Sustainable Australia Fund’s new special offers before 30 June

If you’re a solar installer and not quite sure how to take advantage of one of the attractive loan offers for environmental upgrades on the market before the end of this financial year, it might help to take one of the free weekly webinars on offer from Sustainable Australia Fund.

According to SAF, it’s possible for your clients to save $10,000 over 10 years for a typical $165,000 commercial solar system, or $20,000 a year for a 20 year term, which is not a bad cash boost in these times, just for saving energy and going green.

The offer is part of a set of terms that Sustainable Australia Fund has fast tracked to help customers through the current challenges and that can apply to other environmental upgrades for buildings.

The terms include:

• $0 application fee if you sign up to an agreement before 30 June 2020
• GST financed and claimed back on BAS statement (check the ATO for more information).
• Up to six months repayment holiday (subject to approval)
• For Victorians, no more delays with a 28 day waiting period waived under new rules for finance applications.

Scott Bocskay, chief executive of SAF, says this means project can get off the ground very quickly, and that’s immensely attractive for a business that wants to enjoy an extra cash boost just by saving money on energy.

Scott says there are almost 400 installers already working with SAF and that checking in with the webinars is a great way to join that growing number.

The savings can be applied to any environmental upgrade for a building.

According to Scott, this is an idea whose time has come.

Essentially, it’s a way that allows tenants to benefit from environmental upgrades and doesn’t put a burden on the landlord.

Big companies down to smaller commercial property investors alike are waking up to the benefits, he says.

The idea has been devised to fast track savings in energy and carbon emissions because even though environmental technologies like solar panels mature and come down in price, it can be tricky to build a business case attractive enough to win over the financial team.

That’s where SAF can come it. The fund offers fixed-rate, long-term loans for environmental upgrades, covering up to 100 per cent of the capital costs, paid back through council rates.

“It’s essentially taking money already being wasted on energy and putting it into upgrading their building,” Sustainable Australia Fund chief executive officer Scott Bocskay says.

By paying through council rates, this model addresses the dreaded split incentive issue where it doesn’t make sense for the owner to pay for a capital expenditure item where the tenant gets the majority benefit.

The chief beneficiary of the upgrades, the tenant, makes the repayments through council rates as part of normal outgoings. It means commercial building owners don’t end up footing the bill for upgrades that benefit the tenant.

Among some of the big companies taking note are everything from a big refurbishment project in Sydney to a major water treatment plant in regional Victoria.

To help SAF’s customers navigate its loan offering, the fund has created three different products:

Get in touch with SAF below