UPDATE July 7, 2022: Governor Tom Wolf signed the C-PACE expansion legislation now known as Act 43. The Act will take effect September 6, 2022, 60 days after signing. PEA and SEF are working on updating C-PACE program guidelines. Stakeholder sessions were held in February for resiliency and IAQ. A stakeholder session to discuss multifamily properties will be announced soon.
Philadelphia C-PACE is accepting “intent to submit” forms for multifamily projects. If you have a multifamily project you intend to use C-PACE funds for, the form can be found in the Program Resources page of the website or downloaded directly here.
UPDATE June 29, 2022: C-PACE Expansion Legislation Has Passed! With the final passage of SB 635 by the House, the bill is awaiting Governor Wolf’s signature. The act will take effect 60 days after signing. Last week, in its final session before recess for the summer, the City of Philadelphia passed expansion language contingent on the passage of state legislation. With the passage of both state and local enabling legislation, Philadelphia will be able to finance multifamily, resilience, and indoor air quality projects once our program guidelines are updated, no sooner than the end of the aforementioned 60-day period. During this period, we will continue our robust stakeholder engagement efforts to collect feedback to inform program guidelines. Philadelphia C-PACE is accepting “intent to submit” forms for multifamily projects. If you have a multifamily project you intend to use C-PACE funds for, the form can be found in the Program Resources page of the website or downloaded directly here.
UPDATE June 22, 2022: The House Commerce Committee passed SB635 unanimously. It now goes to the House floor for 1st consideration, then it is moved to the House Appropriations Committee. There will then be two more House floor votes. The votes all expected to take place the week of June 27th. Upon final passage, it will go to Governor Wolf for signature.
UPDATE June 14, 2022: The House Commerce Committee hearing was cancelled. More updates to follow once a new date has been scheduled or a different path to passage has been announced.
UPDATE June 9, 2022: Exciting news! The PA House Commerce Committee has scheduled a hearing to consider SB 635 on Tuesday June 14, 2022 at 10:00 A.M., Room 515, Irvis Office Building. The House Commerce hearing to consider the already-passed Senate Bill 635 is a critical step toward final passage of the C-PACE Expansion bill. As a reminder, this bill has passed favorably out of both the House and the Senate but one chamber must pass the other’s bill in order for the bill to become law. If voted out of Committee favorably, it then is referred to the House Appropriations Committee. Since there is no financial impact, the Appropriations Committee will forward it to the full House for a vote which requires three considerations to pass and be sent to the Governor for signature. There are 12 session days between June 13th and June 30th.
UPDATE March 21, 2022: Since the House passed HB 1760 on January 24th, no action has been taken to advance C-PACE expansion legislation despite broad, bipartisan support. Either the House or the Senate must vote to approve the other chamber’s bill for C-PACE legislation to be sent to Governor Wolf for his signature.
If you are a developer or capital provider with a project that is impacted by this delay and are willing to contact key legislators to demonstrate your support of the bill’s passage, please contact Matt Stern at mstern@philaenergy.org for more information.
Please also note that should the C-PACE expansion bill be passed into law at the state level, there is a 60-day waiting period before it can take effect. Upon passage at the state level, counties must also implement necessary local updates including amendments to ordinances and program guidelines to allow projects to be financed under the expanded guidelines. Implementation timelines will vary county by county.
UPDATE January 24, 2022: HB 1760 passed the House 200-0! Both the House and Senate bills have made it through their respective chambers. One chamber will need to approve the other’s bill before it can be sent to Governor Wolf for signature.
UPDATE January 12, 2022: HB 1760 was referred to House Appropriations on January 12. Before being referred, the bill was amended to ensure that the language of the bill was identical to its Senate counterpart SB 635, a procedural step that helps prime the bill for passage.
UPDATE December 15, 2021: On its last day in session in 2021, SB 635 was passed by the Senate by a vote of 42-8! The House and Senate are now adjourned until the new year. When they return in late January, HB 1760 will first need to be passed out of Appropriations before it’s ready for a full House vote.
UPDATE December 13, 2021: HB 1760 was voted unanimously out of the House Commerce Committee!
Adopted in 2018, Pennsylvania’s Commercial Property-Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing allows commercial property owners to borrow money for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation projects. Repayments are made via a special assessment similar to a property tax assessment.
In the program’s first two years, C-PACE brought $72 million of private capital to the Commonwealth to make its buildings more efficient, more comfortable, and less expensive to operate.
Given the success of the C-PACE program to date, Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA) and many other organizations are supporting proposed legislation to expand C-PACE-eligible projects in Pennsylvania.
The legislation would expand eligibility for C-PACE funding to include:
- Multifamily commercial buildings of 5+ units
- Indoor air quality improvements (such as COVID-19 mitigation)
- Resiliency improvements
Legislation to expand the scope of C-PACE-eligible projects has been introduced in both the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate. To expand the benefits of C-PACE financing to Pennsylvania’s businesses, clean energy workforce, and residents, we need your help.
House Bill 1760 and Senate Bill 635 both need to be voted out of their respective committees to keep the momentum going on C-PACE expansion.
For more background on the expansion legislation, please visit Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance’s C-PACE website.
