A:
(Check out this great chart from Clean Energy Works on this question)
Key similarities between PACE & PAYS
- 100% of upfront costs are covered
- Does not require personal credit
- Results in savings day one
- Can be used for commercial & public buildings
- PACE assessed on taxes (paid twice a year in large chunks)
- PAYS assessed on utility bill (paid monthly, correlates logically with energy savings)
- PACE requires property ownership to participate
- PAYS does not require property ownership to participate, however, it does requires property ownership to implement/sign-off on *on-site improvements*
- PACE-eligible improvements are based on the value of the property
- PAYS-eligible improvements are based on the internal payback of that specific improvement
- PACE is effectively a form of debt, with a lien attached to the property
- PAYS is a tariff rate that does not equate with a lien property or personal customer debt
- PACE historically cannot be used for residential because of FHA limitations - "most residential financing programs have been shelved for now while the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issues rules related to lien seniority for mortgaged homes"
- PAYS can be used for residential properties
- All PACE projects are permanently affixed to the property
- Some PAYS projects are permanently affixed to the property, but others like Community Solar Garden subscriptions are tied to the customer
- In some states, PACE eligible improvements include: water conservation & natural disaster resilience measures
- PAYS eligible improvements exclusively include energy related improvements
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