City of Berkeley Helps Finance Solar Power
The upfront investment of going solar is a major reason solar power is not as popular as its potential. The city of Berkley being a progressive city and supporting solar power has identified this bottle neck for consumers to buy solar power and have approved a loan program to get homes and business started with solar by offering a flexible loan program. Berkeley pays for the upfront cost of installing solar power by offering loans to property owners who pay the loan back over 20 years through their property taxes while taking advantage of lower power bills.
Some solar industry professionals have stated that they are not sure if the Berkeley loan program is a good deal or not because its unclear if the property taxes will drop after the 20 years payback of the loan. One of the main advantages of solar power in California is that your property taxes don’t go up even though solar power adds significant value to your home or business. Even though the Berkeley program lets a property owner go solar without an upfront investment, I suppose it has its negatives. Although I really feel this program is worth it and more cities around the US should offer easy financing for property owners because the benefits are very appealing.
