A couple of regular folks in San Francisco have started up a bargaining collective for anyone interested in installing a solar panel system for their home or office.  After the frustration of working to learn about the technology and the rebates and the net metering and more, they decided to make it easier and cheaper for other folks to go green.  They founded an small educational and collective bargaining organization,1BOG or 1 Block Off the Grid, and offered folks who choose to become members a solar panel system for about $6,000 (after rebates) rather than the $18,000 (not counting rebates) it would otherwise cost. 

The SF Chronicle has an article about the couple who started 1BOG, Sylvia Ventura and her husband, Dan Barahona, and about how it works.   "1BOG doesn't sell or install photovoltaic systems. In that way, it differs from installation firms that put together group solar-power purchasing plans, often at a discount, and then install the systems. 1BOG doesn't buy or install anything. Ventura calls it a 'consumer advocacy group for community-based purchasing of renewable energy solutions for residential use'."

Here's how it works:

• "1BOG invites people to become a member by signing up through its online registry. Joining 1BOG is free; members are under no obligation to buy a system and are forwarded to an installer only if they want to proceed.
• It requests data from its members: What is their electrical usage; how big a system do they require?
• It initiates a competitive bidding process to, as Ventura said in an e-mail, ensure the "best overall pricing, terms and services" for its members. "We negotiate pricing based on numbers of registrants," Ventura said in the e-mail. "The bigger the group, the larger the savings."
• Once 1BOG signs up a solar firm, it puts its members in touch with the solar installer. The installer then does an on-site evaluation of each home, and that's it. The work of 1BOG is done."

1BOG also has a 30-second YouTube that explains the reasoning of using their process.

Go neighborhood organizers!  Go rebates!  Of course, one advantage they have in San Francisco is that both the state and the city offer rebates for the installation of photovoltaic energy systems, in additional to the Feds.  I don't believe that is true here.  But it could be if we put the pressure on for it to happen.