Solar Power - I converted!

[Tinkerbellie16]

About a year ago, my DH suggested we look into solar power. I'm not one to 'waste' things but I'm also not out to recycle and reuse everything under the sun so it wasn't something that I particularly had a yearning to do. But DH is a contractor and has been looking into this for some time. Well, we met with some companies and all I could think was, "What's the catch?" I certainly wasn't going to fork over $40k for a system - even with the tax credits. I said no. DH kept looking into it and after months of research and discussions, I realized I had no valid arguments - this really is a good thing.

Here's the good:

No installation fee and no up front cost. In fact, we got a bonus for signing.

We pay a set $48 per month for our solar lease for the next 20 years - no increase. We generate more solar in the summer than the winter so those 'credits' are stored for our use - anything additional gets paid back (to the leasing company though since we don't own the system). After 20 years, they either take down the solar or most likely, they just give us the system. We still pay our gas through the electric company and some small fees - it adds up to $25 per month. So we will pay $75 per month instead of $120 to $250 (that was our monthly range - highest bills being for full a/c and full heat with guests over holidays) - and no more electricity cost increases!!!!

Any damage (that is not intentional or caused by us) to the solar panels is fixed/replaced at the cost of the leasing company.

Any referrals to future solar clients will give us and the other people signing up $250 each.

Here's the catch:

We live in a sunny state so we can generate a lot of solar.

We have a ranch house with a strong covered deck which provided us with a lot of space for panels. Smaller roofs mean less panels and less solar energy. For instance, our neighbors that have a 2-story house got solar but are only generating 50% of their needed electricity. Now you can put solar panels on the ground (as long as the city approves) - but you have to be willing to give up that yard space.

We had to cut down a nice tree because it was shading the spot where we would need to put panels.

Overall:



I am so happy we did this! Not only are we using 'clean' energy, we are able to produce more energy than we consume and give back that 'clean' energy for others to use. I even have a cool app on my phone that shows how much energy we are producing each day (and a website where we can see lots of detailed information). I am over the MOON about the cheaper bill and am still amazed that we will never have a price increase (the $48 per month is set for 20 years). Over the course of a year, we will save about $1500 and we have already received some referral money.

So if you are even thinking about solar, go for it! At least meet with a few companies to find out the details. I am so glad we did it

 

[TiggerTails57]

About a year ago, my DH suggested we look into solar power. I'm not one to 'waste' things but I'm also not out to recycle and reuse everything under the sun so it wasn't something that I particularly had a yearning to do. But DH is a contractor and has been looking into this for some time. Well, we met with some companies and all I could think was, "What's the catch?" I certainly wasn't going to fork over $40k for a system - even with the tax credits. I said no. DH kept looking into it and after months of research and discussions, I realized I had no valid arguments - this really is a good thing.

Here's the good:

No installation fee and no up front cost. In fact, we got a bonus for signing.

We pay a set $48 per month for our solar lease for the next 20 years - no increase. We generate more solar in the summer than the winter so those 'credits' are stored for our use - anything additional gets paid back (to the leasing company though since we don't own the system). After 20 years, they either take down the solar or most likely, they just give us the system. We still pay our gas through the electric company and some small fees - it adds up to $25 per month. So we will pay $75 per month instead of $120 to $250 (that was our monthly range - highest bills being for full a/c and full heat with guests over holidays) - and no more electricity cost increases!!!!

Any damage (that is not intentional or caused by us) to the solar panels is fixed/replaced at the cost of the leasing company.

Any referrals to future solar clients will give us and the other people signing up $250 each.

Here's the catch:

We live in a sunny state so we can generate a lot of solar.

We have a ranch house with a strong covered deck which provided us with a lot of space for panels. Smaller roofs mean less panels and less solar energy. For instance, our neighbors that have a 2-story house got solar but are only generating 50% of their needed electricity. Now you can put solar panels on the ground (as long as the city approves) - but you have to be willing to give up that yard space.

We had to cut down a nice tree because it was shading the spot where we would need to put panels.

Overall:



I am so happy we did this! Not only are we using 'clean' energy, we are able to produce more energy than we consume and give back that 'clean' energy for others to use. I even have a cool app on my phone that shows how much energy we are producing each day (and a website where we can see lots of detailed information). I am over the MOON about the cheaper bill and am still amazed that we will never have a price increase (the $48 per month is set for 20 years). Over the course of a year, we will save about $1500 and we have already received some referral money.

So if you are even thinking about solar, go for it! At least meet with a few companies to find out the details. I am so glad we did it

Sounds good.......I have been thinking about this for a while.
Keep us posted on your savings

 

[pixiewings71]

Our scenario was very different. We wouldn't have generated the power we needed to cover our electricity costs (we have 2 saltwater fish tanks and a terrarium) and the solar company wouldn't replace any damaged panels unless we paid for it. It would have been almost $100 per month but we still would have been paying our electric bill so there would have been no savings. We would have had to ask our neighbors to cut down their trees because they would be blocking our sun needed to generate power. Even though it would have been free install it still would not have been worth it.
I'm glad you got a better deal then we were offered!

 

[wishing4PA]

So glad it worked out for you!
I would consider that, once we move to our permanent home (after 8 years, I'm still hoping we can move away from here before DD8's childhood ends!)
But fyi, for those considering it now, your options may be limited by more than your space and weather. A school nearby us was offered a free system from an out of state company. They were excited about it and all set to go (it might have even been partially assembled, I forget), when they got told to stop because the local electric company has the legal right to be the only provider of electricity where they are. Apparently if they produce their own power, that makes them a utility or something.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Our scenario was very different. We wouldn't have generated the power we needed to cover our electricity costs (we have 2 saltwater fish tanks and a terrarium) and the solar company wouldn't replace any damaged panels unless we paid for it. It would have been almost $100 per month but we still would have been paying our electric bill so there would have been no savings. We would have had to ask our neighbors to cut down their trees because they would be blocking our sun needed to generate power. Even though it would have been free install it still would not have been worth it.
I'm glad you got a better deal then we were offered!

Yes, there are definitely conditions that will affect a family's savings. We were lucky that my DH had installed a covered pergola (industrial strength) to our back deck - that along with the roof provided a lot of area for panels. And they do a lot of research into your past usage to see what they can generate (and with different configurations and panels). And we did have to cut down one of our trees - it was big and old but it was also diseased a bit. I was not happy to cut it down but it would have been done within 5 years due to its declining health.

I think in our area (city and state), we have a lot of solar companies and our climate and government is conducive to using solar. Our city government has had solar for years, even our biggest state airport has it.

So glad it worked out for you!
I would consider that, once we move to our permanent home (after 8 years, I'm still hoping we can move away from here before DD8's childhood ends!)
But fyi, for those considering it now, your options may be limited by more than your space and weather. A school nearby us was offered a free system from an out of state company. They were excited about it and all set to go (it might have even been partially assembled, I forget), when they got told to stop because the local electric company has the legal right to be the only provider of electricity where they are. Apparently if they produce their own power, that makes them a utility or something.

Good point on the permanent home. That would be another 'catch' (sort of). If you lease the system, you would need to 'sell' it if you sold your house and that adds an additional layer of complexity to selling a home. For us, we are sticking with our house. I have no plans to move out - ever. And at the least, we will stay in it until the kids graduate high school (another 10 years) but even then, I don't foresee us moving.

The solar companies we met with worked with the electric company and facilitated all of the document signing between us and the electric company so we did not have any issues with installation and use. We did use an in-state solar company but they do business in other states. We also used a company that provided solar for our city so we knew it would be legit!

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Sounds good.......I have been thinking about this for a while.
Keep us posted on your savings

They installed it in the spring - that way, you have a lot of credits built up during the first summer to use in the winter. We signed at the end of last year but we purposely timed it to be installed in the spring for that reason (and so our usage was 'higher' in the winter months before installation - they can put a system on that generates 120% of your past energy usage but no more. The electric company doesn't want to pay too much money back to them! But they pay for that 20%. If you owned the system, you would get paid for it.)

So we are in our sixth month and it's great! The savings are fabulous!

 

[Muushka]

Can you give a website for this sort of thing? Thanks!

 

[Jeff_G]

So we will pay $75 per month instead of $120 to $250 (that was our monthly range - highest bills being for full a/c and full heat with guests over holidays) - and no more electricity cost increases!!!!

Would you care to share what you average monthly summer and winter electricity (no gas water) bill is and was before and after solar?

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Can you give a website for this sort of thing? Thanks!

Absolutely! The final two companies we choose between were Lighthouse solar at http://www.lighthousesolar.com/ and Namaste Solar at http://www.namastesolar.com/. We found both companies to be stellar and knowledgeable but we chose Namaste since they were able to offer us better solar panels at an affordable lease price. The solar panels we have installed are by Sun Power and that is the app I have on my phone that shows us all the energy we generate. You can find information on their panels at http://us.sunpowercorp.com/.

 

[JoiseyMom]

Can you give a website for this sort of thing? Thanks!

We are doing it in NJ, but here they won't let you generate more solar then you use. You need to google solar in your state. My DH investigated for about 2 years, and spoke to at least 10 companies. They are all different and not equal in any way. Be careful of who you go with.

We just did the paper work, and they won't start the install until November. We have huge electric bills, so for us to save anything is a win win .

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Would you care to share what you average monthly summer and winter electricity (no gas water) bill is and was before and after solar?

We have not had a winter month yet but the bottom line is we only pay $48 per month for electricity for the next 20 years. That is only if we do not use more than 120% of last years electricity because our system was only built to generate up to 120%. If the system is built to generate more, the energy company doesn't like to pay all that extra money out But we feel comfortable that we will not be consuming more energy (that is, we have no big energy consumers we would add to the house like a pool and pool heater or something like that).

So for the lowest spring month, we saved $45. For the peak of summer month, we saved $175.

If it helps, we have a ranch house with a finished basement with 1900 sf upstairs and 1300 sf downstairs that is finished. We have 2 adults and 2 kids consuming electricity and we have always been good about keeping things turned off and unplugged when not in use. None of us stays at home for work or school so generally we are away during the day but not always since I work from home a day or two a week and then we are home on weekends all day. We set our a/c at 76 when we are not at home and 73 when we are and our heat at 63 when we are not at home and 68 when we are and during the spring/fall months, we use fans or sweatshirts if needed. From what I hear from other people around us with similar houses and families, we consume less electricity in general. I don't know if that means we would have saved more if we consumed more electricity but again, the system you install has to be able to produce the power and that may or may not happen given the items I talked about before (large enough surface, enough sun shine, etc.)

And bonus - clean energy!!!

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

We are doing it in NJ, but here they won't let you generate more solar then you use. You need to google solar in your state. My DH investigated for about 2 years, and spoke to at least 10 companies. They are all different and not equal in any way. Be careful of who you go with.

We just did the paper work, and they won't start the install until November. We have huge electric bills, so for us to save anything is a win win .

You make a good point about different states. We have Xcel Energy here in Colorado and a lot of this depends on what the energy company will (or must) do. Luckily, we have the federal government's initiatives on clean energy helping us consumers out with the big bad electric companies! Not sure if the tax credits are still in place though - Obama extended it from 2010 to 2011 (to be installed by 2014 or something like that) but not sure if it got extended to this year or if the credits are smaller or bigger. That helps tremendously when getting a good deal from the leasing companies!

 

[Muushka]

You make a good point about different states. We have Xcel Energy here in Colorado and a lot of this depends on what the energy company will (or must) do. Luckily, we have the federal government's initiatives on clean energy helping us consumers out with the big bad electric companies! Not sure if the tax credits are still in place though - Obama extended it from 2010 to 2011 (to be installed by 2014 or something like that) but not sure if it got extended to this year or if the credits are smaller or bigger. That helps tremendously when getting a good deal from the leasing companies!

Thank you. We have a house with a huge roof that gets unobstructed sun all day long.
I look at it and think, 'you should be doing something with all that sun!'

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

We recently went solar and just got our first $0 electric bill!

Our neighborhood has totally gone solar. Our house is perfectly facing north (panels hidden on the back), land used to be a meadow so no obstructions and our site survey came in at 98%, I think you need to be 85% to qualify or rebates and incentives.

We paid upfront for the lease, but we get to keep the SREC's (solar renewable energy certificates) so this will be a revenue stream for us. Break-even is about 4 years or us. We are also generating more power than we need, so we are selling some power to a neighbor through a meter sharing program.

Mass also has a law that the town can not include panels when determining the value of a home, they can do this if the house is sold with a new owner.

 

[ilovemk76]

Sola panels lose efficiency and each year generate less electricity. The OPs panel generate 120% brand new but will generate way less in 10 years. The company only has the deal for 20 years because they know how inefficient they will be by then.

We have researched it and until the panels have a better life we will not install them.

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

We recently went solar and just got our first $0 electric bill!

Our neighborhood has totally gone solar. Our house is perfectly facing north (panels hidden on the back), land used to be a meadow so no obstructions and our site survey came in at 98%, I think you need to be 85% to qualify or rebates and incentives.

We paid upfront for the lease, but we get to keep the SREC's (solar renewable energy certificates) so this will be a revenue stream for us. Break-even is about 4 years or us. We are also generating more power than we need, so we are selling some power to a neighbor through a meter sharing program.

Mass also has a law that the town can not include panels when determining the value of a home, they can do this if the house is sold with a new owner.

I am not sure about Colorado but I never thought about whether solar would increase the value of the home. I'm going to check on that, thanks for posting about that!

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Sola panels lose efficiency and each year generate less electricity. The OPs panel generate 120% brand new but will generate way less in 10 years. The company only has the deal for 20 years because they know how inefficient they will be by then.

We have researched it and until the panels have a better life we will not install them.

Good point as well. That is why it is important to choose the right solar panel - some are more efficient than others. Our panels will give about 120% for the first 7 or so years and then they will decline. By 20 years, they estimate that they will generate 80%. The first solar panels from the 1950s are still generating power! But yes, at the end of 20 years, the output declines and the technology improves and that is why they usually just give you the system.

But even a 'worse case' scenario will give us huge savings over the course of 20 years. And best case scenario is that we have even bigger savings.

It's also important to keep in mind that a good company will give you all the details, including the 'anticipated' output and savings for the next 20 years. And a good company has certain guarantees.

I am so happy about our decision though that I had to share with my fellow DISers on the budget board

 

[tink_n_pooh]

I realized solar isn't a good option for us because it would take much longer than the panels will even last to recoup our costs or break even. There are also a lot of local regulations on the use of the panels