One of the point on which rural areas in North Carolina needs to put attention is energy consumption. There are indeed several areas which needs to improve this aspect. In spite of that, few homeowners make improvements to their home due to lack of money. As result of that, there are families who pay, each month, more for the electricity bill than for the mortgage repayment.

Trying to avoid that and to help rurals to save money on bills, Roanoke Electric Cooperative, which operates in a seven-county area in North Carolina, made great promotions about energy saving. The latest one is a new program that allow homeowners to borrow up to $4,000 from private lenders to make “green” home improvements in order to increase energy efficiency of their accommodation (is estimated that each year is possible to save more than 20% on electric bills). Loans are made by Generations Community Credit Union, lending institution specialised in serving rural communities in North Carolina, and interest rates are as low as 3.5%. Repayment can be done within 5 years.

This program is done in partnership among Roanoke Electric Cooperative, Generations Community Credit Union and Environmental Defense Fund and it’s considered to be a special one as is the first on-bill finance program done in North Carolina to use private capitals to help increase energy efficiency. Other on-bill finance programs use federal funding instead. Plus, this on-bill program does not link loan amount to electric consuption, so lenders can meet other criterias to be eligible.

The program is a good chance for families living in rural areas in North Carolina to increase their quality of life and to save money on bills.