So, we just installed solar panels on our house and I have some info to share. We purchased it ourselves and did not go through a co-op.
TL;DR:
- When you are talking to the different sales people (and do talk to several of them) the company mostly likely does 1 of 4 things and subcontracts the rest. Choose based on what you are most concerned about.
- They make the panels or equipment
- They do the installation
- They manage the financing
- They provide or manage the electricity
- The loan is different than other loans you are familiar with. As of 2022, there is a 26% government rebate (hopefully it will be extended), that the loans incorporate. The loan is recalculated after 18 months, because they expect that you pay the entire rebate into the loan when you get it, if not, then you monthly amount will go up for the remainder of the loan term (20 years). If you frequently owe federal taxes, you need to take that into consideration, as part of the rebate would reduce the amount you owe, but then if you don't pay that full rebate into the loan, the monthly payments will go up.
- The amount of wall real estate around the electric meter is significant. Be sure to take that into consideration. (See photos at the bottom)
- Given our real estate AND the base flood elevation, it was really tricky on how to arrange the 3 additional panels around the meter.
- Of the many reasons to get solar, if you are trying to account for power outages, you will be paying the most. If you can deal with a tiny (hopefully) number of days without power even when the sun is out, or can solve that in another way, you can pay a lot less.
- We opted for a portable duel fuel gas generator. It is manual, and will power the fridge and maybe a few outlets with the propane tanks that we normally keep on hand for the grill.
- In short, if there is a power outage and full sun, we are getting limited power from a small generator, not the panels.
- Unless you buy a battery, your solar panels will be tied to the grid. If the grid loses power, so do you. Batteries are really pricey ($13K) at the moment. As far as I know, there is no way around this, as the excess energy needs a place to go.
- Once the panels are installed, expect several delays before you get fully operational.
- First, Centerpoint needs to grant Permission to Operate (PTO), which is when you can actually literally flip the switch to enable the panels. This takes a few weeks to a month.
- Then after that, Centerpoint needs to acknowledge that you are producing excess energy. We are still in this phase. I've heard it takes about 2 months. But so far my utility bill only reflects what I'm consuming (at night), not what I've produced, so my utility bill for the first 2-3 months will not be zero (even though I should be overproducing).
- I don't know yet if when Centerpoint does acknowledge the credits, if it is retroactive or starts at zero. In other words, since we turned on the system in March, I don't know if in May (hopefully) when this happens, if we get credit for all of the sunny non-AC days of March and April, or if May is day 0.
- Pay close attention to how your utility company handles net metering. You will likely need to switch to a new company. Green Mountain, for example, which I'd been with forever and thought would be really good, only will buy from you what you buy from them per month. This means that you can't build up credits in the spring for the summer. I'm now with Rhythm.
- I would recommend Rising Sun Solar (recently renamed to Astrawatt) or Sunpro.
- According to HCAD, the panels raise the price of the house, but DO NOT raise your taxes.
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Story:
Starting after the Feb freeze of 2021, I wanted a solution for power outages. I knew that I didn't want a full house generator. There were many reasons for this, but mainly I didn't like the idea of paying $15K for something that if I did use, might be once or twice per year. Additionally, solar has always been appealing - freedom from the utility company, to help the environment, and to reduce future energy costs (especially knowing that after the freeze, electricity costs are going to have to increase).
I had a friend who worked at a solar company and so that was the first sales person I talked to. It was a medium-hard sales pitch. It was also weird because I had to sign a couple of forms to get the quote, and then I was getting emails from the company like I had already signed up. Anyways this first company was a national solar provider, but really they specialized in the loan and financing.
That being said, the offer was pretty good. It was 0% interest and the panels were fully warrantied. The monthly payment was equal to my current average monthly bills. Speaking of average monthly bills, I was using the data from 2020 and 2021, so it was 100% at home meaning that the numbers were likely already the max that they would ever be.
The research and reviews were not great, but the sales person dismissed them as not local given that they were a national company. Still, it was an uneasy feeling. Then I researched the employee reviews of the company, both from my friend and through sites like Glassdoor - also not great.
Then I got several recommendations from Facebook and other sources to talk to a specific person, Gage Mueller at Sunpro. He was a fantastic resource and I would highly recommend him. He gave me all of the info that I wanted without the sales pressure. He actually refused to work with me. After inspecting our roof and learning that it is an all metal roof, he said that he and his company don't have the experience or the ability to install into our roof. I REALLY appreciated his honesty. He also said that he would remain available to me to answer any other questions and to help evaluate other companies. Which he was true to his word and I talked to him several times as I was evaluating other companies.
Gage referred me to Paul Oxidine from Rising Sun Solar. Paul was very similar to Gage and was (IMHO) honest and authentic. That is ultimately who we went with and I would recommend them (They are installers). Paul said that they DID install in metal roofs, but it was difficult. He said that his prices would likely be higher than others because of the roof complexity. I appreciated this honesty as well.
I called two other solar companies, but they did not rank higher than Rising Sun.
I reached back out to Rising Sun and the first company I talked to asking about their metal roof experience. I also asked if they had any metal roof customers I could talk through. The first company said they had experience, but ultimately couldn't connect me with a reference. Rising Sun was able to prove both their experience and had relevant customers I could talk to.
I reached back out to Rising Sun and the first company I talked to asking about their metal roof experience. I also asked if they had any metal roof customers I could talk through. The first company said they had experience, but ultimately couldn't connect me with a reference. Rising Sun was able to prove both their experience and had relevant customers I could talk to.
Rising Sun's president also called me and talked to me about the installation process, the complexities of the metal roof and reassured me that he, himself, would be onsite during the install.
Then just to be extra positive, I reached out the the roof manufacturer and got documentation on how they would install panels into their product. I sent this documentation to Rising Sun's president and he reported that that was exactly how they planned on installing the panels.
So at this point I'm fully sold on Rising Sun, now I just need to figure out the options and financing. We opted not to get the battery because frankly we would need 2 to power the house and the extra $26K pushed us past our budget. Hopefully battery prices come down in a couple of years and we can add them then. We needed the 2 batteries because we have 2 AC units and the pool pump, in addition to our normal usage. This also means we needed a bunch of panels (57 to be exact - ugh).
Solar is definitely expensive in the short term, though everything seems to indicate that it will save money in the long run. (Ask me in 10 years :)). We were exploring the different financing options and reached out to our financial advisor. They actually recommended that we self finance the solar from our VUL (Variable Universal Life) savings.
This basically means that we loan the money to ourselves. (We are very fortunate to be able to have this option and I'm mentioning it in case others who read this have similar abilities as something to consider). We are already contributing monthly to this savings account, and we will be upping that amount to what would be the monthly payments if we financed. By loaning it to ourselves, there is no interest nor specific payback timetables.
The main downside to this plan, is that since this essentially coming out of our life insurance pot, that if we die before we repay it, there is less benefit in the pot. But at that point we are dead and it sucks all around!
We signed the contract and started the process. Rising Sun comes out with a few people to measure inside and outside the attic. They run real numbers (versus the guess that the sales person does) and determines the best place to put the panels. They then develop all of the permits and engineering documents.
I warned them that our HOA was likely going to be the biggest issue, but I was shocked when it sailed right through without comment. I've heard that there are Texas laws that limit the HOA's ability to refuse but it has be proven that the locations are the most efficient for sun collection.
The hardware and panels were delivered and sat in our driveway for a few days because of poor weather conditions. It took 2 days to install the panels, then an additional 2 days for the electrician to wire everything up. (The electrician could have done it in one, but he didn't ask me before installing the new panels and he had originally put them below BFE, so I had them move them above the flood line).
HCAD actually came by during the installation. The panels raise the price of the house, but DO NOT raise your taxes. That is a cool benefit.
Then we had to wait for the Permission to Operate. Once we got that, I got to throw the huge switch and turn on the system. That same day I switched to Rhythm Electric because they are promising unlimited never expiring credits. That means that when I'm overproducing in March, I should have plenty of credits for the summer. At least that is the hope.
As I said, I'm not sure that will actually work out this year because of the acknowledgement of credit from Centerpoint, but eventually the goal is zero utility bills.
BTW, if you switch to Rhythm because of me, use this referral link: https://www.gotrhythm.com/raf?referralCode=iXUxnM7tbk&utm_medium=raf, and it will give BOTH of us $100 credit.
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Photos:
Best part is seeing the graphs. Here is a fully sunny day in April. The blue is what I'm producing and the orange is what I'm using throughout the day. It is still cool enough that the AC isn't on.
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3 month update
So far so good. I've paid $0 for 3 months.
In April, I earned $115 of credits.
In May, I used up $14 of credits, leaving me $101.
In Jun, I earned $10 in credits, so back up to $111.
So it appears like with the initial $115 boost from spring, I might be able to make it through summer with a +/- credit of approx $20 / month, but still not ever actually pay anything.... hopefully.
For your own calculations, there are many charges and taxes and that you will need to plan to exceed.
Rhythm Base Charge $8.95
TDU Delivery Charge - Base $4.39
TDU Delivery Charge - Energy $51.10
City Sales Tax $2.12
PUC Assessment $0.34
Misc Tax Reimbursement $4.12
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Total $71.02
Basically this means that you need to overproduce by about $75 dollars. This is likely equivalent to about 750 Kwh or roughly 25 Kwh per day.
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