IMPORTANT

PG&E’s 0% Financing Helps Bart Upgrade Lighting, Improve Safety at 14 Parking Garages

Date: February 16, 2024
PG&E workers installing lights at a BART station

When Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) needed to upgrade the lighting in the parking garages of 14 stations across the East Bay and Peninsula, they turned to PG&E to explore the on-bill financing program. Securing a 0% interest loan for $11.8 million, BART invested in energy-efficient lighting, which is estimated to save nearly $1.4 million a year in energy costs.

 

The upgrades not only promise energy savings and reduced maintenance expenses but also bolster safety with brighter lighting in the parking garage.

 

“Energy savings and quality of life improvements are what people are really going to notice,” said Isaac Lim, BART’s project manager.

 

According to the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Equivalences Calculator, the energy savings from this project equal 6,962 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO) equivalent. To put that into perspective, this equates to:

  • Taking 1,549 gasoline-powered cars off the road for one year.
  • CO emissions from 1,355 homes’ electricity use for one year.
  • Carbon sequestered by 46.2 acres of U.S. forests preserved from conversion to cropland in one year.

 

This partnership exemplifies why on-bill financing has become such a popular program among PG&E customers. The program provides no-interest loans to qualified non-residential customers to upgrade to energy-efficient equipment and allows the customer to repay the loan directly on their utility bill. In 2023 alone, OBF loaned a total of $51.4 million, a 19% increase from the prior year, and supported 369 projects across many industries including schools, hospitals, restaurants, police stations, corner markets, and more. Customers who received an on-bill financing loan in 2023 are estimated to save a collective $9 million per year on their PG&E bills.

 

“On-bill financing is a key program in PG&E’s stand to create prosperity for all customers," said Jake Zigelman, senior director of PG&E's Load Management Solutions. "Since 2011, we are proud to support our customers with over $400M in zero-cost loans that lead to direct energy cost savings. We look forward to even more projects in 2024, and to expanding our OBF platform to additional clean energy technologies in the near future.”

 

To learn more about on-bill financing, visit PG&E’s Energy Efficiency Financing website or submit a request to have a PG&E representative contact you.