Contra Costa, California Real Estate

A new energy upgrade rebate program for Contra Costa County is about to launch!

I have enjoyed several phone calls as a result of my blog post Cost Effective Programs to Add Energy Efficient Upgrades to Your Home Purchase.  The most recent call was from Jeffrey Lian of Ecology Action to inform me that a new energy rebate program for Contra Costa county is scheduled to roll-out on April 3, 2011.

Contra Costa's program dovetails with PGE's Energy Upgrade California, Advanced Package. 

The first step is to hire an independent home energy rater or participating contractor to perform a home energy assessment.  The cost ranges from approximately $400-$600.  (Important note, if you are including energy upgrades in your home purchase, it is important to hire a HERS II Energy Rater). Upon completion of the home energy assessment, the home energy rater provides a list of recommended improvements and the associated energy/thermal savings based on energy modeling.

The percentage of savings determines the Energy Upgrade California rebate.  For instance, energy savings of 20% provides a $2,000 rebate, energy savings of 30% provides a $3,000 rebate.  The maximum Advanced Package rebate is $4,000.

The new Contra Costa program provides the following rebates in addition to those provided by Energy Upgrade California.  If the Energy upgrade returns a 20% energy consumption improvement, the following rebates are available:

20% rebate for energy improvement project costs up to $10,000.

25% rebate for energy improvement projects costs greater than $10,000 up to a maximum of $5,000. 

It isn't entirely clear if the Contra Costa Rebate program is available for homeowners who order their Home Energy Assessment before the program roll-out on April 3rd.  If you want to get started, choose your Home Energy Rater and schedule the inspection for April 4th just to be safe.

I spoke to Scott O'Hara of Eco Performance Builders, one of the participating contractors listed on PGE's website.  Scott mentioned that some homes are losing up to 50% of their energy efficiency due to leaking ducts which also impacts indoor air quality.  That got the numbers running in my head. 

One of my clients recently replaced all of the ducting under their home for a total cost of $5,300 (they chose ducting with special features).  Assume that resulted in energy savings of 35% (could have been 50% given the fact the home is 40 years old) for a PGE rebate of $3,500.  Add an additional $1,060 rebate from Contra Costa (20% of the total project cost).  My clients spent $5,300 and would have received $4,560 rebates under these new programs.  A project expense of $740 + $400 for the energy survey resulting in a net out-of-pocket expense of $1,140....and don't forget the ongoing energy savings from the improvements!