Financial Options for Residential Solar

New, more powerful panels make it easy to be net-zero electric and maximize your solar savings

Your electricity bill is made up of three parts: the energy charge, variable transmission and distributions charges, and fixed charges. While the microgenerator credits you get for exporting electricity to the grid are only worth the same as the energy charge you're paying, the actual value of a solar PV system is much more than just an offsetting of the energy charge. The energy charge makes up around half of the electricity bill, and you'll save more than half with a solar PV system that generates in a year as much electricity as you use in a year. You can’t avoid the fixed charges that amount to around $1.18 per day in the City of Calgary, but that's only around 20 % of the bill. The remaining lines on your electricity bill are the transmission and distribution charges, and these will go down when you use less electricity from the grid. On average, homes with solar PV systems are able to self-consume 35 % of the electricity they generate, with the rest being exported to the grid, so the variable transmission and distributions charges are reduced by that amount when you get a solar PV system. As shown in the example below, you will save ~60% of your electricity bill with a solar PV system that generates as much electricity as you use during the year.

	Without Solar	With Solar
Energy Charge ($0.1206/kwh)	$964.08	$0.00
Variable Transmission & Distribution Charges ($0.0583/kWh)	$466.4	$303.16
Fixed Fees ($1.18 per day)	$366.18	$366.18
Annual Cost of Electricity	$1,796.66	$669.34
Solar Savings	$0.00	$1,127.32

Annual electricity cost comparison of a home using 8,000 kWh a year with and without a net-zero solar PV system. Rates are from ENMAX regulated rate on 11 February 2025.

Leverage your solar system with carbon credits

As your solar PV system generates emissions free electricity, it'll also "generate" carbon credits that can be sold on various carbon markets. A system that generates 8,000 kWh per year will earn around $240 for the carbon credits each year for ten years. Carbon brokers like Solar Offset make it easier now than ever to register and sell the carbon credits generated by your solar PV system.

Maximize price on grid exports

Electricity from your solar PV system that is exported to the grid can earn a premium price. Homeowners with grid-connected solar will import from the grid every night and export to the grid almost every day. However, in the summer months, those homeowners that are net-zero electric will almost certainly export more electricity to the grid than they import. Conversely, in the winter months they'll almost certainly import more than they export. To get a premium price for the summer exports, you can register with a solar club and switch to the HI rate during the times you expect to export more electricity than you import. A system that generates 8,000 kWh per year and exports 2,000 kWh over the summer months could earn an extra $600.00 per year. Just be sure to switch back to the LO rate when you expect to import more than you export to avoid paying the HI rate for the electricity you're importing. Spot Power offers a solar club, or else you can check with your preferred electricity retailer to see if they have a similar plan.

Solar can zero your electricity bill

A net-zero electric solar PV system will already reduce your electricity bill by more than half, but if you add on the additional savings from carbon credits and solar clubs, then you can not only offset your entire electricity bill, but you can actually make money. Adding it all up, our 8,000 kWh per year home is now making $170.66 a year. That's a difference of almost $2,000.00 compared to the house without solar!

	Without Solar	With Solar
Energy Charge ($0.1206/kwh)	$964.08	$0.00
Variable Transmission & Distribution Charges ($0.0583/kWh)	$466.4	$303.16
Fixed Fees ($1.18 per day)	$366.18	$366.18
Value of Carbon Credits	$0.00	($240.00)
Solar Club Savings	$0.00	($600.00)
Annual Cost of Electricity	$1,796.66	($170.66)

Annual electricity cost comparison of a home using 8,000 kWh a year with and without a net-zero solar PV system, including sale of carbon credits and solar club savings. Rates are from ENMAX regulated rate on 11 February 2025.

Interest-free loans for solar

The federal governments Canada Greener Homes program is still offering interest free loans for solar PV systems and other energy efficiency upgrades. Around 400,000 Canadians have already accessed this popular program that provides interest-free loans of up to $40,000 with a 10-year repayment. In most cases, the monthly savings are more than the monthly repayments, so you're almost getting a solar PV system for free. The savings will only increase as electricity rates go up, and after ten years your savings have paid off the loan and you get to pocket all the savings from then on. 

CEIP funding for solar

The Clean Energy Improvement Program (CEIP) allows you to pay off your solar PV system through your property taxes. It’s not interest free, but offers very low interest rates due to the security of the property. Each participating municipality independently determines the number of projects available for this funding. For Calgary, the next round of CEIP applications will open on 28 May 2025. This program has been fully subscribed within a day or two in each of the five previous rounds, so if you plan on applying this round, you'll need to have your solar proposal and other application information ready by then if you want to get a spot.

Solar is good for your home AND good for the planet

Alberta has the most expensive electricity of all the Canadian provinces. It's over double the rate in British Colombia, and only Nunavut and the Northwest Territories have higher rates.

Our electricity is also among the most polluting of all the Provinces and Territories:

Province or Territory	Greenhouse Gas Emissions (g/kWh)
Quebec	1.7
Manitoba	2
British Colombia	15
Newfoundland and Labrador	17
Ontario	30
Yukon	80
Northwest Territories	170
New Brunswick	300
Prince Edward Island	300
Alberta	540
Nova Scotia	690
Saskatchewan	730
Nunavut	840

By getting a solar PV system, you can save substantially on your electricity bill while making a meaningful reduction in your greenhouse gas emissions. A quality solar PV system on an average size home in Calgary can eliminate your electricity bill and save over four tonnes of GHG’s per year!

Find out how much you save with a solar PV system

If you'd like to see how much you can save with a solar PV system, request a quote and we'll send you a proposal with detailed financial modelling to estimate your solar savings, along with the expected environmental benefits.