Thinking seriously about having a system installed and have been doing some research for about a week now.

Are there tax credits and stuff for doing it?

I don't have it but did a marginal amount of research on it once.

Same here. Not cost-worthy at all. Payback time is too long and technology, while there, is not consumer friendly yet. have an acquaintance who has been building solar cars for years-and he agrees...

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/bill_gates.html ).

May be a little too enviro-left leaning for some but he still makes some great points and he is a pretty decent speaker.

🌫

Basically, you only generate volts during daylight. And you may not be home to use the volts. You don't worry about storage (not cost effective at all). Just let the sun create the power, and let the power turn your electric meter backwards.

Also, there are companies that might install the system for free.

You pay THEM for the electricity and at the end of the contract you own the stuff.

I'd be solar already, except:

1. I'm in New England. Too few sunny days.

2. The technology changes so fast.

3. Today's utility rebate may not be available tomorrow.

Here is where I am at now..........

System I am looking at will generate 1200 KW (Killowatts) of power per month (12 month average). My personal power usage for the past 24 months has been just under 1100 KW per month. System doesn't have any storage capacity. Edison (So. Cal Edison) comes out and replaces my meter with one that allows power to go both ways. I generate power each month and it goes back directly into the Edison power grid. Whatever I use comes out of the power grid. If there happens to be a brown-out or black out, it will still effect me cause I am still getting my power from Edison.

The difference is that I don't pay Edison anymore, enless I go over what I generate on a 12 month average. Based on all the power usage averages for my personal situation, if I had to pay anything at all, it would be small and charged at the Edison Tier 1 rate (which is the cheapest power rate they have).

My average monthly Edison bill (past 12 month average) is $175. Now, if I have the system installed, I no longer pay Edison (as per above) and only pay the solar company for the system ($138 per month). NO INSTALLATION FEES, NO UP FRONT FEES, NO BALOON PAYMENTS.

I would get a bit over $12,000 in Federal Tax credits and the State of California will sent me just over $2000.

It's making a lot of sense to me right now.

What happens if you stop paying 138/month? Can this amount go up? And as Drafter said, is this amount forever?

We are looking at a 15 year buy on one system and also looking at a 20 year lease on yet a different system. In each case, after it's done, you own the equipment. We like the idea of the lease as it has a buyout option after 7 years (just over 14K) but you can just continue to lease it if you want. There is some good stuff with the lease because other than damage from a tree falling on it or a plane dropping out of the sky, they pretty much take care of it and it's included. The buy option puts all the upkeep burden on us.

With the 15 year buy, the monthly is more and stays the same for the total 15 years. With the lease, the payment goes up 2.9% each year. At that rate, I would realize the same payment that I am giving to Edison now, at the 8 year mark. And as a side note, Edison has filed with the Public Utilities Commission (3 months ago) to increase their rates 40.3% over the next 3 years. Historically, Edison has seen approx. a 6% to 8% increase each year for the past 5 years (that's as far back as we researched).

If I kept either system to the end and I still wasn't using over what it generated, I would have no electric bill at all.

Yes, they have already shown me a contract for each. We haven't signed anything yet. Not paying is no different than not paying a car lease. They will come and get the stuff and charge you for "uninstallilng it" ......which just happens to be the outstanding balance of what you haven't paid on the agreement. 🤦 Go figure........

There's a ton of different solar panels out there, of all of varying degrees of efficiency. One of the things we liked about the lease deal was that for that money, we could get what is supposedly the most efficient panel in the world. We researched the panel and found that what they were telling us is indeed true. We didn't find a panel that even came close. It allowed us to go down to only 24 panels for the house instead of 28 to 34 with some of the other models and brands. If anyone is interested you can google "Sunpower". It's a silicon valley, California based company. Been in business 25 years.

How abot $600+ for Jul-Sept for a 2,700 sq. ft house (with a pool)?

This has been my biggest constraint to seriously considering it. I know I'm due for a re-roof in 3-5 years.

Why don't you wait until the re-roof is necessary and then have the roofer take the solar panels to be installed into consideration as to how the roof that gets re-roofed and what materials should be used?

I just don't see panels lasting 15-20 years. I also don't see the efficiency level of the panels remaining constant- I would expect that/them to decline over the years. Also, you will have "ancient" technology in 5-10 years?

Things to watch out for: 1) the contract in general; 2) whether the lease(s) require you to use your home as a secured interest such that there will be a lien on it until the leases are paid off; 3) who will be financing the leases? 4) Who will buy the leases and hold them as an investment; 5) what happens if the solar company breaches its agreement and /or goes out of business?

Also, how do you know you will be in that house long enough to fulfil the lease or reach a break-even point? What will the leases and equipment do with the saleability of your home, should you decide to sell it?...

I also wonder about the option to purchase v. lease. Are the lease payments tax deductible or tax credits? If you buy, what is the depreciation time frame?

You have to analyze this from the same perspective as an investment. That is: What are the risks? Whether you can take the hit if something goes wrong? What is the anticipated rate of return? etc., etc.

Again, because no one has address it yet, what is the estimated break-even time- in years, presuming all goes as promised?

(Just as an aside, my friend has black solar panels that he uses to heat his pool. Instead of mounting them on his roof, they are mounted in frames on the ground in his back yard...)

Robert,

Within the contract, it is clearly stated that if there is ANY roof leak due to the equipment and/or it's installation, it is covered and the company comes out and takes care of it. Further, I just put a new roof on my house in December. I am required by contract to take out additional homeowners' insurance for the amount of the system in the event a tree falls on it etc. That additional coverage is going to cost me $45 per year additional.

I have REALLY tried to cover all the "what if's" when looking at this. That's another reason why I posted it up on these boards. Trying to make sure I haven't forgotten something.

The technology has been around for quite some time. Getting the money to make sense for the consumer has always been the challenge (I understand). Now, with the incentives and pending utility costs skyrocketing, I think they have gotten it good enough to seriously look at.

Edit additon: The panels I am looking at are warrenteed for 25 years. The installation does not set the panels down on the roof. Rather, they are in a framework that sits about 4" above the surface. It was I big issue for me to know who does the install on the system. I didn't want some joe blow hired contractor that gets paid piece work to be up on my roof putting holes in it. The company that I am looking at has their own installers that are employees of the company. I got some references on the installation work and everyone I talked to said they were very professional, did a good job and they had no roof issues.