Home Solar in Northwest Territories:

The Northwest Territories is a large territory in northern Canada. It has only one city—Yellowknife. Inhabitants speak English, French and sometimes also First Nations languages. The climate is subarctic to polar.

The Northwest Territories government policies favor solar rebates and incentives. In addition to rebates that help with upfront solar system costs, higher energy prices make it a favorable place for businesses and residents to invest in solar energy.

Solar Incentives

Northwest Territories provides multiple solar energy rebates and incentives that help to reduce the overall cost of solar systems.

Our EnergyPal Advisors can help you navigate all of the solar incentives available in Northwest Territories and also apply them to the available solar panel offerings.

Just remember these items:

• Eligible Costs

  Rebate maximums are based on a percentage of your total eligible spend. The costs of materials and installation count towards eligible costs. Any taxes you may have paid do not count.

• Installation Qualifications

  Your installation must meet certain qualifications to be eligible for rebates. One of these qualifications is that an Efficiency Northwest Territories qualified installer must install your system using CSA-approved electric equipment. Don’t worry—our partners are all qualified installers.

• Simple Rebate Applications

  We’ve screened our installation companies to make sure that they can and will handle all paperwork pertaining to rebates. We will make sure that you recieve the best rates possible.

Rebates and Tax Breaks

The Alternative Energy Technologies Program (AETP) is the principal solar incentive in the Northwest Territories. Residential, business, and non-profit property owners who belong to this incentive program can earn a rebate of up to 50% of the cost of their solar system and its installation. The maximum rebate amount is $20,000 for residents and $50,000 for businesses, governments and non-profit organizations.

So if you spent $28,400 on a system, your cost could go down to $14,200 after the rebate. The program is not available if your site already uses hydroelectricity.

Other Energy Incentives

The Energy Efficiency Incentive Program also offers incentives for many home efficiency upgrades like insulation, thermostats, appliances and LED lighting. Higher rebates are offered if you buy locally.

The Canadian federal government helps businesses to pay for their solar systems. It can abolish the first-year rule and achieve an accelerated Capital Cost Allowance (CCA) rate. For more information, visit the tax savings for industry portion of their website.

Utility Policies

One important policy for solar customers is called Net Metering. Net Metering is a billing mechanism that allows solar customers to push electricity to the grid for credit that can be used later, like at night when your solar panels aren’t generating power. This incentivizes people to go solar, provides clean energy for others to use and prevents waste.

The Northwest Territories Net Metering program is good. Credits can be carried over into the next month, and you can connect a system up to 15 kW in size. Your credits expire at the end of March every year.

Solar Setup Fees

To connect, you must pay for an interconnection study, but the bi-directional meter is provided for free.

Electricity Prices

Electricity prices in the Northwest Territories are very high. Usually you don’t want high prices, but with solar, the higher the prices, the more you save, and the more economical a solar system becomes.

The average total cost of electricity in the Northwest Territories is $0.387 per kWh, including fixed and variable costs, and assuming a monthly usage of 1,000 kWh. Under similar assumptions, the Canadian national average for all provinces is $0.135 per kWh.

Rate Design

Rate designs are comprised of monthly fees and either a flat or tiered rate you pay for electricity. Good rate designs, which save you money when you conserve energy, are tiered and have low fixed monthly fees. Poor rate designs have flat rates and high fixed monthly fees.

The Northwest Territories has average electricity bill rate design quality. It has tiered rates and moderate fixed fees (around $18 per month).

You still pay fixed monthly fees when you go solar because you are still tied to the grid. Being tied to the grid is a good thing, because otherwise you might not have power at night or if your system stopped working suddenly. Even if you go off of the grid and rely on a battery source, the high cost of the battery would not outweigh the low monthly fee and the savings obtained from a net billing program.

PACE Programs

PACE stands for Property Assessed Clean Energy and is a financing program for solar projects. For no money down, you can finance your solar system, but the low-interest, long-term loan is not attached to you; it’s attached to your home. It is paid back as a Local Improvement Charge (LIC) on your property tax bill. To qualify, you sometimes must own a certain portion of your home.

Currently, the Northwest Territory is in transition to a municipality-run PACE program, so stay tuned.

Other Energy Financing

Solar systems can be financed by bank loans, solar installer financing, new home mortgages, energy loans and home equity loans or lines of credit. Cash works too.

Talk to your EnergyPal Advisor about financing solar options in Northwest Territories. We regularly source the best deals and terms for customers.