On-Bill Repayment (OBR) Financing Cap Rules

On-Bill Repayment (OBR) Financing Cap Rules

The rule

NJ utilities (PSE&G primary; other NJ utilities participate) offer On-Bill Repayment (OBR) financing for energy efficiency projects:

• Interest rate: 0% APR
• Term: Up to 10 years
• Standard cap: $25,000
• Extended cap: $50,000 for projects that include a qualifying heat pump installation

Repayment is collected as a line item on the homeowner's monthly utility bill. The 0% rate applies only up to the cap; any project cost above the cap requires separate financing at standard rates.

How the agent should apply it

1. When calculating monthly payment for a track, call calculateMonthlyPayment(netCost, termYears = 10, apr = 0, obrCap).
2. Determine obrCap:
   • $50,000 if track includes a qualifying heat pump program (pseg-heat-pump, jcpl-heat-pump, pseg-bd-clean-heat, pseg-bd-dual-heat, pseg-bd-hybrid-heat, or HP scope inside nj-whole-home).
   • $25,000 otherwise.
3. If netCost <= obrCap: simple division — totalMonthly = netCost / (termYears * 12).
4. If netCost > obrCap: split the financing.
   • obrCovered = obrCap
   • obrMonthly = obrCovered / (termYears * 12)
   • remainder = netCost - obrCap
   • remainderMonthly = standard amortization at standardFinancingAPR (default 5.99% — to be stored in calculatorConfig later so the rate is editable without code changes).
   • totalMonthly = obrMonthly + remainderMonthly
5. Always return the structured shape { obrCovered, obrMonthly, remainder, remainderMonthly, totalMonthly } so the UI can render the split clearly when relevant.

Note: The appliesTo array lists programs that themselves participate in OBR financing (have financing.type: OBR in their frontmatter). Some programs not in appliesTo (e.g., pseg-heat-pump, jcpl-heat-pump) still influence the OBR cap when present in a track — they qualify the track for the $50K heat-pump cap even though they don't carry their own OBR loan. Cap determination considers all programs in the track regardless of whether they appear in this rule's appliesTo.

OBR cap stacking with BD

OBR financing is the ONLY element that stacks between Whole Home and BD. Maximum combined OBR: $75,000 ($25K standard for Whole Home + $50K for BD heat-pump portion when Clean Heat or Dual Heat applies). Hybrid Heat: $50,000 combined ($25K + $25K).

When the agent computes payment options for a project with both Whole Home and BD scopes:

• Total OBR cap = whole-home-OBR-cap + bd-OBR-cap (where bd-OBR-cap is the BD program's financing.maxAmount).
• Each project repays separately on its own utility bill line item.
• Customer can elect to fully OBR-finance both projects up to the combined cap.
• This is the ONLY stackable element — the rebates themselves do NOT sum (per rules/bd-stackability-rules.md).

Caveat copy

When a track's netCost exceeds the OBR cap, agent surfaces the verbatim string:

"Your project includes [$X] beyond the standard financing cap. The remainder would be financed at typical rates — exact terms confirmed during your free consultation."

When a user asks the agent about OBR financing terms in general, agent says: "On-Bill Repayment offers 0% APR for up to 10 years through your utility bill — up to $25,000 for standard projects or $50,000 if your project includes a heat pump. We confirm exact eligibility and terms during your free consultation."