WASHINGTON, Jan. 13, 2016 - USDA’s Rural Utilities Service has awarded the Vermont Energy Investment Corp. (VEIC) $46 million to support energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements in rural areas across the state. This is the largest Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program (EECLP) Rural Utilities Service project, in terms of both financing and scale, since the EECLP’s launch in December 2013.
The award will help VEIC customers install renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency upgrades, such as switching to cleaner and more efficient fuel sources and installing energy efficient building upgrades.
The loan is expected to provide major benefits to rural Vermont residents, businesses and communities. For example, the energy cost reduction for farmers and food manufacturers, including family run dairies and maple syrup producers, can help them remain competitive. The program will also help build a cleaner and more sustainable domestic energy sector for future generations by reducing barriers to investment in energy efficiency.
“This loan will reduce barriers to energy investments by lowering the upfront costs, spreading these costs over 20 years and by making financing more available,” says Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “It also will help residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial consumers in rural Vermont reduce energy use and meet state and national energy goals.”
VEIC will operate and administer the program through Efficiency Vermont, an energy efficiency utility with predominantly rural state-wide service territory.
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