Using electricity rate data to sell solar
Summary
San Francisco startup Genability began knitting together a collection of complex electric rates from utilities across the country in late 2010, and today some of the best known installers and project developers, SolarCity, SunEdison and SunPower, rely on that database to show potential customers how much they can save by going solar. “It’s a real pain point for everybody we talk to.” By assembling the electric rates, developing data-crunching tools, and offering the data to customers via a website, Genability is taking on a task that many solar service providers would rather avoid. Jason Riley founded Genability after realizing that having accurate electric pricing data is critical for running energy delivery services. Last month, Genability won a $500,000 grant from the federal SunShot program to develop new features and expand the use of the database in order to boost solar installations. The company currently offers the web portal and software tools for its customers to draw on the electric pricing data to do number crunching on their own computers.