Friendly City Solar Program
If you’re interested in powering your home with renewable energy, HEC’s Friendly City Solar program could be a good fit for you. Participating in this community solar partnership means you can feel good about supporting renewable energy without having the high upfront costs or ongoing maintenance of installing solar panels on your home.
See how much solar energy we've generated so far on our live dashboard.
Overview
- Option 1 - Residential customers can purchase renewable energy in 50 kWh blocks, up to 50% of their average monthly usage.
- The cost of each 50 kWh block is $5.75, which is only $1.00 more* than the current cost for 50 kWh of traditional grid electricity through HEC.
- Customers who subscribe to be 50% renewable will pay on average an additional $120/year (based on an average usage of 1,000 kWh/month).
- *Note: fuel charges are not applied to solar energy blocks, so the net cost will be lower than published.
- Option 2 - Residential customers can choose to have 100% of their monthly usage covered at a rate of $0.115 per kWh, only $0.02/kWh more than the current cost of traditional grid electricity.
- Customers who subscribe to be 100% renewable will pay on average an additional $240/year* (based on an average usage of 1,000 kWh/month).
- *Note: this amount does not take into account fuel charges, which are not applied to solar energy, so your net cost will be lower than published.
- Pricing will be fixed for the customer for 25 years. You can view example costs here.
- Fuel charges are not applied to the block of solar energy on the customer’s bill, but consumption taxes are applied to all energy consumed.
- Ex. If your monthly usage is 1000 kWh and you subscribe to 5 solar energy blocks, you will only be charged for fuel on 750 kWh of electricity
- You can view how this will look on your bill here.
- The minimum contract term is one year and will automatically renew unless the customer requests a change.
- Upon the customer’s request, subscriptions to the solar program can transfer to a new address if they move within HEC’s service area.
- Customers who purchase solar energy blocks (up to 50% of their average monthly usage) will be charged for the subscribed amount regardless of metered usage. Customers who enroll in the 100% option will only be charged for the energy they use each month.
- At this time, only residential customers in good standing may participate. Existing net-metered customers do not qualify.
Example Costs - Option 1 (Blocks Up To 50%)
| If your average monthly usage is... | You can subscribe to the maximum amount of energy blocks below* | Which would make your additional monthly cost...* |
|---|---|---|
| 400 kWh/month | 4 | $4.00 |
| 600 kWh/month | 6 | $6.00 |
| 800 kWh/month | 8 | $8.00 |
| 1000 kWh/month | 10 | $10.00 |
*Energy blocks and additional monthly cost based on an enrollment amount equivalent of 50% of monthly usage
Example Costs - Option 2 (100% Enrollment)
| If your monthly usage is... | Your additional monthly cost would be... |
|---|---|
| 400 kWh/month | $8.00 |
| 600 kWh/month | $12.00 |
| 800 kWh/month | $16.00 |
| 1000 kWh/month | $20.00 |
Changes to Your Bill
Once you've enrolled in the Friendly City Solar program, you'll notice changes on your HEC utility bill as noted below. Keep in mind, enrollment can take up to 30 days to take effect, so it may take an additional billing cycle before you see these updates reflected.
| TYPE SERVICE | CURRENT USAGE | ||
| KWH | 1983 | ← | The total amount of kWh used (Metered Usage) |
| FCSOLAR | 300 | ← | Amount subscribed from the Acorn Solar Farm |
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| ENERGY (KWH) | $138.53 | ← | The cost for the Metered kWh Usage minus the subscribed Solar kWh. |
| FRIENDLY CITY SOLAR | $34.50 | ← | The cost for the subscribed amount of energy under the Friendly City Solar program (50 kWh = $5.75). |
| FUEL COST ADJUSTMENT | $24.22 | ← | The Fuel Cost Adjustment based on the Metered kWh Usage minus the subscribed Solar kWh. |
Taxes are based on total kWh used.
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