Does anyone here have SolarCity installed?

[mikegg]

Do you recommend them? Does it actually cost less than your old bill?

I'm thinking about going solar since I'm getting my roof replaced.

 

[Kaido]

Curious about this as well, a lot of people in my area have had SolarCity installed in the last year.

 

[DesiPower]

IMHO, its a novelty, price wise it will not make sense, much like hybrid cars...

 

[mikegg]

IMHO, its a novelty, price wise it will not make sense, much like hybrid cars...

Not to be rude but do you actually have numbers/data to back this up? I'm not saying that you're wrong but I'm getting serious and need to know whether solar actually saves me money.

 

[Maximus96]

friend of mine recently got solar panels installed. I don't know all the details but he told me he prepaid 20 years of electricity for a one-time $10K upfront payment. i guess its a 20-year lease. he mentioned $0.07/kwh. Off-peak rates for us here in bay area is about $0.11/kwh up to $0.30+/kwh for peak hour rates.

 

[DesiPower]

Not to be rude but do you actually have numbers/data to back this up? I'm not saying that you're wrong but I'm getting serious and need to know whether solar actually saves me money.

Sorry, I do not have any concrete stats that, but reading around on the internet, even the best case scenario says that it will take 14 years to break even in my state, if you lease or rent it will be even longer or maybe never. Here is one article. Mind you, these are best case scenarios not fully taking into account that even in Texas for a good 2 3 months its is so cloudy that the system will do nothing AND natural gas that we use to cook and heat is cheaper than electricity.

 

[Stopsignhank]

I am in SoCal and plan to get Solar next year. I currently pay between $250 to $300 per month on electricity. My brother in law runs an electrical store that also sells solar so I will not be shopping around, I am going with him.

 

[Thebobo]

Do you recommend them? Does it actually cost less than your old bill?

I'm thinking about going solar since I'm getting my roof replaced.

Read this on the starting of SS, the business, models the technology, from fortune.

http://fortune.com/2014/10/09/lyndon-rive-solar-city/

On their way to Burning Man in an RV, Musk set his cousin Rive on a new path with one-word suggestion: “solar”

 

[Slew Foot]

I used solarcity for my panels. For those that dont know, they place the panels on your roof and maintain them for free. Then instead of paying PGE, i pay solar city for the electric at a rate lower than what pge was charging me. I save about 50-75 a month depending on how much AC i use, not a bad deal but if i had to do it again i would have just bought the panels.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Yeah my brother in law says the best deal is to buy the panels ourselves and not to lease them.

 

[DesiPower]

Does home owner's insurance goes up? if so by how much?

 

[clamum]

I am in SoCal and plan to get Solar next year. I currently pay between $250 to $300 per month on electricity. My brother in law runs an electrical store that also sells solar so I will not be shopping around, I am going with him.

Holy potatoes. Do you have a big house too? Last month's electric for me was $22 (though I have a one bedroom apartment, 700 sq. ft.).

 

[Slew Foot]

Does home owner's insurance goes up? if so by how much?

Not for me. One of the benefits of not buying is that the panels are maintained and warrantied by the company for the life of the lease

 

[Brovane]

Sorry, I do not have any concrete stats that, but reading around on the internet, even the best case scenario says that it will take 14 years to break even in my state, if you lease or rent it will be even longer or maybe never. Here is one article. Mind you, these are best case scenarios not fully taking into account that even in Texas for a good 2 3 months its is so cloudy that the system will do nothing AND natural gas that we use to cook and heat is cheaper than electricity.

Hate to burst your bubble but PV Solar systems still generate power even on cloudy days.

 

[Stopsignhank]

Holy potatoes. Do you have a big house too? Last month's electric for me was $22 (though I have a one bedroom apartment, 700 sq. ft.).

It is big enough. It is the pool pump that eats all the power. A 2 HP motor running 4 hours a day. Then that kicks me up to the high power bracket of $0.34/KW.

 

[Paladin]

Not for me. One of the benefits of not buying is that the panels are maintained and warrantied by the company for the life of the lease

I had solar installed in April, bought a system: 6.89kW DC / 5.86 kW AC.

Our average bill over a year was about ~$270/month. Or system was sized to provide 99% of our average use.
Our loan payment is $180/month (12 years). So, obviously we are saving quite a bit.
Panels are typically a 25 year warranty. Labor is 10 years.
We used Stellar Solar here in San Diego. I can monitor the daily production on a nice web interface. Actually it breaks it down by 15 minute intervals in a nice graph.

It was cool to watch how much it was producing during the summer (about 1200 kwHr/month in June). Last month was 746 kWhr, we used only 33 from the grid, so our bill is going to be less than $10 probably.

So, the bottom line is, it's worth it to buy a system. The 30% federal tax credit expires in 2016, so jump on it while you can.

 

[Paladin]

Maybe move to the new 'Home' sub-forum?