Thoughts on Solar

Last month we wrote about a rebate program being offered by Pasadena Water & Power for both the purchase of an Electric Vehicle (new or used) as well as the installation of EV chargers.  Which got us to thinking, don’t the other local utilities have something similar?  Well guess what, they do!  Read on to see what might be available from a utility near you!

Southern California Edison (SCE)

SCE offers rebates for both purchasing an EV as well as installing a level 2 (i.e., 240 VAC) charger.

EV Rebate

The SCE rebate for purchasing an EV is $450.  Here are the requirements:

• You must be an SCE residential customer (vehicles registered to businesses are not eligible).
• The EV must be among the vehicles listed on the Drive Clean website (which lists 35 models of EVs from 2018 alone!).
• The vehicle’s registration address must be the same as the customer’s address with SCE, but the name on the service account need not be the same as that of the vehicle owner.
• The vehicle’s registration is current with the State of California.
• The vehicle has not received more than two rebates in the past.
• If you have multiple EVs, each vehicle is subject to a rebate if the above qualifications are satisfied.

To apply for the SCE EV rebate, go here.

Charger Rebate

SCE also offers a rebate of $500 to install a Level 2 charger at your home.  Here are the requirements:

• You must enroll in one of the available Time-of-Use (TOU) rates.  BE CAREFUL!  Depending on your usage patterns this might be a very expensive option!  Run on Sun can, for a nominal fee, assess your present usage and let you know what your annual bill would do under each of the available TOU rate options.  Please contact us if you are interested in our providing you with this service.
• You need to pull a permit for the installation, and have the work performed by a C-10 electrician (B contractors are not allowed to participate in this rebate program).
• You need to provide a copy of the signed-off permit after inspection and a copy of your permit receipt (be sure the electrician provides you with these documents).

To apply for the SCE EV charger rebate, go here.

Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP)

LADWP does not appear to offer a rebate for the purchase of a new EV, but they do offer a rebate for purchasing a used EV, as well as installing an EV charger.  Their overall EV page is here.

Used EV Rebate

LADWP is offering a pilot program for the first 2,000 approved applicants who purchase an EV two or more years old (i.e., model year 2016 or older).  The rebate is $450 and opened on April 1, 2018. 

Here are the requirements:

• EV must be two years old or older, and never received an LADWP rebate for its purchase previously.
• EV must have been purchased after April 1, 2018.
• Permanent residence must be served by LADWP
• Complete the rebate application - download it here.
• Copy of DMV registration
• Copy of bill of sale
• Proof of residence

EV Charger Rebate

LADWP offers a $500 rebate for installing a Level 2 EV charger (i.e., 240 VAC).  Program requirements are:

• Completed rebate application - download it here.
• Proof of EV charger purchase - paid invoice that includes
• Purchase date
• Retailer name, address and phone
• EV charger make and model
• How paid for - check, credit card, etc.
• DMV registration that shows EV registered at account address
• Photos of completed installation, nameplate of charger (showing serial number, make and model number)

Interestingly, LADWP does not specifically require the installation to be permitted and inspected.

Burbank Water & Power (BWP)

BWP offers a rebate of $500 for residential EV charger installations.  (You can access the rebate application here.)  They do not appear to offer a rebate for purchasing EVs.

Program requirements for the EV charger rebate are:

• Applicant must be a BWP customer or charge their EV at a location served by BWP.
• Agree to be switched to a Time-of-Use rate in return for the EV charger rebate.  CAUTION: this could be an expensive switch.  Be sure to consider how and when you use energy before agreeing to switch.
• Application must be submitted within four months of purchase.
• Installation must be hardwired (i.e., not plug-in) Level 2, and permitted and inspected by the City.
• Supporting documentation including:
• Copy of charger purchase receipt/invoice
• Copy of installation receipt
• Copy of signed-off permit
• Copy of DMV registration
• Photo of installed charger

Glendale Water & Power (GWP)

As is often the case, GWP’s programs mirror those of BWP.   GWP offers a $500 rebate for residential EV charger installations, but nothing toward the purchase of the EV itself.  Here’s a link to their overall EV page.  One interesting wrinkle, GWP issues the rebate in the form of a credit on your GWP bill - none of the other rebate programs said that.

Here are the requirements for the EV charger rebate:

• Applicant must be an active GWP account holder.
• Charger must be a new, Level 2 (i.e., 240 VAC) charger, and the application must be submitted within four months of purchase..
• Installation must be permitted and inspected by the City if the charger is hard-wired.
• Supporting documentation includes:
• Copy of charger receipt/invoice
• Photo of installed charger
• Copy of labor receipt (optional)
• Copy of the signed-off permit (if required)
• Copy of DMV registration and car purchase or lease agreement

Access the GWP EV charger rebate application form here.

We just learned that Pasadena Water and Power is offering a series of rebates for electric vehicles and for their chargers - how cool is that?  Here’s the scoop…

EV Rebates

New or used EVs, whether purchased or leased, qualify for rebates.  The rebate is $250, but that doubles if you get your EV from a Pasadena dealership.  (And if you participate in PWP’s income-qualifying programs, the rebate can be as much as $750!) 

To qualify, you must have an active PWP electric account, be the legal owner of the EV and permanently reside at the address shown on the PWP account. 

The rebate is limited (if you can call this a limitation!) to two EVs every three years!

EV Chargers

Now that you have an EV, you need a charger and PWP is offering rebates on those as well!  A standard Level 2 (240 VAC) charger qualifies for a $200 rebate, but a Wi-Fi enabled Level 2 charger qualifies for a $600 rebate!

You must complete the online rebate application within 180 days of purchase.  To get started, check out PWP’s EV rebate page here.

The Pasadena Solar Initiative - clearly the best run solar rebate program in SoCal - is ending December 31, 2017!  Here’s our take…

For PWP customers, this means that you need to get a complete rebate application on file before the end-of-year deadline.  You then have six months from the date of the reservation to complete the project.  The rebate, while it lasts, is $0.30/Watt for both residential and commercial customers, and twice that, $0.60/Watt, for non-profits.  If you have been sitting on the sidelines wondering when would be the best time to go solar in PWP territory, well, here’s your answer: Now!

The PSI has been around in its present form almost as long as Run on Sun has been in business, and we would be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to give credit for this wonderful program.  Over the past nine years it has been a model of how to run a rebate program: open, transparent, easy to participate with predictable rebate amounts, and no sudden interruptions in availability.  (Cf. alleged rebate programs in Glendale and Burbank, or the horrible SGIP program.) 

We are proud to have worked with all the folks behind the PSI at Pasadena Water & Power and they have done a terrific job! We are greatly appreciative of their hard work, particularly Mauricio Mejia, Irma Cid-Lujan, Alex Gonzalez, and John Hoffner.  Thanks for a successful nine years - well done!

Run on Sun has been doing Pasadena Solar for more than 10 years, but only now have we gotten around to dedicating a webpage just to Pasadena Solar! 

Who loves Pasadena Solar?

I know, kinda silly (and foolish from an SEO perspective) but we figured we were fine as we were.  But then I looked at the search results on Google for “Pasadena Solar” and it was really depressing.  I mean seriously - read some of those reviews and you know that they are fake - but still their related websites were getting better rankings than ours!  Not acceptable!!!

So now, if you want to see a webpage that proudly proclaims its love for Pasadena Solar, we’ve got you covered - complete with this iconic image!

Oh, and because we do so much work in neighboring Altadena we are hoping to do a shout-out page for them too but we need an idea for the quintessential Altadena image - if you have ideas, please let us know!

Bad news for Pasadena Water and Power customers - we have just learned that PWP’s solar rebates will be dropping by 1/3 effective August 1st!  Here are the details…

As we have noted many times in the past, Pasadena has one of the best solar rebate programs around - decent rebates, a well managed program, and good communications.  Consistent with that approach we have just learned that the solar rebates are going to be reduced effective August 1st.  That means that rebate applications submitted prior to then, and which are deemed complete when submitted, will qualify for the current rebate. Once the rebate is reserved, you would then have a year to complete the project.

Here are the current and upcoming rebate rates:

Potential residential or commercial clients, your rebate will drop from 45¢/Watt to 30¢/Watt. That means that for a typical residential project of 5 kW, the rebate will drop from $2,250 to $1,500.

Non-profits will leave even more money on the table if they miss the August 1 deadline.  For a typical 40 kW school project, the rebate will drop from $36,000 to $24,000!  Ouch!

If past is prologue, this drop in the rebate amount will create a stampede as folks try to lock in the current rebate rate before it steps down.  If you are in PWP’s service area, please don’t wait, give us a call today!