Getting solar at the house

[rockhound]

for saving just $48 bucks a month i am not sure it is worth it. the advantage is you still have power when there is a ppower outage. i guess that would be worth it.

i am curious though, IREA is charging .1231 per KWH. I wonder if the costs were the same size system then this would make our savings 100/month.

[Gman]

It's a savings, but not quite what I was expecting to hear. So....what about SolarCity putting on a new roof?

They get to keep the incentives and lock their customers into a 20-year deal. How many other subscription based companies would like to know they've got a customer for 20 years? ;-)

[Gman]

for saving just $48 bucks a month i am not sure it is worth it. the advantage is you still have power when there is a ppower outage. i guess that would be worth it.

That's not accurate. There's still a dependency on the electrical grid. It's in the contract language posted earlier.

[gnihcraes]

It's a savings, but not quite what I was expecting to hear. So....what about SolarCity putting on a new roof?

They get to keep the incentives and lock their customers into a 20-year deal. How many other subscription based companies would like to know they've got a customer for 20 years? ;-)

No idea on the new roof, I changed the plan here to go with just the house, which has a fairly new roof. The garage was part of the first quote, which would need a new roof before putting down the system.

[tmleadr03]

for saving just $48 bucks a month i am not sure it is worth it. the advantage is you still have power when there is a ppower outage. i guess that would be worth it.

i am curious though, IREA is charging .1231 per KWH. I wonder if the costs were the same size system then this would make our savings 100/month.

Actually no. When there is a power outage a solar customer is with out power as well. They don't want the xcell techs to tap into a line they expect to be dead and find power.

[gnihcraes]

Actually no. When there is a power outage a solar customer is with out power as well. They don't want the xcell techs to tap into a line they expect to be dead and find power.

Good question. Makes sense, I wonder about all the disconnect switches they installed on my neighbors. Can you kill the Main on the house and then get the inverter up and running? Hmm.

[Irving]

Actually no. When there is a power outage a solar customer is with out power as well. They don't want the xcell techs to tap into a line they expect to be dead and find power.

Man, I was going to come in here and comment about some other comments addressing when the system pays for itself. I was going to say, "When does a hot tub pay for itself?" and then continue with the first time everyone has no power but you, is when it pays for itself. While I see the safety of the Xcel techs, kind of ruins it for me.

[gnihcraes]

I'll find out about the power outage question from my neighbor.

Things that were noted from the meeting this morning:

All of the engineering, install, monitoring is done by their own employees (solar city), no contracted out folks.
Production Guarantee, they pay if it under produces, even if a bad year and the clouds were out 50% of the time.
Excel charges x2 summer months rate, Tier 2 apparently?
PPA True up at end of year if the system produces more than used.
If your usage goes up, you pay excel for the energy used beyond the solar system, but this keeps you from the Tier 2 costs they charge.

[tmckay2]

Personally I'm looking for something with a big up front cost but that makes you basically self sufficient unless you go over production. Probably doesn't exist.

[rockhound]

Actually no. When there is a power outage a solar customer is with out power as well. They don't want the xcell techs to tap into a line they expect to be dead and find power.

you just need the transfer switch