Why You Should Not Wait to Go Solar
The conditions are right, and major incentives are about to expire.
UPDATED 12/18/15: Solar got a great early Christmas present when Congress extended the Investment Tax Credit for another 3 years! After that period, the credit will ramp down incrementally. And net metering in California is being preserved, though a few new charges are being added for solar customers. It’s still a good idea to go solar now. Net metering rules are being challenged around the country. In most cases, when they do change, existing solar customers are grandfathered in under existing rules. So now is the best time to get in!
Like many homeowners, you may know about solar but may not be sure if it’s right for you. Perhaps you’ve been putting off the decision, or you don’t know if you can afford it. You may have even tried to do research, only to get more confused. Or perhaps you want to wait to see the improvements in technology that might reduce the cost.
But if you want to get the most savings from solar, now is the time to take the plunge! That’s because the biggest incentives and rebates for solar may soon be ending, and the technology isn’t advancing fast enough to compensate for these types of savings.
Investment Tax Credit ending in 2016
The cost of solar has been plummeting in recent years. In fact, it’s come down 70% since 2009. Combine that with the 30% Investment Tax Credit (ITC), and solar has become much more affordable — so much so that the biggest uptake of solar has been among the middle class.
The ITC is much better than a tax rebate, which would let you deduct the 30% from your income and not get taxed on that amount. The ITC lets you actually deduct 30% of your solar system’s cost from the amount of taxes you owe. If you don’t owe enough taxes to use this in one year, you can even roll over part of it to the next year. If you lease your system, the leasing company takes the tax credit and passes those savings on to you.
But now, the ITC is coming to an end. Whether you own or lease your system, that will have a huge impact on its cost.
The ITC is due to expire at the end of next year. That may seem like a while. But it can take months to sign a contract, get your installation permitted and scheduled, and get it connected to the power grid. So it’s a good idea to get ahead of the ITC expiration and go solar now.
Net metering benefits being changed
Another major reason that more people like you have been able to go solar? Net metering.
Net metering is like rollover minutes on a cell phone bill. You get credit on your power bill for extra energy your solar system generates during the day, and you can use that credit when the sun goes down.
Without net metering, many people who now install solar would be unable to do so. But most utilities don’t like it, because when there’s net metering, more people go solar. As more people generate their own power from the sun, that threatens the utilities’ profits.
So now, net metering policies are under review in more than half of U.S. states. In California, the Public Utilities Commission is due to make changes in net metering by the end of this year. The major California utilities have all proposed changes that would hurt solar customers. That would mean less savings for you.
Go solar now for maximum savings
With prices so low, and major incentives under threat, there’s never been a better time to go solar. These days, you can even go solar for no money down and start saving right away. And with MyDomino, going solar is easy.
Contact a MyDomino energy savings concierge today. Your concierge will do the research, so you don’t have to. They’ll also help you get and compare quotes from trusted installers, and will walk you through the entire installation.
There’s no time like the present to go solar!