Gerald Sharp, PRA Treasurer, and equally importantly, a source of helpful information about solar energy, especially solar panels, has summarized the results of his efforts this year in this PRA NEWS story. Well done, Gerald, and thank you!!
In 2023, I took advantage of the Solar Switch program for Montgomery County in which companies installing solar panels submit bids to install panels, and the county contracts with the lowest bidder that meets their requirements to get a group rate for solar installations. Lumina Solar had the county contract that year and although they did not win the contract in 2024, the Lumina Solar representative I had worked with said that Lumina would give the PRA a $1000 referral fee for anyone we referred to them who signed a contract in January 2025, later reduced to $500 beginning in February.
I referred 25 residents to Lumina Solar this year; I have stopped referring people now since time is too short for additional installations to be completed and billed before the federal tax credit ends Dec. 31st.
Of the 25 people I referred, 8 residents had solar systems installed with 3 more to be installed this year. Joan McDermott posted my emails and updates on the KECA listserv, and 6 of those 25 residents I referred live in Kensington Estates, 3 of whom ended up signing with Lumina Solar. [Ed note. One of those residents was kind enough to send Gerald a thank you note.]
So far, I have paid out $4100 in refunds of the Lumina Solar referral fees paid to the PRA. For each of those 8 rebates, I paid $100 to either the PRA or KECA, with the remainder being paid to the Parkwood and Kensington Estates residents. So $500 was added to the PRA treasury and $300 to KECA’s. The last three installations to be done are all in Parkwood, so another $300 will go into the PRA treasury.
My idea of the solar program wasn’t to support Lumina Solar (although it did end up increasing their business), since there are also other good companies installing solar systems in our neighborhood. Rather, the objective was to make information available about the ins and outs of doing the installations with price comparisons, so people could make better decisions about installing solar systems, as well as giving people back most of that referral fee that Lumina Solar paid us. Since the tax credit is only available this year with the program being stopped, it turned out this was an opportune time to do it.
Parkwood Residents Association 