TO anyone struggling to pay the bills, installing a rooftop solar system to generate electricity from the sun might seem like a luxury only the rich can afford.

Not in Pleasanton, where the city has teamed up with a nonprofit organization that installs solar panels on the homes of families who might not otherwise be able to foot the bill.

Oakland-based GRID Alternatives, with $95,000 in city assistance, plans to equip

19 homes in Pleasanton with solar photovoltaic panels.

The solar systems, at a $15,000 each, will put a serious dent in the average homeowners electricity bill, and cost them just $3,000 to $4,000. Even that expense is covered by a loan that doesnt have to be repaid until the house is sold.

To qualify, residents must earn no more than 80 percent of the median income, or about $66,250 a year for a family of four.

This summer, Rachel Wilson, a

33-year-old single mother whos raising a son with a rare kidney disorder, became the programs first beneficiary.

In the three months since a 1.6-kilo-watt solar system was installed on the rooftop of Wilsons duplex, her PG&E bill has been slashed from more than $100 a month to less than $50, she said.

In the daytime, when the system generates more power than Wilson needs, it puts power back on the electrical grid, which is credited toward her bill. At night, she gets her electricity from the grid, just like her neighbors.

Wilson said the net savings on her utility bill makes it so I can pay another bill.

One way GRID Alternatives keeps costs down is by training volunteers to install solar systems, at no cost to the homeowner.

Hats off to GRID Alternatives -- they did a great job training people, said Bruce Leininger of EcoEnergies, the licensed contractor that oversaw the installation on Rachels home. Both the quality of people who want to get involved in a project like this and the training they get makes them a delight to work with.

Rebates from the California Energy Commission -- available to all residents, regardless of income -- and discounts from equipment suppliers are also part of the cost-cutting equation. Danville- based Cooperative Community Energy supplied the 10 panels and an electrical inverter installed on Rachels home at a bargain price.

Alameda County is also contributing to the program by backing low- interest loans for homeowners with deferred payments.

In the two years since it was founded, GRID Alternatives has worked on similar projects throughout the Bay Area, including Livermore, Concord and San Mateo County, said co-founder Erica Mackie. The company employs two full-time employees -- Mackie and co- founder Tim Sears -- and part-time Development Director Gillian Moxey.

GRID not only trains the volunteers who install the panels and arranges for their purchase, but handles the paperwork needed to get state rebates, building permits, and financing.

Councilman Matt Sullivan, an energy consultant whod worked with Mackie and Sears, suggested that the city work with GRID.

The program appealed to the city as a way to help keep less- affluent Pleasanton residents from being forced out by rising housing prices, said Mayor Jennifer Hosterman.

Wed love to be able to wave a magic wand and change the price of real estate in the city and state, Hosterman said. Lacking that ability, the mayor said, its important to find ways to maintain the citys economic diversity.

Wilson is a Pleasanton native who works as a loan agent. After graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara, she said, the only way she could have afforded to live in Pleasanton was as a renter.

But Wilson and her 11-year-old son, Auburn, were among the 56 low- income families who qualified to buy newly built affordable duplexes on the Bernal property, land south of Bernal Avenue where developers built 481 homes and a 100-unit apartment complex.

The subsidized duplexes like Wilsons were sold to low-income families at a bargain price: $199,000. On the open market, the homes next door to Wilsons are now selling for up to $1 million.

The duplexes were sold in three phases, and 700 to 900 people applied to buy the homes each time they came on the market. But the families who were lucky enough to buy one of the affordable duplexes on the Bernal property still have mortgage payments and all the other bills that come with home ownership -- including property taxes and water, gas and electricity bills.

Thats whats so great about this program, Leininger said. You can provide affordable housing, but if nothing is done about the energy costs, its not as cheap as it might seem.

Leininger said EcoEnergies has also worked on a Habitat for Humanity project in Livermore. But thanks to low interest rates, he said, solar systems can be money savers even for families that dont qualify for help from groups like GRID or Habitat for Humanity.

Like GRID, contractors like EcoEnergies and Cooperative Community Energy will help homeowners design a system, obtain rebates and handle other paperwork involved in going solar.