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Richland Weatherwise payment bonds.
$125 flat.
To install heat pumps, insulation, windows or water heaters under Richland's Weatherwise program, a contractor signs a City-Authorized Contractor Agreement and gives the City a $25,000 payment bond — ours is $125 flat, and the price you see is the checkout price. The bond issues the moment you pay — no credit check.
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Three steps. One sitting.
A fixed-amount program bond is about as simple as surety gets. Here's the entire process:
Apply online
Your business details and an effective date. That is the application. No credit check.
Pay & e-sign
The bond issues the moment you pay. Your executed bond and the surety power of attorney are generated right away.
File with Richland Energy Services
Send the bond to Richland Energy Services with your authorized-contractor paperwork. The City asks for bonds on its own forms, so get the current form from Energy Services and we will match it. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What it is and who needs it.
What the bond actually guarantees
Weatherwise is the City of Richland's residential energy-efficiency program, run by Richland Energy Services, the City's electric utility. It offers rebates and City financing for measures such as heat pumps, ductless heat pumps, insulation, windows and doors, and hybrid water heaters. Only contractors on the City's Authorized Contractor List can install them, and each one signs a City-Authorized Contractor Agreement approved by City Council resolution.
Section 12 of that agreement requires two bonds covering all work performed under it: a payment bond and a separate performance bond, each for not less than $25,000. This page is the payment bond. It backs your promise in § 8 of the agreement to promptly pay every subcontractor and materials provider you use on Weatherwise installations. That matters because on loan-financed jobs the City pays the contractor directly, and § 10 has you waive lien rights against participating homeowners and agree not to cause a lien on their property by failing to pay a supplier or subcontractor.
It's a three-party arrangement: you (the principal), the surety carrier, and the City of Richland (the obligee). If you leave a supplier or subcontractor unpaid on program work, a valid claim can be paid from the bond, up to $25,000. It is not insurance for you — if the surety pays a claim, you repay the surety.
The agreement runs one year and renews automatically each anniversary, and the City approves contractors on the condition that licensing and bonding are maintained the whole time you participate. Under § 2(a), failing to answer a City request about your bonding can end the agreement immediately. One continuous bond covers all your Weatherwise work, not each job, so we track it and notify you 60 and 30 days before it expires.
You need this bond if you're
Claims, renewal, filing, and what sets the price.
If a claim is made
A claim comes from the party the bond protects, the obligee named on the form, when the duty the bond guarantees is not met.
The surety investigates and pays a valid claim, up to the $25,000 bond amount. You then repay the surety: a surety bond is a guarantee of your performance, not insurance for you.
Renewal and term
The premium covers a one-year term from the effective date you choose; a longer term is the same price per year, chosen at checkout.
Renew before the expiry date to keep the bond in force: the license, permit or contract it backs expects continuous coverage.
How to file it
File with Richland Energy Services. Send the bond to Richland Energy Services with your authorized-contractor paperwork. The City asks for bonds on its own forms, so get the current form from Energy Services and we will match it. Wet-ink original mailed on request.
What sets the price
The premium is fixed at $125 at the $25,000 amount for every applicant: the carrier’s rate book prices this bond by the form, not by your credit or your business profile.
No credit check.
One application, issued instantly.
These are the actual issuing fields — business details and an effective date. No credit check.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Washington bonds.
Been told you need a different amount?
Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, .
Get on the Weatherwise contractor list.
$125 flat, no credit check, issued the moment you pay. Free until issued.