Article today in our local paper:

Solar homeowners win
big in California
ruling, for now

SF Chronicle, January 28, 2016

http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Solar-companies-and-customers-win-big-in-6790872.php

.....Congress in December [2015] unexpectedly renewed a 30
percent tax credit for solar installations.

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Of note for CA residents only: There are major changes to the rate agreements between the CA utilities and solar customers. There is now a substantial difference between the old 'net energy metering' (popularly known as "net zero") for existing customers along with any new installations that make it under the '5% cap' [see article link], which PG&E/Northern CA estimates will be reached by their customer base roughly around Sept 2016.

After that, ALL solar installations will be under the new agreement, which are less financially attractive. This is especially true because new solar customers will be under the "time of use" rates, where different rates are charged at different times of the day.

The CA PUC will revisit the issue in 2019, so even existing customers should continue to monitor this issue. It is not a given that existing solar users under the 5% cap will always be able to keep that 20-yr extension of being compensated at retail electricity rates for the excess energy they send back to the grid.