Company pledges to help rebuild homes
Central Coast Community Energy has committed to more sustainable living on California’s
Central Coast including the San Lorenzo Valley.
The Monterey-based company has pledged $125,000 to the rebuild of homes destroyed by wildfires in 2020. That money will supplement the funding to rebuild of about 25 homes, according to Central Coast Community Energy Senior Energy Media Specialist Shelly Whitworth.
However, there is a caveat to receiving the funding. To receive a share of the funding, the rebuild of the home must be completely electric.
“When the lightning fires occurred, we knew we wanted to dedicate funding
specifically to help fund all electric rebuilds for those who lost their homes,” Whitworth said. “It’s a great example of how Central Coast Community Energy is responsive to changing and unique community needs in an impactful way while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”
CCCE will provide roughly $5,000 to each approved applicant of a single-family home and $2,500 for multiple-home buildings such as apartments or duplexes. There will also be incentives for more funding.
Homes that include an electric vehicle charger will receive a boost in their funding. Single-family homes will receive up to $600, while multi-home buildings can receive an additional $1,000, according to the CCCE website.
“Right now, a lot of homes are in that clean up phase with the county and EPA,” Whitworth said. “We launched the program at the perfect time.”
The program started on Jan. 22.
CCCE has received six applications so far, according to Whitworth. That leaves 19 more homes to be funded. Those interested in rebuilding their homes fully electric can apply for supplementary funding from the organization at 3cenergy.org. From there visitors can visit the Building Electrification page, select the Homeowner Rebuild Track and click the apply button.
In order to qualify for wildfire funding, the applicant’s home must be red tagged by Cal Fire. A ‘red tag” is applied to a building that is severely damaged and otherwise inhabitable. Then, those wishing to rebuild their homes will need to provide one of three documents to finish qualifying for the funding.
“One of them is a letter from an architect describing how the building meets all electric required, a signed letter from an electrical engineer describing the same, or a construction permit showing that the building will be all electric,” Whitworth said.
Applicants will also need details about the house or building. They will also need to provide a project schedule that will detail plans of the rebuild. Once approved, funds for a project can be reserved for up to two-and-a-half years. The funding will be granted to the application upon completion of the project, according to the CCCE website.
The dedication of funds to wildfire victims is part of a larger $2.2 million project named the New Construction Electrification Grant Program. The program is designed to create more sustainable communities and break the reliance on fossil fuels.
“Mostly we were working with the larger developer incentive, that’s going to folks like MidPen, a lot of the folks that currently have projects slated. This incentive actually shifts them away from building any gas lines,” said Director of Communications and Outreach JR Killigrew. “The wildfire rebuild, it’s just carving out a chunk of that overall funding.”
While the bulk of the money is meant for developers to create all new housing along the Central Coast, CCCE is still committed to community. The company has committed a large portion of the funds to affordable housing developments along the Central Coast between Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara.
The entire project is designed to fund 830 new units that are fully electric. Developers are incentivized to build affordable housing. Affordable housing units will receive $2,500 in funding while market rate units will receive $1,750, according to the CCCE website.
Whitworth said 75% of that is earmarked for affordable housing. “We’re really looking for developers to build affordable housing in an all-electric fashion,” she said.
Developers have a similar application process. They will need to provide housing unit details, such as the number of housing units in the building and whether it is affordable or market rate. They will also need to provide a project schedule and documentation proving it is an all-electric project.
Once approved, funding will be on hold for threeand-a-half years and will be granted to the developer upon completion of the project. Developers can apply on the CCCE website on the Building Electrification page under the Developer Incentive Track.