Complete Solar, a residential solar company, published its newest study on utility solar interconnection times. Before solar homeowners can start saving money, they must obtain permission from their utility. The study analyzed data collected from around 1,500 solar installations, between 2010 to 2015, to measure the efficiency of various California utility companies in approving solar interconnections. The report suggests California home solar owners lost $4,782,016.93 of production over the last four years while waiting for utility companies to interconnect.
“In California, interconnection time is incredibly important. It determines when solar will start saving the homeowner money,” said Will Anderson, CEO of Complete Solar. “We’re looking at over a million days worth of interconnection days and lost production over the last four years. Hopefully, this will also help motivate utility companies to step up their game.”
After sifting through years of data, the results were clear: The fastest utility companies give same-day issuance, while the slowest ones take more than a month. In terms of money, homeowners are losing an average of $4.02/day without interconnection. This adds up to about $59/week and $113/month. With tens of thousands of homeowners switching to solar, the cost of delays adds up.
Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, Palo Alto Utilities, PacifiCorp, Alameda and SDG&E take the least amount of time, averaging 0 days to 2 weeks. PG&E, SCE and Pasadena run longer with an average PTO issuance time of between 3 weeks to 1 month.
See the complete report with a breakdown of utilities here.
