Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement joins effort to reduce grid dependency

HONOLULU—The Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA), certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution, has joined the Hawaii Energy, Conservation, and Efficiency Program (Hawaii Energy) to reduce interest rates on loans made to families for the installation of solar water-heating systems. The “Hot Water, Cool Rates” Program is an initiative of Hawaii Energy that partners with eligible lenders on the islands of Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, and Oahu to reduce the cost of financing.

“With loan capital from the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, this will make it even more affordable for homestead families to install solar water-heating systems,” said Robin Puanani Danner, CNHA President and CEO, in a statement. “Our hope in 2011 is to access additional loan capital that will enable our loan products to serve all Native Hawaiians, no matter where they live.”

The “Hot Water, Cool Rates” Program is intended to help families borrow funds at below-market rates, by paying for up to $1,000 in interest costs. 

Lenders in the program include First Hawaiian Bank, Aloha Pacific Federal Credit Union, Hawaii USA Federal Credit Union, Hawaii National Bank, and now, CNHA as a community loan fund serving Native Hawaiian households. CNHA currently operates the Hawaiian Energy Program which provides grants to eligible low-income households, and loans to any qualifying-income level households, to install solar water-heating systems. With flexible repayment terms, payments are as low as $72 dollars a month with no money required upfront to complete an installation.

CNHA is a national network of Native Hawaiian Organizations with the mission to enhance the well-being of Hawaii through the cultural, economic, and community development of Native Hawaiians.

“Assisting families to access capital to make this important retrofit to their homes is absolutely critical,” said Lilia Kapuniai, CNHA community services manager. “It reduces household expenses in the first month, and helps families to keep more of their hard-earned money in their pockets.”

Effective Wednesday, December 1, CNHA will begin reducing its interest rate pricing for all loans eligible for the “Hot Water, Cool Rates” program. The interest rate reduction is not limited by income and is available to all borrowers in the counties of Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu.

Hawaii Energy is an independent company operated under contract by the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission (HPUC) to provide energy efficiency services to Hawaii residents. This contract is the result of the Hawaii State Legislature allowing HPUC to move programs away from the electric utilities to an independent, third-party administrator. Pursuant to this legislative action, HPUC awarded a competitively bid contract to Science Applications International Corporation on March 3, 2009, to administer the State of Hawaii’s Energy Efficiency programs for Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu counties on July 1, 2009 under the name “Hawaii Energy.”

For more information, visit www.hawaiienergy.com. To apply for a low-interest loan through CNHA to install a solar water-heating system, contact Brett Nakoa, CNHA Loan Fund Officer, or Ashley Kaono, CNHA Community Development Specialist at [email protected] or (808) 596-8155.