DH just hosted two young slick door-to-door salesmen in our front hall for 45 minutes. The young men allege that there is a state program (we are in CT) that will pay for us to put solar panels on our roof, and that then we will save gobs of $$$ over our current electric bills. They claims there is no cost to us but that we will save big-time.
I am a skeptic.
Has anyone done this? What can you tell me??
We paid for photovoltaic (PV) and a solar water heater on our house. We do save and now are only paying a nominal fee to remain connected to the grid.
I would be very cautious about any agreement allowing someone to install something on my roof for “free.” A company installed PV on the public library roof at a steep angle on elevated rails and the rails broke in high winds, leaving an expensive mess but fortunately not harming any people.
We asked friends and family members about their installation experiences and got several quotes and chose a company we felt would do a good job. We have no regrets and got a state and federal tax rebate for the solar and PV installations.
Of course we don’t have snow and have lots of sun so our issues are different from your climate. Due to the slope and orientation of our roof, the installation is at the back of the house and not visible from the streeet. It is also not blocked by neighbors.
We have 30 solar panels on our roof with the majority facing south and the rest facing west. We get a lot of sunshine year round and in the summer temps get as high as 110*. Our electric bills were very high in the summer esp since we heat our pool from time to time and run our a/c all day. Getting the panels have saved us money but we generate a lot of energy to cover our usage. Like HImom we also got a tax rebate. We lease the panels but the installation was free (we did this years ago before solar really took off). You should do a cost benefit analysis to see if it makes sense for you. Look at your electric bills over a two year period to see the trend of usage. Ask a lot of questions and research the company. Call their references and maybe talk to neighbors who have them.
We have 19 panels which face south. We bought them about 5 or 6 years ago. The upfront cost was a lot but my husband is a big believer and it will pay back in 10 plus years. He said he would be very skeptical of what the sales guys are telling you. In CT you aren’t going to get that good of production because of the sun’s slant.
We have 14 panels, installed in 2016. Apart from the first few hot months we have paid nothing for electric. The credit that we build up over the non A/C months pays for the hot months. We got city and federal rebates/tax credits, but it still cost a goodly chunk of money; supposedly it will pay for itself in 10 or so years and the system is good for 20+ years. We thought it a fitting memorial to my mother, and used the small inheritance from her to pay for it.
If you were interested in solar, you wouldn’t choose it based on some door knocker sales people. Due diligence re your state’s position is probably easy enough to do on the internet. If you are in a position to pay outright for something like this, you probably would already know it. Would you buy anything from a door to door salesman?
Nowadays up front paid up installation is getting very affordable. you just need to do the ROI. Is your house older? How is your roof? Is your weather really solar compatible?
Yes, if your roof is nearing replacement, do that before putting solar on it.
Agree, it can be advantageous financially to install solar, but you should do your own investigation on how well it will work for you based on your electricity use and rates, what your regulatory and tax environment is, and how much sunlight you get (high latitudes are less favorable) rather than buy from a door to door salesman.
Under the right circumstances, you will end up paying nothing for solar…because you will have lower bills that will cover the costs…eventually.
The company that sells you the panels is going to finance them with loans that will be taken in your name. They will get the energy credits and keep them. So you will sign an agreement to pay a standard monthly rate based on your usage for the duration of the contract which is typically 20 years.
So…your monthly bill will be for the standard utility connection, plus any electricity you use over the output of the array you buy.
There will be times when you won’t generate enough with your solar…and other times when you have a surplus…it balances out in the end. And it balances out over the YEAR.
Actually…really, you are taking a loan…after 20 years you will have paid for the panels and they will be yours.
You will STILL be paying something. But you will be paying less for your energy costs during the purchase time…that 20 year period…than if you bought directly from the grid.
That 20year lease of the solar panels stays with the house…and you cannot buy it out. It transfers to the next owners of your house. And this can be a good thing…because your new owner will know their electric bill for the duration of the remainder of the 20 years.
If you want to do this…you need to talk to the company…they will evaluate your house, the efficacy of solar installation, and whether this is really worth their while (you need to be able to get enough power via solar…or it isn’t worth it to the solar company). The two young folks can facilitate getting your site evaluation done.
If you are going to be in your house more than ten years…it’s worth considering.
ETA…it’s a Loan…and the more you put down…the less you will be paying per month.
You CAN buy the solar system outright…and own them from the get go…but that would cost $30,000 on average.
The reason most people do a loan…is because the company than assumes any maintenance issues.
You can buy outright and get a maintenance warranty in addition.
You need to do your own ROI analysis on this because the people who are giving you the figures are also trying to sell you something. They are not disinterested observers.
When you do your ROI, consider:
Rate of panel degredation. The output of the panels is not constant over time. They will not operate at 100% efficiency and then suddenly die in year 20, they will slowly degrade a bit each year. When we were doing this calculation, a consensus seemed to be that an optimistic estimate was 1% loss of function per year on a cumulative basis, with increasing loss of function years 10 or 15+
Local arrangement for buying back excess power produced. Unless you’re going to spend major $$$ and get battery backups, you’ll still need to be connected to the electric grid. In theory, you will “sell” the grid any excess power you produce and then buy from the electric company any power you need beyond what your panels produce. But… in most areas, the price of the electricity you buy is higher than the price at which you sell the electricity, so it’s not completely a net neutral transaction. Plus, there may be base fees for just being connected to the grid regardless of how much power you buy. This is where the “gotchas” start in many areas. You really need to understand how the buyback works in your area to know how much you’ll still be paying for electricity. You may find that although your panels produce 100% of the amount of electricity you use in a month, you still have a sizeable electric bill because you can’t store it and need to buy it from the electric company at higher prices.
What is the duration and quality of your sun exposure? We’re in Florida, so pretty sunny and there are still places where the exposure isn’t high quality (trees, obstructions).
How will you clean the panels? Any dust, bird droppings, leaves or debris on the panels impairs the output. This is a huge issue in coastal Florida where bird droppings mean that unless someone is spraying off the panels regularly, the output is hugely impacted.
When will you need a new roof? Putting on new roofing requires removing and replacing the panels - expensive. If your roof isn’t new or expected to be good for 15-20 years (the life of the panels), you’ll need to add in the extra expense of removing and replacing the panels when you re-roof to your cost estimate.
Realized I didn’t answer the original question. No, I don’t have solar panels on my house. My house will definitely need a new roof within 10 years and is what is politely described in coastal Florida as a “tear down” so does not make sense there. I did the ROI calc for putting them on our business as well, but decided against it. And my business building has just about the perfect solar situation - large, completely unobstructed South and Southwest facing roof in Florida.
Here’s why I decided against putting them on my business building.
Even with the large tax credit, my ROI calc indicated the payback period would be approximately 10 years and that’s assuming only 1% annual degredation, no repairs or re-roofing needed. That calc also assumed no extra cost for cleaning them, so assumed either I or an employee would be doing that (unappealing and potentially dangerous.) That’s an unacceptably long payback period even though it’s hugely optimistic, given that it’s highly unlikely absolutely nothing would need repairing, the panels would perform 100% as predicted and no money would be spent on maintenance.
From an emotional standpoint, I dislike the amount of money our government wastes on “feel good” incentives that are handouts to mostly wealthier people and don’t really help the environment in the ways people think they do. Solar panel manufacturing is an incredibly environmentally destructive process; in many cases, we’re not decreasing the environmental impact, we’re just shifting it to someone else’s backyard. Feels icky to me.
We paid about $12K for our 9 panel PV system and got 2/3 tax rebates so our net cost was about $4k. We will likely get it back in a few years from savings in electric bills which were about $100/mo. We did have our roofer evaluate that our roof has another decade or more of life before we put the PV on. It. We were told by the PV company that they could remove and re-install the PV on a new roof for $500. We have no regrets.
The PV installation companies all analyzed our electric bills and gave us quotes before we chose a company that was highly recommended by friends.
I would never choose a contractor by their ads or because they knocked on my door. Due diligence is highly recommended.
Of course, what changes there are to environmental impacts depends on what your grid electricity is generated from. Natural gas, coal, and uranium have their own environmental impacts in “someone else’s backyard” (in Hawaii, there is also oil used for electricity generation).
Our solar panels came with our (resale) house and were a requirement for us on any new home we built or purchased. We own these; they are not leased. We live in AZ where summer AC/electric bills were close to $500/month in our old non-solar house. Averaged annually, our monthly electric bill is about $70/month, a huge savings from our previous home. As others have posted above, do your own research and don’t fall for anything that just appears on your doorstep.
30K for solar panels on a house? That sounds about 2x to high
We used a reputable company in town. We asked all the people on our street and who we knew who they used and their experiences. We have had them for about 5 years without problems. They should pay for themselves in 8 years total.
That $30,000 cost I posted is for outright purchase…without ANY tax benefits or rebates. In CT…which is where the OP says she lives.
Absolutely…with some companies, loans, tax incentives, rebates, etc…the costs will be lower.
AND if you consider the electricity bill savings over the duration of the contract…typically 20 years…they can be a huge savings.
As @ChoatieMom pointed out in her example.
We have a house that is just about perfectly situated for solar on our back half of our roof. BUT…our current electric bill is about $80 a month. When we run our AC in the summer…not all that often…it gets to $120 or so…for maybe two months.
We crunched the numbers on solar panel installation…and really…it would be at LEAST ten years before they “paid for themselves”…probably longer.
We don’t think we will be living in this house in five years…so…for us…it was a NO.
H and I have thought about it and argued about for the past couple of years. I was against it because I don’t want to stay in our home forever and because I preferred to lease, while he wants to buy. Honestly, if I was going to stay in my home for 10 years or more, I would have done it, even the buying. I do think that it will increase the resale value of any home that has them. However, you have to be careful that you are dealing with a reputable company and to make sure about the quality of the panels, as they can vary.
The last quote we had was from Tesla, which apparently has a new technology that is supposed to make it even better. However, our monthly electric bill is about $230 and the cost for buying it wasn’t good enough to justify it for me and so we have put it on the back burner.
Tesla has their panels (former Solar City) on display at the showroom, and they are very slim and will look good on a roof. But we are holding out for the Tesla roof! Because Mr. B says he needs it. Hoping that our roof would live that long. The waitlist is 2 years in our state… after they begin installing in the state.
@BunsenBurner - I think the roof is what my H wants but our roof is only about 25 years old and I don’t want to replace it before we sell.
The price of installing PV in any home depends on the power needs that are to be met. We installed a mere 9 panels because we don’t use much power. My relatives all installed 4 or more x as many panels as we did because they use more power. The panels each have a cost, as does the inverters, installation, etc.
Because our system is the fewest panels due to our low power needs, it was cheaper than our relatives. The price of solar panels is going down and warranties on panels an inverters vary. The only way to know the price for your system is to get a few quotes. Good luck. It can be a great investment.