On-Bill Financing

Any Traverse City Light & Power residential customer.

Unsecured consumer loan. Notice of the loan is recorded with the county register of deeds. Any unpaid amount can be added to property tax bill and enforced through a tax lien foreclosure process.

If property is sold, the loan can stay with the property if agreed upon by buyer.

Eligible improvements include any measure or piece of equipment that has energy savings documented by the Michigan Public Service Commission. Including but not limited to:

• air sealing
• air source heat pumps
• geothermal systems
• insulation
• water heaters
• windows

Qualifying energy-saving home improvements must be installed by an authorized contractor. A whole-home assessment with diagnostic testing is required for each financed project.

Currently, renewable energy and EV charging stations are not allowed as eligible improvements for on-bill financing. TCLP strongly believes these are very important projects and is working on ways to help make these a reality for you. We will update this webpage as we have more information. In the meantime, please take a look at our Residential Rebates to apply for rebates on eligible energy-saving projects.

$5,000–$30,000. Multiple loans per customer are allowed if the total amount financed does not exceed the maximum allowable loan amount. Multiple loans are consolidated into one loan at the current interest rate.

Up to 10 years or useful life of the measure, whichever is less.

3% interest rate for loan terms up to 120 months.

Customers repay the loan through a per-meter charge on their monthly TCLP bill for electric services. The payment is considered part of the charges for electric services to the property. There is no penalty for early repayment.

Twelve consecutive months with no delinquencies on electric utility bill payment history. If an applicant has no more than one delinquency in the past 12 months, TCLP may pre-approve the applicant if there is no more than one delinquency in the last 24 months and the applicant has a credit score of 640 or higher. Applicants should not have any delinquent taxes, bankruptcies within the last three years (from discharge), foreclosures, repossessions greater than $1,000 or unsatisfied money judgements.

The loan agreement is between TCLP and the customer. Upon completion of the energy-efficiency improvements, TCLP pays the contractor directly and the loan payments begin.

Single-family (one- to four-unit) homes. Rental/income properties are eligible provided the landlord meets program requirements.