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Local clean‑energy group outlines Solarize 2025 campaign and net‑metering timeline
Summary
The Skagit Valley Clean Energy Alliance described a Solarize group‑purchase program for rooftop solar, provided a sample payback estimate and warned that 1:1 net‑metering is scheduled to end Dec. 31, 2025.
Representatives of the Skagit Valley Clean Energy Alliance presented the group’s Solarize 2025 campaign to the Anacortes City Council on March 10, promoting reduced‑cost rooftop solar installations through pre‑vetted installers, financing options and community outreach.
Mary Wolob, with the Skagit Valley Clean Energy Alliance, described how the Solarize campaign organizes a limited‑time group purchase that pre‑qualifies installers, negotiates pricing and runs an enrollment window (March–July). She explained net‑metering basics: solar generation serves the home first and excess flows to the grid; under current rules that exported energy is credited at roughly a 1‑to‑1 rate but that 1:1 net metering is set to end on Dec. 31, 2025.
Wolob provided a conservative example for a typical 1,700‑square‑foot home using about 13,200 kWh per year. She said that would require roughly a 12 kW solar array, estimated at about $29,400 (at $2.45 per watt under the campaign price) and — after federal tax incentives and conservative assumptions — show a simple payback of about 12.6 years in the example presented. She noted financing is available through a local credit union partner and that battery storage and EV charger installs are options through the campaign.
Councilmembers asked about net‑metering grandfathering and connection timing; campaign staff clarified the 1:1 net‑metering credit applies to systems connected to the grid while the existing net‑metering arrangement is in effect. Councilmember McDougall confirmed that the net‑metering effective date is tied to the date of utility interconnection, not purchase order date.
Why it matters: Changes to net‑metering rules and time‑limited group rates can affect homeowner installation economics. The alliance asked the city to help distribute campaign material through utility bill inserts and city communications and to consider ways to promote community solar for properties unsuited to rooftop systems.
Council members and staff discussed local outreach opportunities at the farmers’ market, utility bill inserts and the municipal newsletter.
