Solar panels in Vernon, British Columbia

Vernon in the North Okanagan produces 1,230 kWh/kW – strong interior production.

Important: FortisBC provides electricity in Vernon. FortisBC customers are NOT eligible for BC Hydro solar/battery rebates. FortisBC has its own net metering program (up to 50kW), and the PST exemption (7%) on solar equipment (~$2,000 savings) applies regardless of utility.

Note: The federal Canada Greener Homes Grant and Loan programs are now closed.

Vernon has a genuine winter, and that is the question we get asked most here.

Unlike the milder south Okanagan, Vernon runs four distinct seasons, and elevation matters within the city – properties climbing toward Silver Star see materially more snow than those down by Okanagan Landing. Snow does cost you production while it sits on the glass, but panels are smooth and dark, they shed at normal roof pitches once sun hits them, and the loss lands in the shortest, lowest-value weeks of the year.

What matters more is mounting. An array on a snow-loaded roof has to be specified for that load, and mounting rails and flashing should be detailed so meltwater and sliding snow do not work at the roof penetrations. Steeper pitches shed faster. None of this reduces Vernon’s annual figure of about 1,230 kWh/kW, which already reflects local winters and is among the strongest in the province.

Vernon is on FortisBC, not BC Hydro, and in 2026 that distinction is worth money.

FortisBC runs its own net metering programme for systems up to 50 kW. Surplus generation is not bought from you per kilowatt-hour – it goes into a Kilowatt Hour Bank and carries forward against later bills, so a sunny July offsets a dark January instead of being cashed out at a low rate. Anything still banked at your annual settlement is paid at the rate FortisBC pays other power producers.

That carry-forward suits Vernon particularly well. A city with strong summers and real winters generates a large seasonal surplus and then draws it down – which is exactly what a kilowatt-hour bank is for, and exactly what a flat export rate handles badly.

The part that matters this year: BC Hydro closed 1:1 net metering to new customers on 1 July 2026 and moved them to a flat export rate of about 10 cents per kWh. That was a BC Hydro decision affecting BC Hydro customers. It does not apply in Vernon.

A typical Vernon installation is around 8 kW. At about 1,230 kWh per kW that produces roughly 9,800 kWh a year, saving in the region of $2,080 with a payback of 9 to 12 years.

Vernon’s slightly longer payback than West Kelowna’s comes from winter, not summer – the North Okanagan loses more production to short, cold, snow-covered weeks than the south does. FortisBC’s kilowatt-hour banking is well suited to that shape: the strong summer surplus carries forward rather than being sold cheaply, and offsets exactly the winter months where Vernon is weakest.

These figures assume a reasonably oriented roof specified for local snow load. Properties higher toward Silver Star should expect the mounting specification, not the production estimate, to be the thing that changes.

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