Solar energy for homes
The Solar City Program offers property owners in the municipality financing for solar energy options and a navigation service that takes you through every step of the process and facilitates the work.
Solar City lets you combine the federal Greener Homes Loan with municipal financing in order to cover the upfront cost of a solar installation.
The municipality is helping residents install solar panels on their property as a way of making energy more affordable and as a strategy for addressing the climate emergency.
Solar City aims to:
- offer an innovative financing option to facilitate solar energy installations
- ensure the technology used is best suited to participants' energy needs
- meet the municipal Regional Plan objectives by supporting healthy, sustainable and vibrant communities
- meet municipal Economic Strategy objectives by fosterinng the solar industry
Who can access the Solar City program?
- residential property owners
- non-profit organizations
- places of worship
- co-operatives
- charities
Solar City financial basics
The Solar City program uses a voluntary financing application where a property owner enters into an agreement with the municipality to access the funds necessary to install a solar energy system on their property.
The municipality places a voluntary Local Improvement Charge (LIC) on the property after the solar contractor is paid at the end of the project. The LIC is an additional annual charge and is separate from the property owner’s annual property tax bill. This LIC mechanism is described in detail in Solar City Bylaw S-500 [PDF].
The LIC payments are made over a period of 10 years at a fixed interest rate (4.75%) with the option for the property owner to pay the balance in full and subsequently remove the lien at any time without penalty.
The charge for the solar energy system is applied to the property, not the individual. If a property owner moves before the financing is repaid, the property owner has the choice of paying the remaining balance off in full at the point of sale, without penalty, or transferring the charge to the next property owner (as long as both parties agree to the transfer).