Solar Power - hype or help?

So what's all the hype with solar power? You may hear things like

• you won't every have to pay an electricity bill again
• PG&E will cut you monthly checks for your excess power
• you will be a hero because you'll be green

"Solar panels in Ogiinuur" by Chinneeb - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

I'm certainly not going to try and fill you in on everything that we've been learning. We just spent 4 hours with a wonderful solar power representative. Here are some things to watch out for.

• small print indicating the company can simply walk away from the agreement at anytime, un-obligated, leaving you to manage the array of solar panels on your roof on your own
• who will be monitoring the equipment, handling the maintenance of warrantied panels, replacing them at the end of 30 years, replacing the power inverter? You? Why not? You’ve got nothing better to do with your time than try to chase down licensed/bonded contractors that you trust to service your solar panels, right?
• will the company still be around through the next 20 years? If not, will they leave you on your own to deal with the solar panels on your roof?
• if you move, do you want to have the option of transferring your solar panels to your new house?

This list is far from exhaustive, but hopefully it gets you thinking about some important questions to ask if/when you meet with sales representatives. This is a big investment and, if you're like us, you don't have money to throw around. Make sure you do your home work and shop around.

There are some other flags that I find useful.

• is the sales representative salary paid or strictly by commission? Knowing that the sales rep gets paid whether I commit or not takes some of the pressure off the meeting and allows more open and candid conversation
• how many backers does the solar company have? Do you recognize the company names? What kind of capital investment does it have? A solar power company with $2 billion dollars behind it stands more chance of being around when your 20 contract is up.

One thing that caused my wife and I to cringe as we considered a contract with a solar power company was the bottom line of how much it would cost. But when you compare it to the best scenario cost of the current electricity expenditures, we end up saving $20 thousand dollars. Perspective is everything. Basically, the way the business model works is

• you stop paying PG&E and start paying your monthly electricity to the solar power company.
• the solar power company should review through your power usage over the past year and determine the average kilowatt hours you consume each month.
• then a solar panel solution is determined that would provide the needed kilowatt hours
• solar power is produced and a power inverter moves the power to PG&E's power grid and you continue powering your appliances from PG&E's power grid. It's not a perfect comparison, but think of the power grid as a giant battery that's being recharged, in part, by the solar panels on your roof.
• if you use more kilowatt hours than your solar panels produce, you will simply pay PG&E for it at the end of the year.
• if you use fewer kilowatt hours than your solar panels produce, that will adjust the bottom line of what you owe to PG&E (or the check that PG&E will write out to you!) at the end of the year.

There are many other details to consider, but you have the basic idea.

Don't get too excited of the prospect of simply putting extra panels on your roof and start your own power making business.

• the exchange rate is abysmal; for every excess 15 kilowatt hours, PG&E may pay you for 3 kilowatt hours
• there are probably some laws in place which discourage it

Still, just getting a check instead of a bill from PG&E should make anybody's day.
At the end of the day, most of us simply want to find ways to save a little money. So far, I am discovering that solar power would be a great way for our family to cut our current bill by more than half. I don't even need to pay anything initially for the solar panels, their installation or maintenance.

For those who have 150 thousand laying around, you will save even more! How does 20 years without an electricity bill sound? Yeah; I thought that too! Perhaps you can purchase solar panels for less. Make sure you understand what you get for your price. Does that purchase include service for the panels through the entire 20 years, even if the company goes out of business? Make sure you do your homework.

So what's all the hype with solar power? It's still relatively new, but the kinks are getting worked out and we can all start enjoying a more consistent and lower power bill thanks to solar technology for zero down. The devil is in the details and not all solar companies are the same. Meet with several companies and ask questions, like the ones in this post; compare and find which company works best for you and your situation.

We can all use a little more money in our budget. How about... now?