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The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) will issue a new regulation that will implement the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP) authorized under section 6407 of the 2002 Farm Bill, as amended. RESP helps rural families and small businesses achieve cost savings by providing loans to qualified consumers to implement durable cost-effective energy efficiency measures. 

The USDA, through the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), provides RESP loans to eligible entities that agree to, in turn, make loans to qualified consumers for the purpose of implementing energy efficiency measures. These loans are made available under the authority of section 6407. Eligible energy efficiency measures must be for, or at, a property or properties served by a RESP borrower, using commercially available technologies that would allow qualified consumers to decrease their energy use or costs through cost-effective measures. Loans made by RESP borrowers under this program may be repaid through charges added to the qualified consumer’s bill for the property or properties for, or at which, energy efficiency measures are or will be implemented. The purpose of the program is to help rural families and small businesses achieve cost savings by providing loans to qualified consumers to implement durable cost-effective energy efficiency measures.