Since 2005, Washington State has offered some form of solar incentives to customers. Net-Metering combined with the state production incentives made solar a great investment, but only for some.

Inland Power and Light, a major Eastern Washington utility, had to put a moratorium on their payouts to solar customers because, as the law was written, they could only pay incentives equal to the amount agreed upon in the legislation. Once they met their cap they were no longer eligible to pay their customers the full incentive rate, leaving eager homeowners without the same opportunity as other regional utility customers.

In July of 2017, new solar legislation changed that. Now, interested customers with Inland Power and Light, and other regional utilities, are eligible once again to take advantage of state solar incentives. In a truly bi-partisan bill, several concessions were made by both Republicans and Democrats in order to get the bill passed in Olympia. Some of the changes include the removal of sales-tax exemption for all solar installations as well as the extension of the program for eight years, instead of it sun-setting in 2020. Solar incentive payments are not as high but are being offered for a longer period, solidifying the solar industry here in Washington for the foreseeable future.

Much of Eastern Washington is made up of rural small towns and rolling hills full of sunlight. Harnessing the power of the sun has never been a better investment. Not only can customers support the local “Made In Washington” solar industry, they can reap the benefits of state and federal incentives for doing so, producing clean, reliable and renewable electricity for decades.

Please contact us soon to schedule your solar site assessment, Grant Neely