If you’ve been on the fence about purchasing a roof top solar system, Utah Clean Energy has a final promotion which allows residents to take advantage of tax incentives and discount installation pricing.
Summit County has held several discounted rooftop solar events in recent years. Utah Clean Energy is again offering a bulk buying opportunity to purchase roof top solar at discounted prices. Additionally, there are federal tax incentives that will be included if the contract is signed by October 25 and p anels are installed by the end of 2019.
Community Program Coordinator with Utah Clean Energy, Ryan Anderson explains how participating in the bulk rooftop solar program is cheaper because the installers are offering discounts and there are federal and state tax credits through 2019.
“There’s a federal tax credit that provides a 30% tax credit off the cost of your total solar system. And there is a state tax credit that provides a 20 % tax credit up to $1600.”
Next year the federal tax credit drops from 30 % to 26 % which is about $700.00.
The deadlines are approaching, and the requirements are outlined on their website at www.scpwsolar.org . About 100 people have taken the survey, more than half have had site visits so far and between 10 and 20 households have signed contracts.
“In order to make sure you can get your contract signed, get your site visit complete. You should fill out your survey within the next two weeks. And the survey is basically an eligibility survey which asks you about your energy use, whether or not you’re a homeowner, if you live in Summit or Wasatch counties.
The contractors guarantee installations will be finished in time to meet the deadline. Anderson says the Salt Lake City based solar equipment installer Creative Energies won the bid. Anderson explains the savings based on an average sized house using a six-kilowatt system.
“The average price in Utah before incentives will be about $19,000 but the average price for our program, again, before the tax incentives is going to be about 15,000 to $17,000.
Other savings can be realized through a solar export credit of 9.2 cents for kilowatt.
“The cost of electricity that people pay when they’re purchasing it from the grid ranges anywhere from about 8.8 cents to 14 cents. So, it depends on how much energy you use. If you’re a high energy user, you end up getting billed more for your energy. And that’s that 14-cent rate. So that 9.2 cents is still kind of in the middle there and it’s really close to the cost of electricity for users.”
Anderson says the average usage in Utah is about 750 kilowatt hours and she explains how they calculate the six-kilowatt size.
“It uses the amount of sun you would anticipate on a sunny day in Utah and all that gets modeled out and you end up with that six-kilowatt system site.”
Fill out the survey on scpwsolar.org by October 15. There is no cost or commitment to fill it out. The contract must be signed by October 25 to guarantee the federal tax credit as well as getting the installation scheduled before the end of the year.
Contact Ryan Anderson with Utah Clean Energy:
ryan@utahcleanenergy.org
801-590-3500
