Sonoma County at this point has the largest municipal financing program for solar and energy efficiency, modeled after the Berkeley First program, but run by the city themselves instead of a program administrator. The program allocated $100M and they’ve burned through about $20M of it in a very short period of time, since this is peoples’ favorite flavor of financing for solar.
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It’s called the Sonoma County Energy Independence Program. They way this works is, you get a quote for a solar system or energy efficiency, and then you apply for their financing. You can get it over 5, 10, or 20 year periods, and the interest rate is 7% (or better, depending on the bond deals they get). You then pay it through your property taxes.
Why people love property tax solar financing:
There’s a couple reasons why homeowners love getting solar and energy efficiency through this municipal financing program:
First, it’s elegant if you decide to sell your home. The solar system goes with the home as does the tax bill… easy peasy.
Second, some people like to use it as a way to take cash out of their home. If they finance, say, a $20K solar system, at the end of the year when they claim their 30% federal tax credit for solar, they get $6K in cash. It’s almost like an equity line.
Third, it doesn’t require a credit check. If you can prove you own the home and your title is clean, there’s very few hurdles after that.
One thing that’s cool is that with our new solar panel discount program in Sonoma County with 1BOG, you can get an online estimate for solar, and then use that solar estimate to apply for the SCEIP solar financing program, with no one ever coming to your home.
How to sign up for 1bog’s Sonoma County Solar Campaign:
- Sign up!
- We get in touch with you to answer your questions and help you decide if solar is right for your home.
- If you’re ready to move forward, schedule and receive a free home evaluation from the solar installer.
- Get a proposal under the 1BOG Discount!
(You can always contact Cameron, the Sonoma County Campaign Specialist, cameron@1bog.org or 707-703-1330.)
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