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so this is the outcome from the meeting. It is long but worth the read based on our situation so may be beneficial to anyone considering it as well. I did a lot of research on solar power especially this particular company before hand so i was informed as possible on positives and especially negatives especially from better business bureau . it bounces around a bit to try and address some of mine as well as the valued input from here so please bear with me.
We have a 9 yr old pretty efficient 2100 sq foot colonial. city gas heat and hot water. 2 central ac units. Our house faces due west. I plan on being buried in the back yard so issues with resale should not be encountered.
Goal would be to save money on current energy bill ( electric bill is usually about $200/ month now. Don't really care much about saving environment aspect. sorry. cold and thoughtless i guess.
The way it works with this particular company, u lease the solar panels from them for 20 years. In other words they put em on your roof for free, and you sign a 20 year power purchase agreement (PPA) to purchase solar power produced from the panels. All excess power not being used is sold bak to the grid which the solar company gets. in the mean time our meter runs backwards creating a pot which we then use when it gets dark out. After we have consumed our "saved" power we need to purchase power from the grid at the going rate.
Now for the numbers. Yes the company gets all the tax breaks/ incentives/ rebates and the income from the power sold back to the grid. We get the panels and service for 20 years at no charge.
At the end of each month if we use less power than sold back to the grid we get a check.
We are currently paying Nstar 19.6cents/ kw our initial solar rate is 10.5 cents/ kw locked in for 2 years then no more than 2.9% higher each year.
Power rates only go up and we have to buy our power from somewhere.
If a new roof is needed (Ours is 8 years old) it costs us $500 to have them come take them down until roof is done and they put them back up.
As for looks, solar panels have come a long way in design. they are very thin and less obtrusive to the eye. fortunately we will be able to generate 97% of the power we CURRENTLY use from panels only on the top back of our house. The only way you would even know they are there is if i told you as you can't see them as we have a walk out finished basement and from no where in the yard can you see the back roof so that eliminates the issue of appearance In the future if our energy consumption increases (as i expect it will as the kids get older) we still can add them on to the back of the garage as well.again, you won't see them.
Now here is where I feel that a lot of the arguments of leasing versus purchase are extremely debatable. Yes we may see a faster return on savings and receive all the tax benefits/ rebates and what not but the numbers to me don't add up and this is why.
To outright purchase and install the proposed system would cost us almost 20k. Now here is why I feel leasing them is a better deal despite all this. They monitor, maintain, and service the panels to ensure they are producing maximum energy. if they are not and there is a problem, they come and fix and deal with it on their dime.
Now the biggest benefit I see to leasing versus purchase is that as technology improves and better panels come out, they come and replace them with the new technology at no cost or lease renewal like happens with your "free" cell phone upgrades where you have to resign a new agreement. If we bought the panels outright we run the risk of them breaking, not functioning properly, or being obsolete and outdated in 5 or 10 years and having to deal with them.
So the bottom line is i think we are gonna move ahead with it.
By leasing them we are saving money immediately, they don't disrupt the appearance of our house, and by leasing we will always have the most efficient, up to date system at no cost.
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