When people pay their electric bill to an investor-owned utility such as Minnesota’s Xcel Energy, they are generating energy for themselves, but the profit and wealth accrues to the utility’s investors.

But now, customers have an opportunity to buy in.

Community solar programs are popping up rapidly across the country, offering electric customers an opportunity to own a slice of solar energy production. Most are utility-owned, and almost all limit customer benefits to energy credits on their electric bill. But some community solar models are going further, letting the customers themselves take ownership.

One such model is offered by Cooperative Energy Futures. It launched in Minneapolis in 2009 under the leadership of Timothy DenHerder-Thomas, offering members energy efficiency upgrades and renewable energy installations on their own property. Now, thanks in part to a 2013 state law, they’re offering members an opportunity to “own” a share of a community solar garden atop a North Minneapolis church.