Texas Commercial PACE Program: Protecting Borrowers and Creating Economic Benefits

by

January 11, 2017

Today The Wall Street Journal published a front page article about the California residential PACE program highlighting problems relating to consumer protection and other issues. Fortunately, none of these problems or issues are relevant to, or cause for concern under, the Texas PACE program for the reasons listed below:

  • The purpose of the Texas PACE statute is to enable energy-efficiency financing for commercial and industrial properties.

  • Residential PACE loans are not permitted in Texas.

    • The Texas PACE statute does not authorize single-family residential PACE loans.

    • PACE financing for residential property is available only to borrowers who are in the business of operating multi-family properties containing 5 or more units.

  • The Texas PACE statute includes multiple layers of protection for commercial property owners and lenders, including:

    • Commercial property with a mortgage is not eligible for a PACE loan without the written consent of the mortgage holder. This approach protects preexisting lien rights of the mortgage holder.

    • Prior to closing a PACE loan, an independent professional engineer must confirm that projected savings are consistent with applicable technical standards.

    • Upon completion of the project, an independent professional engineer must confirm that the equipment was properly installed and is operating as intended.

    • The term of the commercial PACE assessment cannot exceed the projected useful life of the improvements.

    • Private, open-market lenders provide all PACE financing in Texas. The Texas PACE program does not utilize government bonds or public funds.

    • All PACE programs established in Texas are administered by the Texas PACE Authority, a non-profit organization whose sole purpose is to operate PACE programs for local jurisdictions. This arrangement is unique to Texas and avoids conflicts that can arise when the PACE administrator is a for-profit organization that receives compensation for both facilitating the program and arranging the loans.

    • Lenders, contractors and other service providers for all PACE projects in Texas are selected independently by the property owners in a free-market, competitive environment not restricted to any particular or favored contractors or lenders.

The Texas commercial PACE program was designed by a group of more than 130 stakeholder-volunteers dedicated to ensuring that the problems and issues highlighted in The Wall Street Journal article will not arise in Texas.

For more information about the Texas PACE program, visit www.KeepingPACEinTexas.org and www.TexasPACEAuthority.org, or contact Charlene Heydinger at charlene.heydinger@KeepPACE.org.