Anyone done solar?

[tvguy]

Did you buy or lease your system? Anything you like or dislike?

We are considering it.

We have an all electric house. Lowest electric bill in the past year was $89, highest was $389.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Are you refering to the commercial on the radio? If so have you looked up reviews on it? That may may be a good place to start. We no longer own, but I did manage to bring down the bill from almost 300 to 59.00 dollars.

I know we solar panels for a pool that did not work so well.

 

[tvguy]

Is that the ad that says don't lease a system? I had kind of forgotten about that.
My question was prompted by being at the home show today and there must have been 20 companies there that do solar. Some sell, some lease. That certainly is a question I need answered. My electric providers website just outlines it this way. If you lease, no upfront money, and no cost for any repairs, but no tax write off. If you buy, upfront money, and state law requires them to have a 10 year warranty, but after 10 years, you have to pay for repairs, and you get the tax write off.

But also interested in how people like or dislike their systems. Would they do it again?

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

Is that the ad that says don't lease a system? I had kind of forgotten about that.
My question was prompted by being at the home show today and there must have been 20 companies there that do solar. Some sell, some lease. That certainly is a question I need answered. My electric providers website just outlines it this way. If you lease, no upfront money, and no cost for any repairs, but no tax write off. If you buy, upfront money, and state law requires them to have a 10 year warranty, but after 10 years, you have to pay for repairs, and you get the tax write off.

But also interested in how people like or dislike their systems. Would they do it again?

Off topic (we only own pool solar), how did you like the home show? We were thinking of going tomorrow.

 

[tvguy]

Off topic (we only own pool solar), how did you like the home show? We were thinking of going tomorrow.

If you need anything for your home or yard, they have it. There have taken up every building at Cal Expo. Mind you, we did a complete top to bottom interior remodel last year, but I walked out with a new BBQ Grill, and appointments for a new burglar alarm, exterior painting and a consult on solar.

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

If you need anything for your home or yard, they have it. There have taken up every building at Cal Expo. Mind you, we did a complete top to bottom interior remodel last year, but I walked out with a new BBQ Grill, and appointments for a new burglar alarm, exterior painting and a consult on solar.

Sounds good...as long as I can keep hubby away from the grills.

 

[tvguy]

Sounds good...as long as I can keep hubby away from the grills.

Grill was actually a Christmas gift to my wife. Gave her a "certificate" for one because I gave up trying to guess which one she would like. Been looking for one she likes for the past month. We walked by the California Backyard booth, she found exactly what she wanted, we bought if on the spot. They will deliver and haul away the old one for free.

I did all the cooking for 20 years while the kids were growing up. Now that the kids are adults, my wife has banished me from the kitchen and the bbq.

 

[Sadie22]

We know someone who purchased solar panels when they were able to get tax credits in their state. They were told that excess electricity generated could be sold to a utility. Now the utilities are not paying as much for the electricity as they apparently were at the time or there is a limit of some sort on the payments (I don't remember exactly what the deal was), so our friends and their neighbors who bought into the same idea are not making as much profit as they expected.

 

[CAFarmerGirl]

Grill was actually a Christmas gift to my wife. Gave her a "certificate" for one because I gave up trying to guess which one she would like. Been looking for one she likes for the past month. We walked by the California Backyard booth, she found exactly what she wanted, we bought if on the spot. They will deliver and haul away the old one for free.

I did all the cooking for 20 years while the kids were growing up. Now that the kids are adults, my wife has banished me from the kitchen and the bbq.

My kids refuse to eat any meat if I cook it! Can't say I blame them...no one likes to eat shoe leather. I will say, it is nice to have a hubby that can cook (mine can also cook more than meat). I bet he wishes I could bbq!

 

[tvguy]

My kids refuse to eat any meat if I cook it! Can't say I blame them...no one likes to eat shoe leather. I will say, it is nice to have a hubby that can cook (mine can also cook more than meat). I bet he wishes I could bbq!

Well, to be honest, my cookbook leaned heavily to this:

1) Meat. Beef, pork, chicken or fish.

2) Topped with a can of soup. French Onion, Cream of Mushroom, Cheddar Cheese.

3) Side dish. Rice, potatoes, stuffing or pasta

4) Vegetable, Corn, peas, green beans, squash.

Poof. Dinner.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We know someone who purchased solar panels when they were able to get tax credits in their state. They were told that excess electricity generated could be sold to a utility. Now the utilities are not paying as much for the electricity as they apparently were at the time or there is a limit of some sort on the payments (I don't remember exactly what the deal was), so our friends and their neighbors who bought into the same idea are not making as much profit as they expected.

My boss had this same experience. It cut down their electric bill a lot but they also shelled out around $30-40k to have them installed. Back then NJ was offering a much higher tax break also.

We had a salesman offered us a lease program last summer. Even after them doing some kind of sunlight evaluation showing the max efficiency of our roof, it would only knock approx. $60/month off our electric bill. We don't have a large yard (approx. 1/4 acre) and our neighbors on all 3 sides have a lot of tall mature trees. They offered us $0 output for us for installation and maintenance but we had to buy our electricity from them with a 20 year obligation. They would get to keep any current or future tax incentives.

Their current per kwh price was lower than our electric company's current price but that 20 year commitment was the biggest factor that steered us away. Even if we wanted to sell our home in 10 years, the new owner would have to be willing to accept the same commitment. Our kids are in HS and we don't have plans to move soon but a lot can change in 20 years.

We have natural gas for our water heater & furnace so except for July & August, electric is less than half our bill to begin with. Due to the position of our home, the panels would have to be on the front part of our home. It's a rancher so the roof is more visible than say a home that is 2 or 3 stories. Maybe if we had acres of land and could dedicate an area of our property to solar panels I'd feel differently. We just had a new roof installed 1.5 years ago that was approx. $8k so we're a bit leery of drilling into it.

This might work for others with a different situation than ours but it wasn't for us.

 

[tvguy]

My boss had this same experience. It cut down their electric bill a lot but they also shelled out around $30-40k to have them installed. Back then NJ was offering a much higher tax break also.

We had a salesman offered us a lease program last summer. Even after them doing some kind of sunlight evaluation showing the max efficiency of our roof, it would only knock approx. $60/month off our electric bill. We don't have a large yard (approx. 1/4 acre) and our neighbors on all 3 sides have a lot of tall mature trees. They offered us $0 output for us for installation and maintenance but we had to buy our electricity from them with a 20 year obligation. They would get to keep any current or future tax incentives.

Their current per kwh price was lower than our electric company's current price but that 20 year commitment was the biggest factor that steered us away. Even if we wanted to sell our home in 10 years, the new owner would have to be willing to accept the same commitment. Our kids are in HS and we don't have plans to move soon but a lot can change in 20 years.

We have natural gas for our water heater & furnace so except for July & August, electric is less than half our bill to begin with. Due to the position of our home, the panels would have to be on the front part of our home. It's a rancher so the roof is more visible than say a home that is 2 or 3 stories. Maybe if we had acres of land and could dedicate an area of our property to solar panels I'd feel differently. We just had a new roof installed 1.5 years ago that was approx. $8k so we're a bit leery of drilling into it.

This might work for others with a different situation than ours but it wasn't for us.

It is sooo darn complicated. The companies that lease systems aren't in solar as their primary business.....they are packaging your solar installation as an investment for people who need the tax credits. But there is just enough benefit to the homeowner that it is worthy of consideration.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

My kids refuse to eat any meat if I cook it! Can't say I blame them...no one likes to eat shoe leather. I will say, it is nice to have a hubby that can cook (mine can also cook more than meat). I bet he wishes I could bbq!

Dh & I were both traumatized as children by our mothers' pork chops. He has since learned how to make them so much better but for many years of our marriage, we avoided pork chops completely. It took us a long time to heal those scars.

It is sooo darn complicated. The companies that lease systems aren't in solar as their primary business.....they are packaging your solar installation as an investment for people who need the tax credits. But there is just enough benefit to the homeowner that it is worthy of consideration.

It's a hard decision. Part of me felt like it's the right thing to do environmentally and why be so vain about how our roof looks, but it was that 20 year commitment that was the scariest part. Perhaps if this had been presented to us when we first bought our house (I was overdue pregnant with ds18) I'd feel differently.
Also at the beginning of this recession there were companies that have been around over 100 years that went out of business. All they could say to reassure me was, "Don't worry. We are growing so much so quickly there's no way we're going out of business." Yeah, ok.

What really had me steamed was that the salesman, maybe 25 years old and most likely never owned a home or paid for a roof replacement, wanted us to sign the actual contract just so they could do the testing that shows how much sunlight our roof receives throughout the day. Say what??!! Sign the contract??!!!!
He said it's "not really" signing that we agree to accept the panels but they just need that to say we're giving permission for them to go up on our roof. Of course that's not what the contract actually stated. There was no way on earth I'd sign that and if he couldn't do the test without it, then no test will be done. Funny how they were able to do the test without the contract being signed. I told him he should make a contract that simply states, "I give permission for ______ to go on my roof for the sunlight test."
But really, it was a 4 page contract that was us agreeing to everything.
I was born at night, but not last night. I was almost trembling and ready to throw him out of my house but somehow found a way to calm down.
After that incident I lost all trust in him and the company and it would have taken something like 100% free electricity for life to make me even consider it.

 

[amcnj]

Like was mentioned previously, the way it is done around here has changed over the years. Initially you bought the system, got tax credits and were able to sell some sort of pollution credit back to companies that needed to buy them to counter their own polluting activities. (I may be off on this description but that was how it was explained to me back then!) Then the market for those credits fell, so solar wasn't as financially viable. So in the last couple years the way they are doing it is to "give" you the system and you sign a contract to buy electricity from them for 20 years. So basically you are buying the system on time I guess, with the company getting any credits and tax incentives. Several neighbors have them and say the rate they are obligated to pay is still less than the local provider's rate. They have had these "leased " systems a year or less so I don't have any long-term info on how it works out.

There are others in my neighborhood who have had the purchased systems for a number of years now. Supposedly if you got in on those early when the pollution credits had more value, then you did OK.

 

[AquaDame]

We looked into it a year or two ago. They spelled out the purchase vs. lease options but even with only one large tree in our backyard our .19 acres just wouldn't put out enough sunlight to do more than break even with our winters. Add in the possible damage to the roof, questions of who wants to buy a house with old panels on it (or take over the lease) and there was just no way it would work for us.

 

[abolanwoski]

We are in CO and are at the installation stage of a purchased system. We had consults with both leasing (Solar City) and buying (Namaste').

We are going with purchase because the system will likely outlast the loan life (12 years) and then we will be on free power for the forseeable future. Also, we will not have any change in price if we "overproduce" on a purchased system, with some types of leases, you have to pay for power you produce (and use) beyond the expected amount.

The downside is the upfront cost. One third is financed same as cash for 12-18 mos with the expectation that you will pay it off with the federal solar tax credit. The remaining amount is financed at 1.9% over twelve years. In our case, that monthly payment comes in just under what we pay for a month of electricity right now, so it's pretty clearly a win. After 12 years, we will have no monthly cost for electricity unless we under produce or overuse.

For any power we produce that we don't use, it gets "banked" so if we go over use our system, we can draw it back from the power company free of charge. If that bank gets crazy big, we can sell the extra wattage back to Xcel but its about 1/3 the value of buying from them (they pay us 4 cents, vs us paying them 12 cents) This allows us to bank during the low use season (winter) and then take it back during A/C season without having to pay the 12 cents.

HTH

 

[BunsenH]

We have a 5K PV Solar array on the roof of our new house. It went on line in October 2013. Production was slow at first due to our nasty winter. In March, the sun kicked in and our electric bill was $14. For April-Sept., our bills were credits for the excess electricity we produced. Our utility buys the excess at the same kWh rate they sell at. We just passed the 6kWh mark for total production

The purchase price of the system was about $18K. A 30% federal tax credit can be carried forward if not used completely. The state of Mass rebated $1K(?). For each 1 kWh generated, a SREC credit is earned that can be sold for $250-$300 (estimated 4-5/year). Payback was estimated to be around 6 years. In 15 months, we've recouped about 15%. Once we use the remainder of our fed tax credits, we will be at about 48% paid back.

I'ts working out very well for us. However, tax credits, state rebates, production credits, local utility rules, installation issues on an existing house, etc. all need to factored into the decision.

 

[luckyman_apd]

We are currently in the process of a solar purchase. Have not made a decision yet. Still need to research a view things. You can do the following....

1) outright cash purchase. You pay the upfront cost if you have the money on hand. You get a 30% tax credit on your taxes...That's dollar for dollar back...as long as you paid that much in taxes, and if not you can carry over the extra one year. Our cost is about 25K for a 6k PV system. After the tax break I'm looking at about $18,200. On top of that you get SRECs.....Solar Renewable Energy Credits....that you can sell. Every time you produce 1k kw you get an SREC. you can save them up for a period of a year before you sell I think...and the value goes up and down. They have been fluctuating between 100 and 200 bucks per SREC in my state....and thats a big swing. So...it's market based and you want to try to sell when high. But you only get them for 10 years I think. Solar City offers an SREC buyout where they give you $3,000 up front for them and they get all your future SREC....not sure about other companies.

2) Finance purchase. You basically put $0 down and then pay back a loan for the part of the purchase NOT covered by tax rebate.....and that comes by paying for the power you produce at a reduced rate from the electric company. So basically for me, It's a $25,000 system but I'm getting a loan for 18,200. The tax return portion is also "loaned" to me...but I pay a really reduced rate on the power for that portion until I get the money back to pay them.

3) Solar lease. Basically you pay nothing for the panels or install. Instead of paying the power company, you pay the solar company for the power they produce for you. Basically you are trading one power source for another. If your panels don't cover your needs, you pay the utility the difference.

I know some who are saving money with the lease...but for me it's about $20 a month...not worth it for a 20 year commitment. It's buy or nothing for me. We don't use a lot of electricity for our size home. We are under the average use for a house our size. I'm looking at a 14 year payoff under the purchase...and that's a cash purchase. So it will take 14 years to break even. Faster if electricity rates go up what they say they will (but do your research to see if you electricity rates really have increased the way they say they have.) Our local rates have not moved much over the last several years. I also did not include SRECs in the break even either. Those are extras and the market could rise or drop at any time. Just consider that gravy.

 

[cmrdgrs]

I live in AZ and have considered solar for our house many times. I don't like the idea of a lease personally, because if I want to sell my house, the next buyer has to agree to take on the lease. My other concern is changing technology. The entire reason tax credits are going down is becasue the cost to produce the panels is decreasing and the efficiency is increasing. Electric companies are compensating less because the panels work better and better every year. With improvements in technology is happening so fast, what happens if what is buy today is completely obsolete in say just 10 years and I could save more money in a different way? If I lease I'm stuck with what I signed. This is a big negative to me.

If I were going to add solar to my house, I would only go with a straight purchase. I don't want to be indebted to some company for 20-30 years on a solar lease. FWIW those have been the thoughts DH and I have considered.

 

[StarCruiser]

We have solar. We did an up front lease for a few 13 kWatt system. Works well for us. The lease was cheaper and we should break even in 7 years.