Kansas City Power & Light: Solar Photovoltaic Rebates

Kansas City Power and Light (KCP&L) offers rebates to its customers for the installation of net metered photovoltaic (PV) systems on their properties. The program is available to all of KCP&L's Missouri retail customers on generally available residential, commercial, and industrial rate schedules. The rebate is set at $2.00 per watt with a maximum rebate of $50,000. Although the program guidelines and application do not list a firm maximum system capacity, the requirement that the system be net metered implicitly limits system size to 100 kilowatts (kW), the maximum size allowed under Missouri's net metering rules. Only systems that receive pre-approval from the utility and become operational after January 1, 2010, are eligible for incentives.

In order to qualify for incentives, a customer must have an electric account in good standing with the utility. Eligible systems must use new, commercially available equipment and be permanently installed on the customer's property. Installations must comply with all applicable federal, state and local codes and standards, including the state of Missouri's Net Metering Interconnection Standards. Rebate recipients must certify that the system will remain in operation on their property for its useful life (deemed to be a minimum of 10 years). Ownership of renewable energy credits (RECs) produced by participating systems is not specified in either the program rules or in Missouri's net metering rules.

This program arises from 2008 Proposition C, a ballot initiative that established a state renewable portfolio standard (RPS) in Missouri and required the state's investor-owned utilities to offer solar rebates of at least $2.00 per watt beginning in 2010.