In 2018, $3.6 million will be available to support solar projects for Portland General Electric customers and $2.4 million will be available to support solar projects for Pacific Power customers. This year, Energy Trust’s budget is slightly smaller than last year and closely aligned to revenue we expect to receive in 2018.

New residential solar incentive rates and business solar incentive rates became available on January 9, 2018. Due to the program’s available budget and current market conditions, we have moderately increased the incentives and project size caps for residential and business customers. You can find the current rates and allocations for these steps in the Solar Incentive Status Report.

For the past six years, Energy Trust has implemented gradual, stepped incentive reductions to manage solar incentive funds. We will continue this strategy in 2018, as it allows us to be transparent and as predictable as possible with incentive availability and upcoming changes. Gradual implementation also allows us to be responsive to pricing changes, customer demand and other market conditions. Most importantly, it means that we can better manage the availability of incentive funds over the course of a year while continuing to support more customers who want to install solar on their homes and businesses.

As always, current and upcoming incentive rates and allocations are posted in the Solar Incentive Status Report. To avoid surprises, keep your sales team and customers informed of both the current and upcoming incentive rates and remind them that incentives are available on a first-come, first-served basis. You can sign up additional staff to receive Insider and stay up to date.

For more information on incentives or budget availability, contact Jeni Hall or Dave McClelland. We wish you all success this year!