Duke Energy Will Pay You Up to $9,000 to Go Solar with a Battery!

There are three different incentives with Duke's PowerPair program:

☀ Solar rebate: $0.36/kW, maxing out at 10kW or $3,600

☀ Battery rebate: $400/kWh, maxing out at 13.5kWh or $5,400

☀ Battery Control incentive: $6.50/kW/month, adjusted by a 70.9% battery capability factor

Living by the coast, we are no stranger to power outages. Duke wants to avoid area outages in the event that:

☀ Part of the grid gets damaged and power transmission cannot get rerouted

☀ Local energy demand suddenly peaks more than the grid can keep up

To maintain grid resiliency, the utility wants to tap into nearby residential batteries to supplement the required load. With the Battery Control option, the utility is allowed to discharge a home's battery reserves down to 20% between 30-36 times a year. In exchange, they will pay the homeowner $6.50 times 70.9% of the battery's maximum capacity per month, regardless of any discharge. That means if you have capped out the rebate with a 10kW system, you'll earn $6.50(10kW)(70.9%) = $46.09 each month.

Eligibility for the battery control incentive will depend on your interconnection policy.

Thanks to last year's metering policy updates, Duke Energy's new solar customers now are on either a Residential Solar Choice (RSC) or a Net Metering Bridge (NMB) policy. RSC customers are on a time-of-use schedule and charged for electricity at a rate dependent on whether the time of the day has a "peak" electrical demand on the grid. More grid demand means a higher cost of electricity during that period. NMB customers pay a set price, regardless of the time of the day. Of course, both customers only pay for energy consumed in excess of what their systems generated. If their solar panels generated more energy than the home consumed, both customers are credited at $0.035/kWh.

Homeowners with an RSC interconnection policy who sign up for Duke's PowerPair pilot program are known as "Cohort A." They will receive the solar rebate of $0.36/kW, with a cap at 10kW ($3,600) and the battery rebate of $400/kWh, with a cap at 13.5kWh ($5,400.)

Cohort A is prohibited from opting into the Battery Control option for their first two years.

Homeowners who sign up for Duke's PowerPair pilot program with a NMB interconnection policy are known as "Cohort B." They will receive the solar rebate of $0.36/kW, with a cap at 10kW ($3,600) and the battery rebate of $400/kWh, with a cap at 13.5kWh ($5,400.)

Cohort B is required to participate in the Battery Control option.

It's important to note a few things:

☀ Duke's PowerPair pilot program has a limited capacity of 15,000kW for Cohort A and 15,000kW for Cohort B. Once space fills up, it's gone.

☀ Participants are required to remain in this program throughout its 10-year duration, or face an early termination charge.

☀ Participants are allowed to switch between cohorts twice, but must remain in their initial cohort for two years.

Duke's PowerPair rebate is groundbreaking. Which cohort is the best for you depends on your personal interest. Cohort A was designed for those who value energy independence. Cohort B, on the other hand, is more favorable for those looking to save the most money. To determine which cohort is the best for you, we recommend sitting down with us for a free solar consultation. We'll take a look at your home's energy consumption, your roof space, and what your goals are.

Give us a call so we can save you the most money, before the program fills up: (910) 409-5533.