LAWTON – Comanche County is moving forward with a new program designed to help commercial property owners make their building more energy efficient while saving on energy costs.
The Comanche County Board of Commissioners voted 3-0 to join Oklahoma’s Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy program. In a separate motion, the commission approved an agreement with the Indian Nations Council of Governments, a group of local and tribal governments, to administer the program on the county’s behalf.
Established in 2021, Oklahoma C-PACE offers low-interest, long-term financing to owners of commercial buildings who want to upgrade their property’s energy systems, according to the program’s website, www.oklahomapace.org. The program aims to help owners lower their energy bills while making their building more comfortable and boosting its value.
In Oklahoma, C-PACE must obtain permission from a county’s government before the program can begin operating in that county. There is no cost to join the program, and INCOG administers the program for counties.
County officials should leave its administrative options open instead of relying only on INCOG, said Bob Moore, a financial consultant for Hilliary Communications who was speaking only for himself.
“Not to say, ‘Don’t do business with them,’” he said. “Just don’t lock yourself in and be exclusive. There’s no reason to limit ourselves.”
Nancy Graham, air quality manager for INCOG, said the county is free to develop and administer its C-PACE program if it wishes. She noted that Oklahoma County is doing its own C-PACE program.
“They’re going to staff it; they’re going to work it,” Graham said. “And you guys might want to do that as well, and you certainly can.”
She said INCOG is willing to administer counties’ C-PACE programs because the group wants to make sure the program is consistent for participating lenders.
C-PACE is available for commercial properties, including industrial buildings, agricultural property, offices and nongovernmental, tax-exempt buildings, according to the program’s website. Commercial property owners may use C-PACE financing to retrofit existing buildings or make it one element of the financing for a new building.
The money must be used to cover the owner’s eligible costs in any of four categories: energy efficiency, energy sources, water conservation and building resiliency.