Texas has long-held the tradition of dominating the energy production industry in the U.S. It’s not only the largest energy-producing state in the country but far exceeds the energy production of other states. For instance, Texas’s annual energy production is more than twice that of the second-largest energy-producing state, Florida. It’s no surprise that Texas is also one of the leaders in solar energy adoption across the nation. Austin, in particular, is going the extra mile to improve residential solar adoption across the city. And the latest tool in its toolkit is the Value of Solar program.
Value of Solar Credits and Rebates
Value of Solar program is an innovative and unique program of its kind. It has two components of financial incentives – a rebate and a performance-based incentive.
Homeowners of Austin, who are customers of Austin Energy, can get a flat $2,500 rebate from the city when they purchase a home solar system for their residential property.
The rebate is a unique initiative by the city to raise awareness of the city’s residents about switching to solar and the benefits they stand to gain from the switch. As part of the eligibility criteria to qualify for the solar rebate, solar buyers are required to complete Austin Energy Solar Education Course and take a quiz to prove they learned from the course. Then they can avail of the solar rebate.
Evidently, the solar rebate helps reduce the upfront investment the customer has to make into their PV panel system.
Simultaneously, the Value of Solar program has a variable component that offers performance-based incentives to homeowners. As part of this incentive, Austin Energy purchases all the solar energy their customer PV system generates and pays them in credits. These credits can be adjusted toward paying their monthly bills.
Typically, the credits are calculated at a lower rate than what the utility company charges their customers for solar power. However, the customer still ends up slashing a huge chunk of their monthly power bills. The fact that the customer can avail this incentive for 12 years makes it a highly lucrative incentive for many solar buyers. While the Austin Energy course covers important aspects of going solar, Green Power Energy also offers its own Solar Guide that can fill in some of the blanks left out by the course. Review them both to help you make a smarter decision and if you have any questions contact us here.
