If you have ever considered installing a solar photovoltaic (PV) electric generating system on your home or busi­ness, now is the time to act! Solar has never been more affordable and the already high cost of power delivered from your utility company is about to go higher!

Recently, the cost of solar PV has dramatically decreased. This is significantly due to a temporary excess of product on the market. When the economy fractured last year most large scale commercial solar PV projects were put on hold or were can­celled due to lack of financing. This left solar PV manufacturers with excess inventory resulting in temporary price reductions.

However, recent reports indicate that the financing for large commercial projects is about to re-emerge, which will create de­mand for product and prices are expected to creep back up.

President Obama is working hard to put his Climate-Energy Bill into law. A significant part of this legislation is the implementation of what is known as Cap-and-Trade poli­cies designed to reduce green house gas emissions. The consensus however, is that it will increase energy prices as revealed in this recent news release: “There was widespread agreement that under this cap-and-trade system, the cost of energy would almost certainly increase. But Democrats argued that much of the impact on taxpayers would be offset by the tax credits and rebates in the measure.

Republicans questioned the validity of the CBO study and noted that even that analysis showed actual energy production costs increasing $770 per household. Industry groups have cited other studies showing much higher costs to the economy and to individuals.”

First: Net-Metering is the law in California and forces the utility companies to accept your excess generation by spinning your meter backwards. This is the engine that makes solar work financially. However, there is a limit on how much net-metered solar the utilities are forced to accept. California will soon reach that limit, and unless that limit is increased by legisla­tion, future solar owners will not have ac­cess to a net-metering program.

Second: The state rebates paid under the California Solar Initiative (“CSI”) help re­duce your out-of-pocket expense. As more solar is installed the CSI rebates decline. When the CSI program began in 2007 the rebates were paid at the rate of $2.50 per watt. For SCE customers the rate is now $1.90 per watt and could soon go down to $1.55 per watt and as low as $.70 per watt. Click here for more infor­mation.

Far more Californians than any where else have already jumped into solar.  As solar homeowners sit back and watch their meters spin backwards – non solar homeowners will only be able to watch their meter spin faster and faster burning dollars that become less and less valuable.