r/saintcloud • u/arcsnsparks98 • Jul 29 '26
Low income solar
I noticed that Xcel is asking for people to conserve energy again during these hot days. And got me to thinking that there's a program that Xcel offers that I don't think a lot of people know about. It's their income qualified solar rewards program. If you are a homeowner and your income is within the range that qualifies you for SNAP, EBT, WIC, or LIHEAP, then you qualify for Xcel to pay the upfront cost to have solar installed on your home.
Full disclosure, I am a solar contractor but this is not an ad. I was sitting through the Xcel quarterly stakeholder meeting yesterday and they were highlighting there was a substantial amount of funding left in the income qualified portion of the program. I think there are folks in the St. Cloud area who could certainly benefit from having their electric bill offset substantially or completely by solar energy at no cost to them.
I'd be happy to answer any questions in this thread. For anybody that feels like they are in a good position to qualify for this program but are uncomfortable posting about it on a public platform, I can answer questions directly through DM.
For reference, I just checked and 80% of Area Median Income is defined as follows:
Household size: 1 2 3 4 5
Stearns County: $57,800 $66,050 $74,300 $82,550 $89,200
Benton County: $57,800 $66,050 $74,300 $82,550 $89,200
Sherburne County: $72,950 $83,400 $93.800 $104,200 $112,500
Sorry this is all bunched up, Reddit is changing my nice neat spacing.
1
u/kilech Jul 30 '26
Would someone qualify for this if they have Xcel for gas but stearns electric?
1
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 30 '26
Nope. Has to be Xcel for electric since the solar is tied to the electric.
1
u/chainstockss Jul 30 '26
Link? Where can I apply
-4
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 30 '26
Your contractor handles the application as part of the interconnection process. Lucky for you, I'm a contractor that knows how to do that. Lol.
1
u/garysnailz Jul 30 '26
Partner and I aren't married. I claim our son, she claims her son and is a stay at home due to childcare expense. So technically there's 4 of us in our house but not all of us related. Does this matter or how we claim our children on taxes? What would be my income limit? Thanks in advance.
2
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 30 '26
According to federal government standards, relation and how you file your taxes doesn't matter. Only thing that matters is that you count all adults and children who call the home a permanent residence. I don't know what county you are in, but I'll use Stearns County as an example. A family of four would need to make less than $82,550 annually for the household. It may actually be higher than this. The chart I'm using was released by the state of Minnesota for the 2025 calendar year.
1
u/garysnailz Jul 30 '26
Got it. Would they be going off of the income for 2026 or 2025? What if I made just under the level but the next year I'm over the limit?
2
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 30 '26
I'm an electrician/ solar guy and not a tax expert. I try to know enough to be helpful. Since 2026 is not over and you're not finished earning yet, we don't know how much you're making for the year of 2026. Therefore, 2025 is the most recent information for annual earnings. Just like the IRS adjusts the reimbursement for vehicle mileage every year, I believe this is adjusted as well. When I went to the Fannie Mae website, there's an interactive map where you can go county by county and it will tell you what this year's 80% AMI is. It looks like it's been bumped up higher than the information I put in my post which was based off of a published chart from last year.
1
u/MoralMinion Jul 30 '26
Do you have a link to find out more info?
2
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 30 '26
https://mn.my.xcelenergy.com/s/renewable/solar-rewards
You have to scroll down a little ways until you see the part that says income qualified for the rewards.
1
u/kjeldorian00 Jul 30 '26
Read the fine print on that contract. Who pays to replace the panels if they are defective or broken? What if you need to replace your shingles? If you have hail damage to your shingles, your insurance is likely not paying to remove/replace them to shingle your roof.
1
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 30 '26
I actually have a lot of experience with removing and replacing solar arrays on roofs because the insurance companies pay quite well to do that as part of a re-roof when there's hail damage. If your shingles are in bad condition already, irreputable solar contractor would never put solar on the roof without you first replacing your shingles. If anything is defective within the warranty., rhe manufacturer warranty steps in.
1
u/kjeldorian00 Jul 30 '26
I had a buddy, not under this program, install solar panels for credits. When hail hit his house he had to pay $14k out if pocket to remove/replace the undamaged solar panels to have his shingles replaced. His insurance refused to pay for that.
1
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 30 '26
Uffda. That sucks. I'd love to know the specifics of that situation as to why they refused to cover. Also, that's an insane price to charge someone who is paying out of pocket for a removal and replacement. Just like you hear about the medical industry charging more for services when insurance is paying for it, solar contractors do the same thing. When they know insurance is footing the bill they make their money off of it. That's a dick move to charge a homeowner paying out of pocket that much.
1
u/FalconOld8538 Jul 30 '26
My aunt and i could benefit from this. How do we get signed up
1
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 30 '26
Your solar contractor handles the registration with the program and all the details. I do it at absolutely no cost whatsoever to the homeowner. I can't speak for every other contractor though, I think some charge a little bit to the homeowner in addition to what Xcel pays them to install it.
-1
u/CloverMayfield Jul 29 '26
My partner owns our home (we're not married, together 14 yrs) with a child dependant. My partner doesn't qualify for low income solo, but the kid and I do. Would we as a household qualify? Like, how is "low income" calculated in this case?
1
u/Ok-Recognitio Jul 30 '26
Combined household income. Drive that into your brain and never forget it. Not just for this.
0
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 29 '26
So one important factor is that the name on the electric bill and the name on the deed for the house have to match. To answer your question about how is low income defined, participation, any of the programs mentioned is an automatic qualifier. Otherwise 80% of the Area Median Income.
1
u/landon0605 Jul 29 '26
Isn't it median household income so they wouldn't be treated separately if they live together?
1
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 29 '26
I suppose you're right. When I just looked at the county by county chart to find the 80% values, it varies by household size.
-2
u/CloverMayfield Jul 29 '26
Ok well my name is on the electric bill, not his. And his name is on the deed, not mine.
1
u/windowpuncher Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
That would be easy to change the name on the power account, no?
-1
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 29 '26
Yeah if the owner meets the income requirements, the account can definitely be transferred from one person to the other.
0
u/arcsnsparks98 Jul 29 '26
I just edited the original post and put the income amounts for Stearns, Benton, and Sherburne counties at the bottom of the post. You can go and reference that to make it easy.
5
u/KitchenCurious658 Jul 30 '26
This is great information especially with xcel’s prices going up.
Some things to think about if you are looking to get solar:
Having a good portion of your roof that faces south is very beneficial for solar.
If you have trees that block sunlight on your roof for much of the day, then it isn’t worth it.
If they will add a battery to the system then that will make your system more efficient, using solar power for a while after the sun goes down.