Small business

The Small Business Financing (SBF) program is open for a limited launch offering products from select finance companies. During limited launch, financing is available for up to $350,000 in nonlighting projects or up to $5 million in lighting projects. To see if your project is a fit, view the prequalified Energy Saving Measures list. 

The SBF program is available for:

• for-profit businesses
• nonprofit organizations

Like all the programs highlighted on GoGreen Financing, the SBF program is designed to encourage growth in private market lending and features a credit enhancement to help financing entities mitigate risk. The flexibility of this program gives the customer the option to combine financing with utility rebates and incentives and gives finance companies the option to collect repayments through the customers’ energy bills.

These companies have been enrolled in the SBF program and are participating in the limited launch.

	Equipment lease agreements $10,000-$5,000,000 Progress payments available on a contractor-by-contractor basis Credit approval in 24-48 hours for up to $300,000 in financing Electronic documents with eSignature Dedicated account manager Contact Alliance Funding Group+
	Equipment finance agreements $10,000-$1,500,000 Mobile app to provide exact payment quotes to customers Credit decisions within 2 business hours for up to $250,000 in financing Simple e-sign, 1 page contract for customers 95% prefunding for contractors who pass credit checks Contact Ascentium Capital+
	Loans, leases and service agreements $10,000-$5,000,000 Progress payments or escrow funding for contractors who pass credit checks Final payments within 24 hours of project and document completion Extended terms available for improved customer cash flow Dedicated account manager throughout the entire financing process Contact DLL+

The SBF program is available for businesses and nonprofit organizations that meet one of the following size requirements:

• 100 or fewer employees, or
• annual revenues of less than $15 million, or
• meet SBA small business size requirements⁺
  • Annual revenue limits range from $750,000 to $37.5 million depending on industry

At least 70% of the credit-enhanced financed amount must be Energy Saving Measures or demand response. Up to 30% of the credit-enhanced financed amount may fund nonenergy efficiency improvements. Additional nonenergy improvements may be financed, but that portion of the financing will not receive a credit enhancement. Financing for distributed generation (DG) improvements, like solar photovoltaic (PV), may be financed but will not be credit-enhanced.

Products supported will include loans, leases, equipment financing agreements, service agreements and savings-based payment agreements up to $5 million.

The eligible property may be owned or leased. The eligible property must receive electric and/or gas service from any of the following investor-owned utilities:*

• Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E®)
• San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E®)
• Southern California Edison (SCE)
• Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas®)

Finance companies can give customers the option to repay:

1. Direct to the finance company
2. Through the utility bill utilizing on-bill repayment (available in 2020)

For more information on the Small Business program, please contact the following program administration representative:

Jonathan Verhoef
jverhoef@sto.ca.gov