Solar

Dominic

DA
Staff member
It seems like many houses are adding solar to their house. Is it worth it now?
 
Depends. Recently the state of California with lots of lobbying from electric companies changed regulations regarding what the electric companies pay for excess power generated by residential customers. Prior to 2022 they were paying the same retail price as they were charging customers for power. Now they are buying your power at wholesale prices during the day and charging you retail at night.

If installing solar today a Battery to store excess power during the day would be necessary.

I installed a large solar panel system in 2013. Since then I have had zero electric bills even with 2 plug in hybrid vehicles. So no gasoline or electric bills. Solar has long ago paid for itself.
 
Depends. Recently the state of California with lots of lobbying from electric companies changed regulations regarding what the electric companies pay for excess power generated by residential customers. Prior to 2022 they were paying the same retail price as they were charging customers for power. Now they are buying your power at wholesale prices during the day and charging you retail at night.

If installing solar today a Battery to store excess power during the day would be necessary.

I installed a large solar panel system in 2013. Since then I have had zero electric bills even with 2 plug in hybrid vehicles. So no gasoline or electric bills. Solar has long ago paid for itself.
I would echo this in all regards. Installed a decent size array in 2015 and have not paid a power bill since. For a portion of that time the panels also changed a plug-in hybrid. Given what the CPUC has allowed to happen with rates (see post above) I'm putting a battery in soon as well. At that point we no longer need the power company outside of a few days a year. Even then the need will only be for a few hours.
 
But you will not have ownership of the system on your roof.

Do they put a lien on your house? I need a new roof and I have seen some offering free roof with a solar system. We have a modest-sized home and our electric bill is around $150-$200 a month. Not sure if solar is a good idea for us.
 
Do they put a lien on your house? I need a new roof and I have seen some offering free roof with a solar system. We have a modest-sized home and our electric bill is around $150-$200 a month. Not sure if solar is a good idea for us.
No lien... a lease. If they are going to install a new roof be sure to confirm.that they have a valid contractors license to install your roof or you could run into issues with your insurance company down the line.

We've had solar for about 6 years and love it.
 
Do they put a lien on your house? I need a new roof and I have seen some offering free roof with a solar system. We have a modest-sized home and our electric bill is around $150-$200 a month. Not sure if solar is a good idea for us.
If you use AC a lot then it's worth it. If it's mostly gas for the heater, then it's probably not worth it.
 
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