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Richland Weatherwise performance bonds.
From $500.
Every contractor installing for Weatherwise, the City of Richland’s energy-efficiency program, gives the City a $25,000 performance bond under § 12 of its City-Authorized Contractor Agreement. It stands behind your workmanship, your warranties and your promise to finish every job. The premium starts at $500 for a term.
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Built around your Weatherwise agreement.
Richland wants the bond in hand before it signs your contractor agreement, and wants it kept in force for as long as you stay on the list. Here is the whole process, from quote to Council approval:
Send us your firm
Apply online with your business details, your Washington contractor registration and the effective date you need. The application includes a credit review and nothing about individual jobs, because one bond covers all your Weatherwise work.
Your credit tier sets the exact price
The City has already set the $25,000 penal sum, so pricing is about your credit review, not about sizing the bond. Premiums start at $500 for a term, and your exact price — set by your credit tier — comes back for approval, with anything more needed flagged up front.
Pay, e-sign & file with Energy Services
Once you accept the quote and pay, the executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready for Richland Energy Services. The City requires its own bond form, so get the current form from Energy Services and send it to us — we issue on that form. Council then adopts a resolution approving your agreement.
What it is and who needs it.
What the Richland Weatherwise performance bond guarantees
Weatherwise is the City of Richland’s residential energy-efficiency service, 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, and the measures must be installed by a contractor on the City’s Authorized Contractor List. Each authorized contractor signs a City-Authorized Contractor Agreement, and City Council approves each one by resolution — most recently Resolution No. 2026-119, adopted September 1, 2026.
Section 12 of that agreement requires two bonds covering all work performed under it: a performance bond and a separate payment bond, each a $25,000 minimum bond, executed on the City’s forms and issued by a surety registered to do business in Washington. This page is the performance bond. Section 12 ties the bonding to RCW 39.08, the Washington public-contract bond statute, which conditions a contractor’s bond on faithfully performing all the provisions of the contract. Under this agreement that means: remedying any defect in workmanship or materials found within two years of completion (§ 7(a)); warranting sealed insulated glass units and heat pumps for at least five years and insulation for at least two (§ 7(b)); finishing each job and passing City inspection within 120 days of the Notice to Proceed (§ 6(b)); correcting material and workmanship the City rejects (§ 8(b)); and completing jobs already in progress if the agreement ends (§ 2(b)).
It is a three-party arrangement: you (the principal), the surety, and the City of Richland (the obligee). If you fail to honor those obligations and do not cure after notice, a valid claim can be paid from the bond, up to the penal sum. 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 adds contractors on the condition that licensing and bonding are maintained at all times during participation. Under § 2(a), failing to respond to a City request about your insurance or bonding ends the agreement immediately. One continuous bond covers all your Weatherwise work rather than each job, so we track it and notify you 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 term is set on the carrier’s application; the premium covers the period shown there.
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
Pay, e-sign & file with Energy Services. Once you accept the quote and pay, the executed bond and power of attorney arrive by email, ready for Richland Energy Services. The City requires its own bond form, so get the current form from Energy Services and send it to us — we issue on that form. Council then adopts a resolution approving your agreement.
What sets the price
From $500; your exact price appears at the application once you enter the amount.
One soft credit pull, never a hard inquiry, and it never affects your score.
Where a check runs, it decides approval; the rate is the same for everyone approved.
One application, one soft pull.
These are the actual issuing fields — your business details, the effective date and a credit review. Submit once and your exact price, from $500, comes back typically within one business day. Free until your bond is issued.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other Washington bonds.
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Price and requirements checked on the carrier’s application, . Page updated .
Get on the Weatherwise contractor list.
Send us your firm and the effective date. Premiums start at $500 for a term, and your exact price — set by credit tier — comes back typically within one business day. Free until issued.