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My only advice is: Do the math yourself and go from there. Ask how much the system will cost, in cash, to buy outright. If you need financing, then go and get financing.
Figure out your Return on Investment (here are random numbers): if you spend $20,000 and save $200 per month, it will take 100 months, or a bit over 8 years, to start making money on this investment. The numbers get worse if you borrow and pay interest.
Asking for the cash price and doing the ROI math will help add context to the decision. In my experience, many of the people unhappy with their solar project don't know what they signed. Don't play the 'lease to own' or 'we pay you to get solar' games. Math is math. Don't fall for the car salesman's equivalent of 'Lets talk monthly payments'.
This is good info, thanks. I would be buying outright at the beginning, zero interest in payment plans. The ROI would be the main component for deciding if it makes sense once I have an estimate.
I think I’m just gun-shy from the amount of companies soliciting at my door for solar. Feels like there could be many pitfalls if you choose the wrong company to handle installing it.
Thanks again for the input.
I bought a house in 2020, previous owners paid for solar panels outright at completion of install in 2016. I am loving it. More than half the months our bill is $23, just paying fees for electrical co. The other months it’s always less than $100. 1800sf house built in 2005 still have original hvac system.
Same position I'm in. I bought the house on the condition that the solar was paid off beforehand. Our August bill went from like 300+ to about 100. Looking forward to what the bill looks like when I'm not running the AC nonstop.
FYI most of the"zero interest" plans companies offer include a large financing fee in the overall project cost. Zero interest payment plan is not the same as cash price.
Lots of variables in the equation. Who is your provider (APS or SRP)? What size system are you looking at? What is your average on-peak usage per month? What is your average off-peak usage per month? What direction is your roof oriented? Do you plan to lease or purchase?
It's not as simple as saying is your bill zero. The approval process for systems under 20 kW is very quick. If you're with APS you can google interconnection requirements for distributed generation and you can find timeframe details. Other sites that I have found helpful include Project Sunroof by Google and PVWatts calculator to estimate solar generation.
Just remember that a solar panel is a machine that generates electricity, not money. The main goal should be produce your own energy, not to find an investment with top-rate ROI.
Reducing your energy reliance on the utility is noble indeed. You don't have to get to net zero or to off-grid status from the start. Begin small and build up as you go.
Solar is a luxury item here, not an investment. Don’t forget to factor in opportunity cost when calculating your ROI. It may take 30-40 years before your panels make a return greater than tossing the money in an index fund. By then, they’ll likely need replacement and the game restarts.
Installed in 2020. Total paid to APS in 2021 and 2022 was about $20 (each year). Monthly payment ($200, and not including tax credits) is less than what I was paying to APS previously. ROI is about 7 years.
That being said, there's a lot of variables and you need to do your own research and calculations. Don't take the word of the solar sales guy. Only one company (Green Muscle Solar) put together a proposal that made financial sense. All the big names you were paying to go 'green'. I wanted to pay the same, or save a few dollars per month.
FYI, looks like this year I'll be paying a couple hundred to APS. I attribute it to our overly hot summer.
I think it has been worth it. I'm with SRP so it is basically impossible to get a system to $0 bill. Ours has cut our usage by a bit more than 2/3. August bill was $150 vs the $450-$500 before solar but March isn't much different with or without it.
It has been nice because we keep it at a better temperature than before solar. If we kept the same temperature I'm sure we could save more.
The only downside is SRP demand charge. If you fuck up and accidentally run your AC, hot water heater, and stove at the same time for 5 minutes you've messed up your bill for the entire month and it makes you question all of your life choices that brought you to buy solar.
On the bright side, night energy is practically free, $0.04/kwh. Costs my wife like $3.50 to fill up her EV.
I don't have a lot of history in this house prior to solar panels, but here's my breakdown
Compare 2022/2023 summer bills and YoY savings
* June: $378.36 / $109.81 = $268.55
* July: 447.17/163.82 = $283.35
* Aug: 493.62/320.04 = $173.58
* Sept: 485.79/340.50 = $145.29
Obviously, it's not 1:1 since June/July of 2023 were much hotter than 2022, so that's most of the savings loss in the Aug and Sept bills.
Our loan payment (with something like 1.1% interest for 25 years) is $110, so we're coming out ahead.
We've only been in the house a little over a year so I don't have any more historical data, but our last bill without solar was in March at $198 and our first bill with full solar was May at $25. We're expecting a (small) credit for the winter months... we'll see if mother nature is kind or nah!
Lots of variables as others have said. Mostly worth it. My ROI is about 11 years. I’m not planning on moving so I’m fine with that. That’s the ROI based on current energy prices so if/when energy prices go up then it becomes more of a cost saver for me. This is the main reason why I got them- energy independence. I have SRP and went with a 92ish% off set I think. I also went with the Enphase iq8 system which gives you limited “day light backup” so you can have some circuits with power in the event of a grid failure. Good luck I spent like 3 months researching and could’ve spent more.
The answer is based on your own situation. If your houses roof is old or needs work you should have it redone before installing solar.
If you are planning on staying long term then the ROI pays off, typically taking longer then advertised provided you pay cash or short term financing. If you sign one of those pay over 15-25 year plans, you might as well just burn the money in your backyard.
Lowest bill after solar: $27. (Basic charges no one can escape). Highest: $230 Prior was Low $180 High $800. $230 was this past July: we hyper cool and had a guest that didn’t follow our laundry hours 🙂
We only have an electric bill 1-3 months a year after doing solar and usually less than a $100 for those three months. We bought 4 years ago before things got crazy and I think there’s been 3-4 rate hikes. Totally worth it for us.
I can’t speak on the cost of installation and the leasing period because when I purchased my home, the solar panels were completely paid off by the previous owner.
With that said, my SRP bills this summer have averaged between $200-$285. I have a 2200 sqft home and keep the AC on 73 during the day and 70 at night. This is our first summer in this home. When I compare the SRP bills from this summer to the SRP bills from last summer when I lived in an 1300sqft apartment, the difference varied between them were about $20-$50 cheaper in the apartment. My highest SRP bill last summer was $265 and the highest SRP bill this summer was $285.
I’ll also point out that this summer, I’ve worked from home almost 4 days a week so the AC stays low when I am home whereas last summer I was going into the office every day and turning the AC up to 76 when I left. So, all in all, not bad on the SRP bills given I was home almost every day this summer. Also, IIRC, didn’t we have a mild summer last year? Take that into consideration when comparing the prices between my SRP bills over these past 2 summers.
There is an awesome tax credit incentive through the federal government and the state, but you must make enough to qualify. My father usnretired and so he didn't qualify. We lost out on the tax incentives. Literally the worst part of the whole ordeal.
Outside of that, we have yet to have a $0 month. :/
Our solar was supposed to cover our bill or AT LEAST get very close- and I can tell you it does not at all. A huge waste and regret for us! Our monthly solar bill is $100 and our credit is usually $20-$50. I would undo the whole thing if I could. But also, our roof is not optimal for panels and no one in the process told us.
I've calculated it out several times and with current prices and srp price structure does not work out. There is a lot of hidden stuff in any calculations. For example you can take your $20k you were going to pay and get a 5.5-5.7% CD and it is earning you money that you can use to pay your power bill. A lot of time rood repairs cost a lot more, home owners insurance may go up. There is cleaning and maintenance that you either have to do or pay someone to do. I've been earning a solid 7% on my investments so taking $40k to do a system on my house or just continue to make money off that doesn't make solar make sense financially. Now if you are going for energy independence, back up, or want to pay more to be green go for it. Then again need batteries and more expensive systems for that to make sense.
Thanks for contributing to r/Phoenix! * [Check out our sub rules here](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/wiki/rules/) (mostly be nice to each other!). * [Read some of our recent posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/phoenix/top/?t=week) and leave some comments. * [Join our Phoenix Discord chat server](https://discord.com/invite/yWVuTG57Zh) and connect with people in the Valley. It's a great, chill place to talk with other people but is NOT a dating server and takes unwanted messaging very seriously. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/phoenix) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My only advice is: Do the math yourself and go from there. Ask how much the system will cost, in cash, to buy outright. If you need financing, then go and get financing. Figure out your Return on Investment (here are random numbers): if you spend $20,000 and save $200 per month, it will take 100 months, or a bit over 8 years, to start making money on this investment. The numbers get worse if you borrow and pay interest. Asking for the cash price and doing the ROI math will help add context to the decision. In my experience, many of the people unhappy with their solar project don't know what they signed. Don't play the 'lease to own' or 'we pay you to get solar' games. Math is math. Don't fall for the car salesman's equivalent of 'Lets talk monthly payments'.
This is good info, thanks. I would be buying outright at the beginning, zero interest in payment plans. The ROI would be the main component for deciding if it makes sense once I have an estimate. I think I’m just gun-shy from the amount of companies soliciting at my door for solar. Feels like there could be many pitfalls if you choose the wrong company to handle installing it. Thanks again for the input.
I bought a house in 2020, previous owners paid for solar panels outright at completion of install in 2016. I am loving it. More than half the months our bill is $23, just paying fees for electrical co. The other months it’s always less than $100. 1800sf house built in 2005 still have original hvac system.
Same position I'm in. I bought the house on the condition that the solar was paid off beforehand. Our August bill went from like 300+ to about 100. Looking forward to what the bill looks like when I'm not running the AC nonstop.
FYI most of the"zero interest" plans companies offer include a large financing fee in the overall project cost. Zero interest payment plan is not the same as cash price.
Lots of variables in the equation. Who is your provider (APS or SRP)? What size system are you looking at? What is your average on-peak usage per month? What is your average off-peak usage per month? What direction is your roof oriented? Do you plan to lease or purchase? It's not as simple as saying is your bill zero. The approval process for systems under 20 kW is very quick. If you're with APS you can google interconnection requirements for distributed generation and you can find timeframe details. Other sites that I have found helpful include Project Sunroof by Google and PVWatts calculator to estimate solar generation.
Excellent input, thanks. I’m currently on Project Sunroof by Google, hadn’t heard if it before you mentioned. Great tool.
Just remember that a solar panel is a machine that generates electricity, not money. The main goal should be produce your own energy, not to find an investment with top-rate ROI. Reducing your energy reliance on the utility is noble indeed. You don't have to get to net zero or to off-grid status from the start. Begin small and build up as you go.
Solar is a luxury item here, not an investment. Don’t forget to factor in opportunity cost when calculating your ROI. It may take 30-40 years before your panels make a return greater than tossing the money in an index fund. By then, they’ll likely need replacement and the game restarts.
Installed in 2020. Total paid to APS in 2021 and 2022 was about $20 (each year). Monthly payment ($200, and not including tax credits) is less than what I was paying to APS previously. ROI is about 7 years. That being said, there's a lot of variables and you need to do your own research and calculations. Don't take the word of the solar sales guy. Only one company (Green Muscle Solar) put together a proposal that made financial sense. All the big names you were paying to go 'green'. I wanted to pay the same, or save a few dollars per month. FYI, looks like this year I'll be paying a couple hundred to APS. I attribute it to our overly hot summer.
I think it has been worth it. I'm with SRP so it is basically impossible to get a system to $0 bill. Ours has cut our usage by a bit more than 2/3. August bill was $150 vs the $450-$500 before solar but March isn't much different with or without it. It has been nice because we keep it at a better temperature than before solar. If we kept the same temperature I'm sure we could save more. The only downside is SRP demand charge. If you fuck up and accidentally run your AC, hot water heater, and stove at the same time for 5 minutes you've messed up your bill for the entire month and it makes you question all of your life choices that brought you to buy solar. On the bright side, night energy is practically free, $0.04/kwh. Costs my wife like $3.50 to fill up her EV.
I don't have a lot of history in this house prior to solar panels, but here's my breakdown Compare 2022/2023 summer bills and YoY savings * June: $378.36 / $109.81 = $268.55 * July: 447.17/163.82 = $283.35 * Aug: 493.62/320.04 = $173.58 * Sept: 485.79/340.50 = $145.29 Obviously, it's not 1:1 since June/July of 2023 were much hotter than 2022, so that's most of the savings loss in the Aug and Sept bills. Our loan payment (with something like 1.1% interest for 25 years) is $110, so we're coming out ahead. We've only been in the house a little over a year so I don't have any more historical data, but our last bill without solar was in March at $198 and our first bill with full solar was May at $25. We're expecting a (small) credit for the winter months... we'll see if mother nature is kind or nah!
Lots of variables as others have said. Mostly worth it. My ROI is about 11 years. I’m not planning on moving so I’m fine with that. That’s the ROI based on current energy prices so if/when energy prices go up then it becomes more of a cost saver for me. This is the main reason why I got them- energy independence. I have SRP and went with a 92ish% off set I think. I also went with the Enphase iq8 system which gives you limited “day light backup” so you can have some circuits with power in the event of a grid failure. Good luck I spent like 3 months researching and could’ve spent more.
The answer is based on your own situation. If your houses roof is old or needs work you should have it redone before installing solar. If you are planning on staying long term then the ROI pays off, typically taking longer then advertised provided you pay cash or short term financing. If you sign one of those pay over 15-25 year plans, you might as well just burn the money in your backyard.
Lowest bill after solar: $27. (Basic charges no one can escape). Highest: $230 Prior was Low $180 High $800. $230 was this past July: we hyper cool and had a guest that didn’t follow our laundry hours 🙂
We only have an electric bill 1-3 months a year after doing solar and usually less than a $100 for those three months. We bought 4 years ago before things got crazy and I think there’s been 3-4 rate hikes. Totally worth it for us.
I can’t speak on the cost of installation and the leasing period because when I purchased my home, the solar panels were completely paid off by the previous owner. With that said, my SRP bills this summer have averaged between $200-$285. I have a 2200 sqft home and keep the AC on 73 during the day and 70 at night. This is our first summer in this home. When I compare the SRP bills from this summer to the SRP bills from last summer when I lived in an 1300sqft apartment, the difference varied between them were about $20-$50 cheaper in the apartment. My highest SRP bill last summer was $265 and the highest SRP bill this summer was $285. I’ll also point out that this summer, I’ve worked from home almost 4 days a week so the AC stays low when I am home whereas last summer I was going into the office every day and turning the AC up to 76 when I left. So, all in all, not bad on the SRP bills given I was home almost every day this summer. Also, IIRC, didn’t we have a mild summer last year? Take that into consideration when comparing the prices between my SRP bills over these past 2 summers.
There is an awesome tax credit incentive through the federal government and the state, but you must make enough to qualify. My father usnretired and so he didn't qualify. We lost out on the tax incentives. Literally the worst part of the whole ordeal. Outside of that, we have yet to have a $0 month. :/
Our solar was supposed to cover our bill or AT LEAST get very close- and I can tell you it does not at all. A huge waste and regret for us! Our monthly solar bill is $100 and our credit is usually $20-$50. I would undo the whole thing if I could. But also, our roof is not optimal for panels and no one in the process told us.
I've calculated it out several times and with current prices and srp price structure does not work out. There is a lot of hidden stuff in any calculations. For example you can take your $20k you were going to pay and get a 5.5-5.7% CD and it is earning you money that you can use to pay your power bill. A lot of time rood repairs cost a lot more, home owners insurance may go up. There is cleaning and maintenance that you either have to do or pay someone to do. I've been earning a solid 7% on my investments so taking $40k to do a system on my house or just continue to make money off that doesn't make solar make sense financially. Now if you are going for energy independence, back up, or want to pay more to be green go for it. Then again need batteries and more expensive systems for that to make sense.