Stencil Ease Uses Old Saybrook's C-PACE Program

Old Saybrook-based Stencil Ease, the largest specialty stencil manufacturing company in the U.S., will soon generate over 90 percent of its electricity needs from a solar photovoltaic (PV) rooftop system. Old Saybrook participates in Connecticut’s Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) program which gives property owners like Stencil Ease access to financing from the Connecticut Green Bank to install energy efficiency upgrades or renewables on their buildings without upfront costs.  The financing is repaid through the town’s property tax billing system as a benefit assessment. Through C-PACE, energy savings projections help building owners feel confident that expected savings should exceed their investment and result in positive cash flow.

The Town of Old Saybrook adopted the C-PACE program in February 2013.  Stencil Ease’s 15,000 square foot state-of-the-art laser cutting facility is the first commercial/industrial business in town to use the program. As a partner in the C-PACE program, Old Saybrook agrees to apply a voluntary assessment to the tax bills of participating property owners. The town then collects and processes the C-PACE payments to repay the financing from the CT Green Bank.

“We put the C-PACE program in place to make it easier for our commercial, industrial and multi-family property owners to install green energy technology and lower their energy costs.  We hope many others follow Stencil Ease’s lead and take advantage of this opportunity,” said Carl P. Fortuna, Jr., Old Saybrook First Selectman.