Solar and Energy Efficiency Can Save You Money

When the sun is shining, your solar system generates electricity, which means you will purchase less electricity from the local utility. Over the course of one year, your utility will track the amount of electricity your system has fed into the grid and use this credit to offset the costs of power purchased from the utility when your system does not generate electricity, i.e. cloudy days or at night. At the end of the year, the utility will "true up" how much electricity it provided to you, and compare it to how much your system fed back to the utility grid. If you produced more than you consumed, your bill will be close to zero. If you used more electricity than you generated, you will only pay the difference.

Beginning in 2007, the CSI will balance the costs for tax-exempt agencies that do not take the federal solar tax credit by offering a premium on new solar installations. Depending on their program territory, California's government agencies can now receive an up-front incentive between $2.65 and $3.25/watt or a performance based incentive between $0.37 to $0.50/megawatt-hour (MWh) for going solar!

Also in 2007, systems that are smaller than 100 kilowatts (kW) will be paid incentives up-front, but based on their expected performance. Expected performance will be calculated based on equipment ratings and installation factors, such as geographic location, tilt, and shading.

The rebate levels will also decrease an average of 7% per year between 2007 and 2017. The purpose is to set incentive levels high enough to motivate solar investments, yet not so high that ratepayers are subsidizing projects that would be built with lower incentives. Developers and customers benefit by knowing how much the rebate will be as demand for the solar rebates increase.

See our page on Performance Based Incentives for additional information on the new incentives.

Wait - did you know making simple energy-efficiency improvements can further lower the costs?

Making your building energy efficient-first-can dramatically improve the returns on a new solar system. California also provides rebates for a number of energy efficiency upgrades via your utility. Did you know that products with the ENERGY STAR® label use 25-75% less energy than their common counterparts? Visit the Flex Your Power website to learn how to receive rebates for these purchases. Federal government facilities should also check with the Federal Energy Management Program.

To get the most rebates possible, apply now.