New house + solar panel

reviving this thread...  can anyone share their electricity bill before and after solar and recommend who they went with? I'm starting to do some research to figure out my payback.  All signs point to it being not worth it right now, but I'm still in the early stages of my research.
 
scubasteve said:
reviving this thread...  can anyone share their electricity bill before and after solar and recommend who they went with? I'm starting to do some research to figure out my payback.  All signs point to it being not worth it right now, but I'm still in the early stages of my research.
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I wouldn't get it unless there is an option when you buy new construction.

Technology for solar is changing rapidly. ( for example solar panels and the "storage" system for the solar panels.)
 
Damn, I'm jealous. Would only save about $40 per month with Solar City after the leasing cost. Two other places wouldn't even put roofs on my house. Apparently roof can't hold many panels and facing the wrong direction.

Electricity bill was $330 last month.
 
SubSolar said:
Damn, I'm jealous. Would only save about $40 per month with Solar City after the leasing cost. Two other places wouldn't even put roofs on my house. Apparently roof can't hold many panels and facing the wrong direction.

Electricity bill was $330 last month.
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$330!  I think you are having too many parties. :)

$330 was kind of high.  Did you have a second fridge?

I'm at Mulberry and my bill was around $50 during winters and over $100 during summer month but never over $150. 
 
lnc said:
SubSolar said:
Damn, I'm jealous. Would only save about $40 per month with Solar City after the leasing cost. Two other places wouldn't even put roofs on my house. Apparently roof can't hold many panels and facing the wrong direction.

Electricity bill was $330 last month.
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$330!  I think you are having too many parties. :)

$330 was kind of high.  Did you have a second fridge?

I'm at Mulberry and my bill was around $50 during winters and over $100 during summer month but never over $150.
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Haven't had a bill under $100 in years. Even at the 2 bedroom apartment I was living in before here. Lots of computers, 85" TV, surround sound, AC on all the time cause of dog and working at home half the time. Think cheapest bill was a few months ago in Winter, $163, no AC use. No second fridge yet but thinking of one in garage cause ours is full and have a kid on the way.
 
Maybe the following:

Dual Ac units, work from home, stay home mom/dad/relative, many electric gadgets, charge electric car (tesla), pool, big house

You mention lots of computers (how many computers do you need?)

You turn your Ac on because of your dog? (You must have a nice dog, do you feed him angus steak for dinner?)
 
eyephone said:
Maybe the following:

Dual Ac units, work from home, stay home mom/dad/relative, many electric gadgets, charge electric car (tesla), pool, big house

You mention lots of computers (how many computers do you need?)

You turn your Ac on because of your dog? (You must have a nice dog, do you feed him angus steak for dinner?)
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I'm a computer consultant, I have everything, Mac, PC, Android, IOS. Basically always in front of a glowing rectangle for work or play.

I guess I could leave it 82+ with dog, but he'd be panting. And we actually do give him raw beef and veggies for breakfast and dinner, he's on a Paleo diet or something. Allergic to everything including starch, so no regular dog food. Wife spoils him, sometimes gives him salmon sashimi.
 
I also had $250+ electic bills last summer. So far this summer, I've been at sub $150. From my experience, it all comes down to AC usage. Still running tigerfarm :)
 
Out of curiosity, how long did it take HOA to approve your permits? 

After running the numbers, my payback will probably be ~6-7 years which I think will be worth it since I think I'll be in the house for awhile. 
 
Speaking of solar panel, one of my neighbor got the solar panel through the builder/design center.  And after 1 and 1/2 year, he suddenly got a letter from HOA states that his solar panel violates HOA regulation.  :eek:

He just forward the letter to the builder and let them sort out the issue with the HOA. 

 
lnc said:
Speaking of solar panel, one of my neighbor got the solar panel through the builder/design center.  And after 1 and 1/2 year, he suddenly got a letter from HOA states that his solar panel violates HOA regulation.  :eek:

He just forward the letter to the builder and let them sort out the issue with the HOA. 
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Wow. I'm pretty sure that is illegal in CA. I think I know which house for are talking about.
 
For anyone interested, I started the paper work on this. Let's see what the HOA police will say. Got a really good quote for a 4.48kW system @ $3.25/W. Total price is $14,560 out the door ($10,192 after tax credit).  I'll break even after about 6 years, which I think is great. This system should zero-out my electricity bill (outside of small grid access fees).

Ended up going with 16 x LG280 panels and the Enphase M250 microinverters. 
 
Just spent 2 hours with the American Solar Direct "consultant" to discuss my solar options.  He would NOT give me numbers until he went through his entire spiel about solar panels, how great his company was etc.  After 2 hours, I was finally able to get some real info from him. 

- SCE will not approve panels beyond what you use right now.  This came up because I told him I was looking at an Tesla and that I REALLY ration out my AC use.  With solar, my goal was to run AC whenever I wanted and also potentially charge an EV.  He said there are ways around this issue, but it was an important one to note.
- With my current usage, the smallest system they sell was recommended - 2.7 kWh - 10 Panel and the cost would be ~15k pre credit.
- The max my house can physically fit is 4.32 KWh - 16 Panels and the cost would be ~21k pre credit.

With these prices, solar really doesn't make sense unless I do get a Tesla and charge all the time.  Also, I was a bit shocked about how salesy the pitch was... VERY similar to a time share presentation.  He said he could get his manager on the phone and offer additional incentives if I signed a refundable engineering design plan right now.  Pretty high pressure towards the end of the conversation.

@Scubasteve - Can you please share your company contact?  Your price seems much cheaper than what ASD offers.

 
Funny Story, May be new home owners with Solar  can tell me if this is true.

Was at a dinner party and heard this.  The wife was telling others how they bought a house with solar and her husband was boasting that they were not paying any electricity bills since the monthly payment was less than $10 but after 12-months they were hit with a huge bill.  Apparently for houses with the solar the actual bill comes only once a year?
 
Irvine Dream said:
Funny Story, May be new home owners with Solar  can tell me if this is true.

Was at a dinner party and heard this.  The wife was telling others how they bought a house with solar and her husband was boasting that they were not paying any electricity bills since the monthly payment was less than $10 but after 12-months they were hit with a huge bill.  Apparently for houses with the solar the actual bill comes only once a year?
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this is correct
 
For those interested, I went with Advanced Improvements out in Anaheim. I heard of them through a coworker and they actually do quite a lot of business on www.solarpaneltalk.com.

They are so busy nowadays that communication is on the slow side, but the price was very good. I ended up maxing out my panels (14) since the HOA only allows the placement to be done in a certain way and bumped up my panels from LG280 to LG305.  Ended up paying $3.35/W (14k before tax credit) for a 4.27kW system.

HOA approval took a long time (mostly my fault since I took a long time reviewing the plans and submitting the forms). Got everything installed last month and just got approved for net metering a few weeks ago.
 
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