In response to our Solar Realities series, a Northern California listener raised an interesting point and sent us the following email, though he asked that we withhold his name: 

As you likely already know, the CA Public Utility Commission‘s “California Solar Initiative” provides some very good rebates to give citizens, businesses, and public agencies an incentive to install grid-tied PV generating systems. However, one thing that might be worth noting is that the far northern portion of CA that is served by Pacific Power is not eligible for any of these rebates. The Pacific Power service area is all or part of Modoc, Siskiyou & Del Norte counties. So citizens in these counties cannot participate in the CA Solar Initiative! Apparently, the CA Public Utilities Commission has not yet gotten around to require Pacific Power to charge a fee to its CA customers to fund the rebate program. …2/3 of this of this area is prime territory for PV installations with a very high number of clear sky sunny days per year.

In Tuesday’s Climate Watch piece, reporter Rachael Myrow explains how California’s solar rebates and credits work for utilities customers in most of the state.