Ep 72: How to ACTUALLY See How Much You Could Save With Community Solar

by Dakota Malone | Jul 3, 2025

SUMMARY: Dakota introduces a free calculator tool that helps large energy users estimate their potential savings through community solar based on their annual energy spend. The calculator uses delivery, supply, and tax costs to determine a subscription size—typically 90% of the annual spend—and applies a 5% or 10% discount to estimate savings. This tool supports organizations like municipalities, schools, and corporations in visualizing savings, sharing with stakeholders, and advancing sustainability goals without upfront investment or solar installation.

Introduction (0:01 – 0:12)

Dakota Malone, co-founder of Community Solar Authority, opens the episode with a focus on helping organizations understand how much they can save by participating in community solar. The episode introduces a new free calculator designed to estimate potential savings.

Free Community Solar Savings Calculator (0:12 – 1:00)

Dakota announces the launch of a free calculator available on the Community Solar Authority website. Users can download it and book a call for a personalized walkthrough. The calculator estimates a best-case savings scenario for large energy users and gives an initial idea of the organization’s maximum potential savings, though final figures depend on factors like market availability and qualifying utility spend.

Real-World Examples & Maximized Savings (1:01 – 1:39)

Community Solar Authority primarily serves municipalities, school districts, corporations, and other large energy consumers. Some clients may save as little as $10,000 annually, while others—depending on their meter classification and qualifying spend—can exceed $1 million in annual savings. Dakota emphasizes the value of reviewing actual utility bills to determine realistic and accurate savings projections.

How the Calculator Works (1:40 – 2:52)

The calculator requires users to input annual delivery costs, supply costs, and taxes. It calculates the estimated savings by applying a 5% or 10% discount to 90% of the total annual energy spend. These percentages represent the two most common discount levels available in community solar deals. Once the data is entered, users receive a savings estimate and a downloadable PDF to share with stakeholders or decision-makers.

Why Organizations Choose Community Solar (2:53 – 3:35)

Community solar is attractive because it has no upfront costs or infrastructure requirements. It provides a low-barrier entry into clean energy for eligible markets and supports sustainability goals. Participating organizations contribute to the clean energy transition and can enhance their ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) profile.

Broader Impact of Community Solar (3:35 – 4:00)

Community solar generates local environmental benefits and boosts the economy. With over $2 billion in economic impact attributed to the program, it offers a compelling business case while helping organizations meet sustainability objectives. It also delivers valuable PR opportunities by aligning companies with clean energy and environmental stewardship.

Ongoing Savings and How to Get Started (4:01 – 4:43)

Once an organization enrolls, it begins receiving bill credits monthly when the project goes live. These credits reflect either a 5% or 10% discount on 90% of the total energy spend. Interested parties are encouraged to book a strategy session to understand their potential savings and receive guidance through the calculator.

Conclusion and Contact Info (4:44 – 4:53)

Dakota wraps up by encouraging listeners to reach out with questions and to use the free calculator to take the first step toward energy savings.

Takeaway: The Community Solar Authority’s savings calculator is a practical tool that helps organizations quickly estimate their potential savings and begin the transition to affordable, clean energy with zero upfront investment.

To listen to the full episode… go to Spotify to listen.

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If you’re new to my channel, my name is Dakota Malone. I’m a co-founder of Community Solar Authority. We’re a commercial solar developer & consultant on a mission to streamline clean energy deployment.

We deliver turnkey access to community solar for large users of electricity, & our company has unlocked access to $20M+ in future electricity savings for our clients.

Today, we’re focused on educating municipalities, corporations, stakeholders- & other entities consuming lots of electricity to help them benefit from the trillion-dollar clean energy economy.

To our future procurement, facilities, & finance teams we speak to.. we’re here to serve you well with this content ahead of time so that we have a productive conversation when we meet.

Want to access enhanced sustainability & improved operating profit in 90 days?

Book a call and get started.
Here In Service,
Dakota

Read the transcript

(0:01 – 0:12)
What’s up guys, this is Dakota. Welcome back to sustainability strategies by community solar authority. And today I’m talking about how you can actually figure out how much you can save with community solar.

(0:12 – 0:32)
So I’ve recently launched a calculator that we’re giving away for free. You can download it right on our website at community, solar authority.com. And when you book a call, we can walk you through exactly how much you could save with community solar. But today’s episode, I wanted to break down exactly how it works.

(0:33 – 1:00)
So this calculator is the easiest way to determine how much you can save with community solar. It provides the best case scenario for your savings estimate. And of course your actual savings will depend on availability, how much of your annual spend actually qualifies and some other factors we provide this calculator for you to get an idea of what a maximized savings potential could be for your organization.

(1:01 – 1:15)
And again, our clients are large energy users. So for us, that could be municipalities, school districts, big businesses, corporations. Some of them again, based on their qualified spend can only access something like $10,000 a year in savings.

(1:15 – 1:39)
Other clients we’ve done this year because of their meter classification and other factors have saved over a million dollars. So this calculator is going to reveal what your maximized savings potential is. And the reason why we walk our clients through it is because we get to review your bills in real time, show you what actually qualifies and help you understand what a realistic number can actually be.

(1:40 – 2:04)
So when you pull up this calculator, it’s going to ask for your delivery cost, their supply costs, and your taxes. And again, the numbers we’re plugging in are on an annual spend basis. What we’ll actually do is take 90% of that annual energy spend, supply delivery and taxes, and that is the number that we plug in to determine your community solar subscription size.

(2:05 – 2:29)
So the subscription size is based off of your annual spend at about 90%. From there, we look at discounts at either a 5% discount or 10% discount. Yes, there are deals we’ve done that are outside of these, but 90%, maybe even 95% of all community solar offers are either at these two discounts, 5% or 10%.

(2:30 – 2:52)
So once we plug in all of your annual costs, we take 90% of it and we select a discount rate, either five or 10% at one click of a button, you can calculate these savings, get a visual of what those savings actually looks like. And you’re also able to download a PDF, which we share in our deal room. So all of your stakeholders can see.

(2:53 – 3:11)
Or you can download this PDF and immediately email it to other decision makers who are thinking about community solar. Now, if you’re unfamiliar, people choose community solar for several reasons. One, it’s the lowest barrier to entry when it comes to U.S. clean energy programs.

(3:12 – 3:35)
And although it’s only available in select markets, it is a simple way to lower electricity costs on a $0 investment without actually having to install solar. It also creates good news stories and helps organizations enhance their sustainability roadmaps. So by participating in helping clean energy grids, you get to display environmental stewardship.

(3:35 – 4:00)
You get to participate in the driving of economic benefits, which it’s already been proven that community solar has generated over $2 billion in economic impact. And you also get to help clean local energy grids, therefore creating these good news stories. And lastly, you can make progress on your sustainability roadmap, like I said, without a CapEx investment and turn your energy footprint into an asset.

(4:01 – 4:43)
Because what community solar is actually doing is allowing you to enhance business sustainability by cutting costs on a one-time set it and forget it basis, where once you enroll and sign up, those bill credits are being generated to hit your utility account on a monthly basis when your project goes live, then you can easily track those savings, which again are either coming at a 5% or 10% discount of 90% of your total energy spent. So if you want to access community solar, and first you want to see potentially what your opportunity size is, meaning how much can you actually save, you can get started by booking a call, get a complimentary strategy session with our executive team. And we’ll walk you through exactly how this calculator works.

(4:44 – 4:53)
Thank you guys for tuning into this quick episode. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email at dmaloneatcommunitiesolarauthority.com. And I will catch you on the next episode.