Preserving Incentive Availability

Both the ERP and SGIP have borrowed funds from future years or transferred funds from other program budget categories to meet excessive demand. Each program has experienced periods when funding was not available. While the goal of this new program is to provide a consistent, long term funding source with minimal incentive disruptions, there may be instances when the prescribed incentive level is too high and demand on program funds exceeds availability.

To minimize funding gaps, the program will allow borrowing forward from future program years, but projects will receive a lower incentive. To ensure optimal funding availability, the program will also utilize a market-based trigger mechanism. For example, if reservation requests exceed 50% of annual funding in the first quarter for either the residential or commercial category, the incentive level for that sector will be reduced ahead of schedule. This mechanism is in addition to the scheduled incentive reduction, and will only be used to align funding with program participation.