California's Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Authority (RCPA) to Launch a Pay As You Save Water Efficiency Program in 2021 and EEtility is the Program Operator!
The Sonoma County RCPA has partnered with the Bay Area Regional Energy Network (BayREN) and the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) to run a regional PAYS program called “Water Upgrades $ave” that will help local governments fulfill the state goal to “make water conservation a California way of life.”
EEtility, our fellow PAYS® Pals, have been selected as the Program Operator! EEtility is very excited to operate a full blown program (not a pilot) that will start with two utilities in 2021 and then scale to 16 utilities over 5 years!
Water Upgrades $ave will offer indoor and outdoor efficiency improvements that comply with state conservation requirements including:
Showerheads (max of 1.5 gallon per minute )
Aerators (max of 1.5 gallon per minute
Toilets (max of 1.06 gallon per flush)
Sheet mulch
Drip irrigation
Weather based irrigation controllers
Irrigation system repairs.
Water Upgrades $aves will:
Produce water and energy savings on the customer side of the meter so that water customers see reduced water and sewer costs
Help water utilities to manage existing demand and minimize new supply and infrastructure costs
Help local governments to ensure all citizens have access to no upfront cost efficiency services
Help Partner Utilities meet new state and local water efficiency goals
Reach low- and moderate-income property owners and renters
RCPA chose the Pay-As-You-Save® model having seen it piloted by the Windsor Efficiency PAYS®, Green Hayward PAYS®, and East Bay Municipal Utility District’s WaterSmart On-Bill Financing Programs. As of December 2019, these three PAYS pilots had completed 584 multi-family and 247 single family projects ― reducing multifamily water use by 30 percent and single family water use by 20 percent, on average.
With PAYS, the regional Program can make the following offer to customers: “Install eligible water efficiency measures with no up-front cost ― using a monthly on bill charge that is significantly lower than the estimated savings ― and begin saving right away.”
How the Program will Work:
RCPA's Savings Graphic:
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