Solar panels in Chestermere, Alberta

Chestermere, east of Calgary, produces 1,290 kWh/kW annually – matching Calgary and among the highest in Canada. Open prairie exposure means minimal shading issues for solar installations in Alberta.

Under Alberta’s micro-generation regulation, FortisAlberta customers earn full retail-rate credits for excess solar with no interconnection fees. Unused credits are paid out annually.

Get a Free Chestermere Solar Quote →

Chestermere has the same sunshine as Calgary — 1,290 kWh per kW a year against 1,292, a difference of nothing. Same distribution network through FortisAlberta, same deregulated retail market, same Micro-Generation Regulation with credits at the full retail rate and no interconnection fees.

What is not the same is the financing.

Alberta’s Clean Energy Improvement Program lets homeowners in participating municipalities finance energy upgrades through a charge on the property, repaid with the property tax and transferring to the next owner on sale. The participating list includes Calgary, Edmonton, Airdrie, Okotoks, Canmore, St. Albert, Leduc, Lethbridge and Grande Prairie. Chestermere is not on it.

We would rather say that plainly than let you discover it after getting a quote. Alberta has no residential solar rebate of the kind Ontario offers, so in participating municipalities CEIP is the main financing mechanism — and where it is unavailable, a solar project is paid for with cash or with ordinary financing you arrange yourself.

That is not a reason to skip solar in Chestermere. At 1,290 kWh per kW with a payback of 8 to 12 years, the underlying case is as strong as Calgary’s. It is a reason to shop the financing harder, because it is the one part of the project where a Chestermere homeowner starts from a worse position than a neighbour ten minutes away.

If the programme extends to Chestermere later, it will most likely take the same property-charge form. Worth asking the City whether that is under consideration.

Chestermere’s 1,290 kWh per kW a year is among the best figures in the country — ahead of every city we serve in Ontario, where Chatham-Kent tops out at 1,210, and roughly a third above the British Columbia coast.

And the payback is 8 to 12 years, which is good but not spectacular. The reason is on the other side of the equation.

Alberta electricity is inexpensive. The Rate of Last Resort here is about 12.06 cents per kilowatt-hour, against 19.128 cents in Nova Scotia and up to 20.3 cents on-peak in Ontario. Since the value of a solar system is the electricity you avoid buying, cheap power means each generated kilowatt-hour is worth less. Excellent sun and cheap electricity roughly cancel out against moderate sun and expensive electricity.

There is a real benefit hiding in that, though, and it shows up in the equipment rather than the bill. At 1,290 kWh per kW, a smaller array covers a given household consumption than would be needed in most of the country. Fewer panels, less roof used, a smaller inverter, a lower installed cost. A Chestermere home with an awkward or partly obstructed roof has more room to still land on a sensible system than the same house would in Ontario.

So the honest framing is that Alberta is a cheap place to build solar rather than a lucrative place to own it — and with no provincial rebate and no CEIP access here, the up-front number is the one to negotiate hardest.

Alberta’s deregulated market catches out anyone comparing a quote here against one from a regulated province, and it is worth understanding before reading a savings estimate.

FortisAlberta owns the distribution wires reaching your Chestermere home and handles your solar interconnection. It does not sell you electricity. That comes from a retailer you choose — ENMAX, ATCO Energy, Direct Energy and others compete for the business — so your bill splits into regulated distribution charges and a contracted energy rate.

Under Alberta’s Micro-Generation Regulation you earn credits at the full retail rate for exports, with no interconnection fees and credits applied monthly. But “full retail rate” means your retailer’s rate. Two Chestermere households with identical systems and identical production can be credited differently because they are on different contracts.

The Rate of Last Resort quoted on this page, about 12.06 cents per kilowatt-hour, is the fallback for customers who have not chosen a retailer. Treat it as a planning figure rather than as your figure.

The practical consequence is unusual and specific to Alberta: your solar payback depends partly on a decision you already made when you picked an electricity contract. Before comparing quotes, find the energy rate on your own bill. And when an installer projects a saving, ask which rate they used — a projection built on the Rate of Last Resort will be wrong for anyone on a competitive contract, in either direction.

• View Solar Panel Pricing →
• Check Available Rebates →
• See All Alberta Service Areas →