With the help from CAL SEIA, the State of California has put in place a range of financial incentives that substantially reduce the costs of solar energy systems. Information about these incentives is described below – scroll down for information on whether rebates are treated as taxable income or not (they are not).

Contact a CAL SEIA member company or call your local utility to get specific local information. CAL SEIA members assist consumers in filing these applications!

for more information about these programs, go to: www.gosolarcalifornia.ca.gov. CALSEIA recommends obtaining more than one bid for your solar project.

California Public Utilities Commission California Solar Initiative (existing buildings):
On January 1, 2007, PV rebates given through the CPUC California Solar Initiative will change from the current capacity-based payments to performance-based incentives that reward properly installed and maintained solar systems. The incentives are based on system size, as follows:

For photovoltaic systems greater than or equal to 50 kilowatts in size, incentives will be paid monthly based on the actual energyproduced for a period of five years. This incentive path is called Performance Based Incentives (PBI).

Incentives for all systems less than 50 kilowatts will initially be paid a one-time, up-front incentive based on expected system performance. Expected performance will be calculated based on equipment ratings and installation factors, such as geographiclocation, tilt, orientation and shading. This incentive is called Expected Performance-Based Buydown (EPBB).

Beginning January 1, 2007, photovoltaic incentives are administered for local electricity customers – contact the organizations listed below.

Southern California Edison
California Solar Initiative
2131 Walnut Grove Avenue
G01, 3rd Floor, B10
Rosemead, CA 91770
Telephone: 1-800-736-4777

San Diego Regional Energy Office
(customers of San Diego Gas & Electric)
8690 Balboa Avenue, #100
San Diego, CA 92123
1-866-sdenergy or 858-244-1177
E-mail: csi@sdenergy.org

Pacific Gas and Electric Company
PG&E Integrated Processing Center
P.O. Box 7265, San Francisco, CA 94120-7265
E-mail: solar@pge.com

Local publicly owned utilities also administer PV incentive programs. Contact your localآ Municipal Utility for more informtion.

Incentives for builders and developers

California Energy Commission
New Solar Homes Partnership
(New residential construction only)
California Energy Commission
1516 Ninth Street MS-45
Sacramento, CA 95814-5512
Telephone: 1-800-555-7794
E-mail: renewable@energy.state.ca.us

Production housing with solar as a standard feature incentive receive an incentive that varies based onآ  the particular system and installation . To qualify, a builder must commit that a minimum of 50% of the homes/dwelling units in the subdivision, or multi-family housing development with 6 or more homes/dwelling units, will have solar systems that meet or exceed the California Flexible Installation criteria.