Today, on Energy Efficiency Day, the City of Charlottetown announced details on the success of its new Switch Efficiency Program. In July, the program was launched in Charlottetown, Stratford, and Wolfville, Nova Scotia and already has a million dollars in projects underway.
“More than four hundred homeowners are now part of the program, more than one hundred people have attended public engagement sessions in each community over the past few weeks, and more than fifty energy-efficient projects are now underway,” said Mayor Philip Brown. “All this within eight weeks of the program launch in mid-July. The success of the implementation of these initiatives relies on a network of skilled individuals, contractors, and dedicated residents who are committed to making the switch towards energy efficiency.”
The Switch Programs are being administered by PACE Atlantic, where the principals have been involved in energy efficiency financing for more than a decade.
“The uptake has been amazing, and the phones and emails just keep coming in,” said Julian Boyle, President of PACE Atlantic. “To have projects underway and completed in the first few weeks is unprecedented. This is the fastest launch ever in Canada for a program like this.”
A ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the program’s progress took place today, on Energy Efficiency Day, at the home of Jeremy Ladan, the first resident to complete a solar installation. Also present at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Councillor Mitchell Tweel, Chair of the Environment and Sustainability Committee, Faraaz Hussain, Project Manager at Aspin Kemp & Associates Inc., and Mike Proud, Senior Manager Energy Policy and Programs at Efficiency PEI. Efficiency PEI provides grants for efficiency projects to brings down costs and shorten the loan payback timelines.
The Switch Programs in Charlottetown, Stratford and Wolfville, Nova Scotia have $10 million in capital from the Government of Canada through a grant to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. The project already underway are seeing a 40 to 60% reduction in GHGs. The success of the Programs will help each municipality reach their Climate Change objectives and result in significant energy savings for homeowners.
The Switch Programs are designed to enable the savings on energy to outweigh the cost of loans. The terms include no money down, up to 15 years to repay at zero percent interest. The eligible projects include heat pumps, solar, insulation all other related projects that help save energy. The results to date also show homeowners have great interest in doing more than one kind of project.
For more details on the Switch program, visit
www.charlottetown.ca/switch