So I was at HD today and as I'm walking in i was greeted by a rep for one of the solar energy companies (I want to say Solar City, but I don't think that's it); she asked me if i was interested in getting a free estimate on solar energy for my home. From the gist of the brief conversation I learned that energy cost will be lower than what we pay now, however the contract is for 20 years. I have a problem with being tied down to 2o years. Has anyone taken "advantage" of solar lease or does anyone have a PV system? I recall years ago we looked into PV and the quotes were between 15 and 20k before tax incentives and rebates. We weren't ready to part with that kind of money then nor now, but leasing seems to make sense, except for the 20 year contract.
I was intrigued, and after a few minutes of googling, I found this: http://solarleasedisadvantages.com/
That much of it even with the rather short winter days that I think you get? Or are you putting excess power onto the grid in the summer and banking the credits for the winter?
i had one of them reps come to my house for a "free energy audit" and to talk about installing solar and even a new roof as well. after wasting two hours of my day i finally kicked him out when he refused to let me think about thier offer for a few days and said his offer is void if i didnt sign on the spot. take a hike! i tihnk PVs still need to come down in price. to do it myself i am looking at 13-15 year payback with my projected electric rate and thier end of life is about 20 years. too much up front cost. i want to build a solar pre-heater for DHW that i can use at least half of the year. once i get the roof done...
My electric bill, for my modest 1600sq ft New England Chalet in northern Mass just jumpedfrom $153 for the month of November 2014 to $245 for the month of December. We did increase our usage from about 825kWh to 875kWh that month, but most of it is just a 40% rate hike. I'm told this is due to the increase in natural gas usage driving up demand for NG which is where most of the power is generated from. Also contributing is the shutdown of Yankee nucleur in VT and Seabrook in NH. Ts adds up to a cost of $.27 cents per watt hour, A quite expensive rate. Unitil Gas and Electric out of NH. So.... I've started to look into Solar, both the lease vs buy. At first I thought the buy was the better option: 30% tax credit up to $10K, and $1000 Mass Tax credit, and $1250 Mass rebate check. Plus a SREC (solar renewable energy certificate) at about $160 slightly above per month. ($480 per quarter) Where the lease is a straight lease, nothing out of pocket, a electric charge of approximately 1/2 the current rate, locked for 20 years, and no tax benefits or srecs, the leasing company gets all that. Still, the time value of money, if I invest $35K I think I can get a much better roi and break even point than this investment. (?) Anyone else considering this? Got a favorite vendor you can share? Any other items of interest? Steve
I know two guys who started a solar business. Their entire business model was based upon leasing the system to homeowners, but they got to take the tax credits. They are so blunt about it being a tax play it's disgusting. Now, I am not suggesting in any way that solar is not a neat concept and there are not feasible lease and purchase options out there. I dream of of owning a solar system that sits on top of a metal roof with ten inches of spray foam in the attic, and huge batteries sitting in an out building.
Perhaps they are blunt about it, because it is the benefit that is allowing them to install, and maintain a homeowners entire solar system, make a profit and still be able to sell the power to the home owner for 1/2 of what their curent energy bill is, at least in my state, where SERCs are currently selling for about $270 per certificate. For the average home that's equivalent to getting $270 incoming per month, regardless of the one time $10K or other smaller rebates and incentives at the state level. http://www.dsireusa.org/incentives/incentive.cfm?Incentive_Code=MA136F&re=0&ee=0 Looking at it from a consumers point of view, regardless of lease or buy, it wouldn't make sense without the tax incentives. But the tax incentives are needed if we are to decrease our total dependence on natural gas, coal, and nucleur. Evne with these tax incentives it's still a boderline decision for someone that doesn't want to get locked into a 20 year lease, or a 10 or 20 year loan of some sort to pay for the system. For my house the cost of a system is $35K. If I had another $35K I can turn that into $140K in 10 years, $500+K in 20. Just by making safe investments. It is too bad the government (the taxpayers ) have to finance this thing, but if they didn't it just wouldn't happen in the US. In Europe and Asia energy is way more expensive hence it probably makes it much more cost efective to go this way, without government incentives. But we're spoiled here in the US and still buying cheap energy.
Electricity costs across the U.S. vary just like they do in Europe and Asia Greece,Poland, Vietnam, Thailand aren't too bad . France is just about the same as Mass. Germany and Italy have high electricity costs and growth in PV there have outpaced the rest of EU. The gov't subsidies in many EU countries have been cut and PV growth has stalled. The solar industry in Germany, Italy and Spain are in trouble with subsidy cuts and tax exemptions being taken away. If you live in a state with net metering, current pv costs generally have a payback in 7 years which, depending on the system size you purchase can net you a darned good investment over the 20 or more year life of the system. I'd like to have no , a reduced or a negative cash flow electric bill 7 years from now. We know electric rates aren't likely to decrease in the future.
a lot of people here are using sun common yeah its a 12 year payment then you own system after the payback of outlay you get free electricity. I looked into it for me 2 main problems. First you sell excess electricity to grid in summer, no guarantee they will continue to buy and pay premium for clean green so. if not you have to pay loan and electric. company tries to match your payment to your electric use so you give them what you normally pay electric company. second problem is my electric bill 400 kw a month or about 70 dollars and solar needs 200 amp system so I need to upgrade only got a 100 amp service for house, 3 car garage, and 30 x 40 horse barn. payment on loan was 250ish my payback period was over 20 years. they also made big deal about paying electricians a livable wage of 95 dollars an hour well that's fine but I am not financing it! I will upgrade wire and panel to 200 amps my self and really run the numbers.
