How much will it cost?
The cost of a solar electric system can vary significantly depending on the amount of power required. A home with a $50/month electric bill will require a completely different system than a home with a $500/month electric bill. For this reason residential systems vary in cost from $10k-100k.

Financing
Many homeowners finance their system with funds from a home mortgage or home equity line of credit. It is often the case that loan payments are similar or less than what a homeowner would have been paying the utility for their power. In addition, the homeowner now owns a solar electric system that adds value to their property, and protects them from future utility rate increases.

An Investment
A solar power system on your home is a long term, low risk, and high return way to invest your money. Solar offers an initial annual return on investment of 4-10%. This is very competitive with other higher risk investments such as stocks and bonds. As utility rates increase the annual return increases.

Your Electric Utility

Tiered Rates
All PG&E customers are billed using a tiered rate plan. Under this rate plan the more power you use the more you are charged for that power. Higher tiered power can cost more than double what you pay for your baseline. Solar power has the advantage of replacing your higher tiered power first. Customers who are currently exceeding their baseline usage will see even more significant savings by installing a solar power system.

Time-of-Use
Some homeowners may be able to take advantage of time-of-use metering. This will allow you to feed power into the grid during peak times (when power is most expensive), and draw power from the grid during off peak times (when power is cheaper).

Property Value Increases
In addition to this direct return through utility savings, homeowners can also expect that their property resale value will increase substantially. An article in the Appraisal’s Journal showed that property resale values will increase $10-20 for every $1 saved annually in electricity.

Rebates and Incentives
A significant portion of the cost is paid for through government incentives. The California Energy Commission (CEC) offers a rebate for homes and small commercial systems that covers 25-50% of the total system cost. In addition the Federal government has a $2,000 tax credit that further reduces the cost of the initial investment.