Sustainable Business

Increasing your resource efficiency can provide significant cost benefits to your business. We’re helping local businesses unlock savings with Environmental Upgrade Finance.

Businesses in Greater Shepparton can access Environmental Upgrade Finance for projects that help them save money and improve their economic and environmental performance. Greater Shepparton City Council has partnered with Better Building Finance to offer this to local businesses.

Environmental Upgrade Finance (EUF) is a loan for building upgrade works, repaid via quarterly council rates. A lender provides the upfront capital for the works, which the business then repays through the council rates system over periods of up to 20 years. Council then remits it back to the lender.

Environmental Upgrade Agreements - Flyer

This printable flyer contains more info about Environmental Upgrade Agreements, including case studies and benefits.

PDF, 3.3 MB

How does it work?

EUF involves a three-way agreement between the business owner, Council, and lender, called an Environmental Upgrade Agreement (EUA).

It provides an incentive for building owners to upgrade their infrastructure and improve the value of their property. If the property is leased the building owner can easily share the repayments with their tenants, allowing tenants to benefit from reduced operating costs, and owners to improve the value of their asset.

The key features of EUF that make it different to traditional finance are:

  • Fixed interest, quarterly repayments made via a local Council charge;
  • Up to 100% project finance, including hard and soft costs;
  • Loan terms can extend from 5 to 20 years to maximise business cashflow;
  • Loans are tied to the building, not the business owner, making them easily transferrable if the building is sold;
  • Landlords can split repayments with tenants, with both parties benefiting from the upgrade; and
  • No requirement for personal, business or other forms of security to be provided.

Benefits to businesses

By using EUF to fund their building and environmental upgrades, businesses can benefit from:

  • Reduced business operating costs;
  • Positive cashflow outcome from project – often from year one;
  • Security from volatile energy markets;
  • Media and promotional opportunities;
  • A better working environment; and 
  • Environmental leadership in the community
  • Putting energy efficiency to work for business (PDF)
    This report, commissioned by ANZ Group, highlighting key measures that Australian business owners can take to embed energy efficient practices and save money while reducing emissions. The report takes examples from a range of Australian businesses and highlights energy efficiency, electrification and renewables as critical energy upgrades that can help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

What can be funded?

EUF can be used to fund a broad range of upgrade works, such as solar, waste, and water projects. It just needs to improve the energy, water, environmental efficiency or sustainability of existing buildings. Popular projects include:

  • Solar PV systems;
  • Energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits;
  • Lighting upgrades e.g. LED, lighting controls and daylight sensors;
  • Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems;
  • Efficient control equipment e.g. power control of motors, pumps, boilers and air heating/cooling systems; and
  • Water harvestings, filtration, recycling and treatment for re-use

Eligibility

To qualify for EUF, applicants need to meet the eligibility criteria listed below as well as any credit criteria set by the lender:

  • Upgrade to existing buildings, located on rateable land within the Council boundaries.
  • The proposed works should deliver a positive and quantifiable environmental outcome such as energy and/or water savings or waste minimisation.
  • Must be up to date on all rates and charges due to Council.
  • Property type must be predominantly non-residential (such as commercial or industrial) and not be owned by a self-managed superannuation fund.

Learn more about eligibility by contacting Building Better Finance.

FAQs

Have a look at the frequently asked questions on the Better Building Finance website.

Next steps

EUF is simple, transparent and easy to organise. The key steps to follow are:

  1. Scope the environmental upgrade project with a contractor
  2. Better Building Finance can help connect businesses with participating lenders
  3. Lender provides the upfront capital for the upgrade project
  4. Owner (and/or tenant) makes repayments via an Environmental Upgrade Charge (EUC) on Council rates

Download documents 

Alternatively, contact Council's Economic Development Department on 03 5832 9700 or email council@shepparton.vic.gov.au.