Providing a simple and effective way to bring capital markets and lenders to both residential and commercial consumers with competitive financing and risk management to every utility customer.
Today, a utility accepts a manually processed paper utility guarantee bond from utility customers that is cumbersome for the customer to secure, expensive for the utility to administer and only covers standard utility services.
Tomorrow, the electronic utility guarantee bond can be easy for the customer to secure, cost effective for the utility to administer and cover financing of solar systems to promote Distributed Energy Resources and for privatization of energy production.
Utility guarantee bonds open up a world of innovative financing opportunities for consumers, help utilities meet renewable goals, and help meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals to fight climate change.
Surety Based Risk Management provides consumers with pre-qualified solar installers, the performance bond provides protection against installer default, and the payment bond enables preferred pricing for components.
The Orange Button provides the XBRL data standards for innovators to develop effective ways to attract capital and reduce risk, for utilities to cost effectively engage with third party lenders, for software vendors to enable data interoperability and for consumers to have real choices.
On Bill Repayment is one example of how the Orange Button is making an Impact.
Those data standards, along with specially tailored surety products and services, can then be employed by the On Bill program structure (“On Bill Surety Structure”) for greater efficiency and improved risk management, which can then attract capital at very competitive terms and act as a model for other solar programs.
The objective of the On Bill Surety Structure is to encourage the utility rate payer to invest in solar and clean energy by simplifying procurement and ownership by de-risking both the construction and loan repayment default exposure by utilizing surety to attract low cost capital for solar and clean energy, particularly in neighborhoods where energy costs have a significant economic impact.
For California it will help meet the of 50% renewable energy requirement as called for under SB350.
For investors and financiers it will provide safe and reliable returns, with structures in place to administer the loan portfolio, and efficient risk bearing management of defaults.
For diverse, small and veteran owned companies it will improve access to surety and bank credit for securing opportunities that help businesses grow and prosper.
For utilities, project owners and general contractors the supply chain will have a larger pool of diversity with qualified companies that have financial backing to mitigate the risk of non-performance or default.
Program Summary
The efficiency for the program will be enabled by the digital process employed and data interoperability, from online contractor application and construction monitoring, to ongoing system performance that can impact cash flow.
- De-risks the project from contractor default during installation.
- De-risks the loan by providing surety protection against ratepayer repayment default.
- Monitors clients and contractor insurance certificates.
- Monitors and tracks surety bonds.
- Coordinates resources to better manage construction loan disbursements.
- Provide resources for improved surety claims management
- Provide insurance products to rate payers such as contractor’s liability, builder’s risk and panel/system performance and warranty insurance.
