Energy leaders and town administrators in Fort Collins, Colo. plan to approach lawmakers at the end of this months with a plan to implement the first solar feed-in-tariff program in the state.

Mike Freeman, the chief financial officer for the city of Fort Collin told a group gathered in Denver earlier this week to discuss what Colorado can learn from Ontario, Canada’s feed-in-tariff program about the plan.

The city of Fort Collins has its own publicly-owned utility company, Freeman said. And it has the lowest electricity rates in the state, which has some of the lowest utility rates in the country. Those low rates have made it difficult to get solar and wind installations established, Freeman said.

Because traditional power is so cheap, home and business owners don’t see enough incentive in cost savings on power, tax incentives and federal rebate programs.

“That low threshold makes it challenging,” Freeman said. “We have invested in traditional incentives like net-metering without a lot of success.”

Freeman said the community has done a lot of research and determined that a feed-in-tariff program for wind power would probably not pay off in the end. However, Fort Collins is in a good location for optimal power production through solar photovoltaic installations.

He said the proposed program would be paid for through a 1 percent increase in local utility rates, which would likely generate $1 million to be paid out in incentives to home and business owners who install solar.

Under the proposed program, Fort Collins would be 19 to 23 cents per kilowatt-hour to thos home and business owners that install grid-connected solar arrays. The payouts would be guaranteed under a 20-year fixed contract and would encourage investors to put their money into solar energy, spurring the green energy economy in Fort Collins.

Freeman said he and his team expect to take the proposed plan to lawmakers at the end of January.

The community has been talking about implementing a feed-in-tariff program for solar energy for some time now and there is broad support for it, Freeman said, If approved, Fort Collins’ program will be the first in the state.

“That will be the first major hurdle,” Freeman said. “We hope we will be able to initiate the program July 1.”