years, have completed more than 2300 residential and commercial clean-energy projects totaling more than $85 million in project funding. PACE projects on approximately 35 commercial properties have accounted for $51 million of the total.

As a public-private partnership, the Missouri PACE program has been a great success: program activity has created or retained more than 1200 good-paying jobs, such as HVAC technicians, carpenters, solar installers, and electricians without any increases in public spending.

“The County Council felt it was important to provide homeowners with financing options for qualified energy efficiency and renewable energy property improvements,” said Councilman Mike Elam (District 3). “Providing a good financing program for St. Charles County is a good thing but ensuring property owners are protected is even more important. This is why the county adopted Show Me PACE and Ygrene — they have the most comprehensive consumer protections and contractor oversight in the state, and we made sure of that.”

“Working in the banking industry, I immediately recognized the benefits of PACE financing by its ability to provide 100% of the upfront project costs to property owners,” said Nic Brinker, President of the Show Me PACE Clean Energy District. “We are excited to expand our program to include St. Charles County and Ygrene’s best-in-class residential and commercial PACE offering and look forward to a successful launch.”

PACE provides property owners access to affordable long-term financing for renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements, while including built-in consumer protections that are stronger than many other types of home improvement financing. PACE makes these improvements more accessible, helping homeowners overcome the upfront cost barrier and allowing them to lower their utility bills and reduce their energy consumption. Without PACE, homeowners are typically faced with high-interest rate, short-term personal loans or credit products that are far more expensive than PACE financing.

Show Me PACE and Ygrene have implemented the industry’s strongest consumer protections, which include:

• A comprehensive financial disclosure form (‘know before you owe’)
• Executing a recorded ‘confirmation of terms’ call for every project
• Providing lender notification on 100% of approved projects
• A completion certificate that must be signed by the property owner before any funds are disbursed to their contractor

PACE's consumer protections, underwriting standards, and overall customer service far exceed that of other financing products in the home improvement market. Alternative forms of home improvement financing such as credit cards and bank loans have far fewer built-in consumer protections, as well as higher terms and fees.

About Ygrene
Ygrene’s award-winning PACE program, with built-in consumer protections, is delivering greater choice for home and business owners by providing accessible and affordable financing for energy efficiency, resiliency, renewables, water conservation, storm protection and seismic upgrades. Recognized as one of the fastest growing asset classes in the country, PACE has proven to be a successful tool for supporting public policy initiatives, all without the use of public tax dollars or credits. By providing over $1 billion of private capital to more than 550 local communities, Ygrene has created thousands of jobs and invested millions into local economies across the U.S. Learn more at ygrene.com.

About Show Me PACE
Show Me PACE was created in 2015 to combine the mission-driven nature of the Missouri Energy Initiative with the drive of creating a best practices public-private PACE partnership that provides open market and transparent services to Missouri communities, capital providers and property owners. In its first three years, Show Me PACE has demonstrated the ability to bring Commercial PACE to Missouri, facilitating more than $21 million in Commercial PACE financing including the largest agriculture project in the U.S. and the largest project in Kansas City.