Solar Panels

Solar panel fees vary across cities

On a day when the power of the sun was all too evident, a survey of city permit fees showed that the cost of harnessing that energy can vary widely depending on where you live.

In Walnut Creek, for example, a homeowner can get permits and inspections for an average solar panel for $65. Down the road in Danville, the same job would cost about $850, according to the survey by the San Francisco Bay chapter of the Sierra Club.

In Pittsburg, one would pay $250. Next door in Antioch: $690.

And a Pleasanton resident would pay $250. The cost in neighboring Dublin: $740.

From a low of $3 for solar permits in Mill Valley to a high of $1,100 in San Leandro, the survey of solar permitting fees in four Bay Area counties found big discrepancies for essentially the same work and in spite of state laws that appear ...