We mentally made the decision to go solar back around 2010, but the payback period at that time was too long. We saw the price of solar coming down each year so we waited until it fit our budget. In the meantime, we started converting our home to all-electric, meaning, as our gas appliances would wear out, we would replace them with electric.
When we felt the time to go solar became closer started calling solar companies including the companies that our electric company personally recommended and logging their data in an Excel spreadsheet. Every company we spoke with educated us a bit and there were a quite a few companies which tried to sell us “Smoke and Mirrors”, meaning, they over exaggerated solar just to try and make a sale. We kept track of every solar contractor as per kWh per dollar, brand products, warranty and much more. Our goal was not the cheapest price, as that can easily get you short changed for quality products. Basically, it was the best package that suited OUR needs.
After speaking a second time with our top 5 choices, we elected to go with Solar Design Studio and Bob Solger. We contracted with him to install solar panels (ground mount) in our backyard.
The installation went very smooth and his crew was exceptional. Before long the inspector from our electric company came out and approved the installation which put us into a grid-tied system. A grid-tied system is where we produce electricity during the day and sell the excess back to the electric company. Then at night, we buy it back when there is no solar. We decided on this type of system because we live in a suburb where there are literally no power outages.
Because of the “free” electricity, we are looking soon to purchase one or two fully electric cars.
SUMMARY – Solar makes sense! Very few investments these days have any payback, which in our case of solar is less than 10 years (of course sunshine dependent). It’s an investment where you can actually see the savings every month especially as the price of electricity keeps going up all the time. NOTE: Because we converted to an all-electric house this gave us additional savings from the power company.
