Save with solar in Antioch, California

Antioch is one of the oldest towns in California, dating back to 1848. The town experienced significant growth with the discovery of coal and copper mines during the second half of the 19th century. In fact, Antioch is still rich in 19th century architecture, thanks to its early growth driven by the mining industry. Present-day Antioch is a suburb of Oakland and San Francisco and has a population of around 110,000. Given that the city is mostly residential, its economy focuses on healthcare, education, and retail.

While coal mining helped Antioch grow in its early days, the city has recently focused its attention on minimizing its environmental footprint:

• In 2009, the city set a goal of reducing its carbon emissions by 25% by 2020, and 80% by 2050. The Community and Municipal Climate Action Plans were published in 2011, providing a roadmap to meet the emissions reduction targets.
• Spare the Air is a countywide program to improve outdoor air quality. As part of the program, Antioch has launched a smartphone application that helps citizens move around by foot, bicycle, or public transportation, allowing residents to rely less on individual vehicles.
• The Clean Water Program has the goal of preserving the four creeks that run through Antioch. The program has four main objectives: education, enforcement, cleaning, and maintenance.

A part of the San Francisco Bay area, Antioch is subject to the high electricity rates of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E). Their rates exceed 20 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in the residential sector, which is around 50% higher than the national average. PG&E also tends to increase its rates on a yearly basis – residents of the bay area saw their power bills rise by around 5% between 2016 and 2017. However, this represents an excellent opportunity to reduce your power bills with a solar panel system, resulting in savings that increase year after year as utility energy prices continue to rise.

Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) financing is available to both home and business owners in Antioch. PACE loans typically offer low interest rates and payment terms of up to 20 years. There are five partners managing the program in the city:

• HERO: Exclusively for the residential sector.
• CaliforniaFIRST, also known as Renew Financial: Available for homes and businesses.
• Figtree: Exclusively for businesses.
• AllianceNRG: Available for homes and businesses.
• YGrene Works: Available for homes and businesses.

Another financing option you can consider is a home-equity line of credit (HELOC). These are low-interest rate, long-term loans that can cover the full cost of your solar panel system if you own enough equity in your residential property. This allows you to go solar with little or no money down.

All solar panel systems commissioned before the end of 2019 are eligible for the Renewable Energy Investment Tax Credit, which allows 30% of the system cost to be deducted from federal taxes. The benefit is available for both residential and commercial buildings. The tax credit will be reduced to 26% in 2020 and 22% in 2021, before expiring in 2022. If you are considering solar panels for your home in Antioch, it is strongly recommended that you contact a solar provider today to get your project installed before the federal tax credit ends!