In write-in comments, survey-takers expounded on their choices:

+ “Solar yields immediate, no-maintenance dividends, and boosts the home’s value. Renovations can be hit-or-miss.” (Eric Fix, Marlborough)

+ “It is a great investment that reduces your monthly expenses. The other two only raise your monthly expenses.” (Tom Aciukewicz, Harvard)

+ “It’s like putting money away for retirement” (Paul and Patricia Peavey, Pepperell)

The survey found that the 30 percent federal tax credit for solar electric systems is a strong motivator for going solar, seven years after its introduction, with 70 percent of respondents selecting it as one of their reasons for installing solar. And 95 percent of solar-owners are happy they installed solar, with a full 54 percent saying they “couldn’t be happier” with their solar energy systems.

“Not many products or services boast a 95 percent approval rate, especially a relatively new product like solar. I attribute this high favorability to the fact that solar electric systems are reliable and virtually maintenance-free. As one customer told us, she forgets her system is even there until she opens her monthly electric bill,” said Mark Durrenberger, president of New England Clean Energy.

“Plus, solar pays you back. How many purchases do that?”

Shoddy Work – The survey revealed a potential concern about the state of the solar industry, as nearly one in five respondents replied they had heard of or seen shoddy or unethical work by a solar installer.

“This was bound to happen as installers flooded solar-friendly Massachusetts. Our challenge as an industry is to preserve the integrity and professionalism of the solar installation business by raising awareness and educating consumers about what to expect from a solar installer,” said Durrenberger, who was recently appointed to the board of the Solar Energy Business Association of New England (SEBANE) on a platform that included addressing this issue.

Trends – When questioned on industry trends, 96 percent of respondents agreed the solar industry should be subsidized by the government, with 61 percent saying the subsidy should be indefinite since fossil fuels are subsidized, and 35 percent saying until the solar industry is really established.

An even 70 percent said they were aware Massachusetts is one of the most solar-friendly states in the country, and 94 percent said using a local company versus an out-of-state company is important, because buying local supports neighborhood businesses, helps the local economy and creates local jobs.

Savings – Savings on electric bills due to solar were across the board, roughly divided between 10-25 percent, 25-50 percent, 50-75 percent, and 75-100 percent savings.

Lease vs. Buy – When asked about purchasing versus leasing a solar electric system, only 9 percent said they would be interested in a lease-type agreement with no money down if going solar today, although 29 percent were undecided (and 62 percent said they would not be interested). More than half – 51 percent – felt purchasing solar was the better arrangement for the consumer. (New England Clean Energy offers both models for customers, but all survey respondents purchased their solar systems.)

“I want control over my home improvements, and long-term it is a better investment if you can afford the start-up cost,” wrote Joel Barshak of Bolton in support of purchasing.

However, survey-takers including Jim Hogan of Northborough were supportive of leasing’s benefits: “It is usually better to own a product unless it has high maintenance issues. Solar does not. However, if I could not have afforded to purchase, I would have leased. The important thing is to go solar.”

Behaviors and Attitudes – Survey questions about solar-related behaviors and attitudes revealed the following:

+ 20 percent of respondents check their solar production online daily; 27 percent do so weekly, and 23 percent monthly

+ 78 percent know how much energy their system has generated since it was installed (which, in some cases, was years ago)

+ Most people – 63 percent – used money from a savings or other bank account to make their solar investment, followed by 28 percent borrowing money via a bank loan or mortgage re-financing

+ Saving money is the main reason people install solar energy systems on their homes, and helping the planet and increasing the country’s energy independence are the next two most common reasons.

The survey was conducted in January and February 2013 among New England Clean Energy’s solar electric and hot water customers. Exactly 100 people – approximately one-third of the company’s Massachusetts customers – completed the “2013 Customer Insights Survey,” providing a snapshot of current opinions and attitudes toward solar.

“I’ve always known our customers love to talk solar as much as we do. Still, I was surprised and pleased with the high response to the survey. It will be fascinating to track consumer attitudes and behaviors as the industry continues moving from the early-adopter phase to mature commodity,” Durrenberger said.

Selected results of the survey can be found here.

The post Homeowners Say Solar Energy Better Investment than Home Renovation or Car Purchase appeared first on SOLAR JOEY.

Los Angeles will become the biggest U.S. city to abandon coal-fueled electricity after the taxpayer- owned utility said it will support renewable sources, boost energy efficiency and build a new natural-gas fired plant.

The city’s Department of Water and Power, the nation’s largest municipal-owned utility, will phase out the electricity it imports from the Navajo Generating Station in Arizona and Intermountain Power in Utah, according to a statement yesterday. The two coal plants provide 39 percent of the city’s power.

“The era of coal is over,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement. “By divesting from coal and investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency, we reduce our carbon footprint and set a precedent for the national power market.”

Los Angeles, the nation’s second-most populous metropolitan area after New York, has cut greenhouse-gas emissions by more than 28 percent from 1990 levels, which it says is more than any other major U.S. city. Coal releases twice the carbon dioxide as natural gas per megawatt of power produced, and climate advocates have seized on phasing out its use as the necessary first step in addressing global warming.

Coal generation in the U.S. is under mounting pressure from cheap natural gas prices, tougher federal pollution standards, state-level energy efficiency requirements and activist lobbying.

Beyond Coal

Coal accounted for 37 percent of power generation last year, down from 45 percent in 2010 and almost 50 percent in 2005, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The Sierra Club, which has a Beyond Coal campaign, said 142 U.S. coal-fired power plants have closed during its efforts, representing 105 gigawatts of electrical capacity. That puts it more than halfway towards its goal of retiring 30 percent of the U.S. coal fleet by 2020.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $50 million to the Sierra Club 18 months ago to fund anti-coal efforts. The mayor is founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

The Los Angeles utility released a fact sheet that showed it will sell off the stake it has in the Navajo facility, and end using power from that plant by 2015. It doesn’t own a share of the Utah plant, and so it said it worked out a plan to shut the coal plant and construct a smaller natural-gas fueled facility. Construction of that plant should be completed by 2025, the city’s fact sheet said.

The “decision to end Los Angeles’ reliance on dirty coal and guide the city to a more sustainable future is a bold step on the path towards solving the climate crisis,” former vice president Al Gore said in a statement.

Linkback: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-19/los-angeles-halts-using-electricity-from-coal-plants.html

The post Los Angeles Halts Using Electricity From Coal Plants appeared first on SOLAR JOEY.

Read more at Green Tech Media

The post American Solar Direct top PV Installers to watch in 2013 appeared first on SOLAR JOEY.

How It Works

• PG&E installs a “net meter” on a customer’s property that measures the net energy-the difference between the amount of electricity supplied by PG&E and the amount of electricity exported to the grid over the course of a month. The customer’s account is enrolled in the NEM program and put on an annual 12-month billing cycle.
• The meter is read monthly and an amount is calculated based on the net energy recorded in kilowatt hours (kWH). If a customer exported more electricity than they drew from PG&E in a given billing cycle, the amount is deemed a surplus. If a customer received more electricity from PG&E than they exported, the amount is deemed a charge.
• The rate at which the charge or surplus is calculated is based on the customer’s normal rate schedule which is requested in the customer’s Interconnection Agreement. It is the same electric rate schedule that the account would be eligible for without a generating system.
• If a customer has selected a time-of-use or seasonal electric rate schedule, the account may reflect a surplus, even if the customer is not a net generator. The reason is that on some electric rate schedules, the rate per kWh is higher during certain times of the day and/or certain times of the year (e.g. summer season). If the customer is generating more than they are consuming during these periods, the rates at which they are credited are higher than the rates they may be charged for consuming more than they generate.
• The charge or surplus and the applicable meter reads are detailed in the customer’s monthly NEM Statement. While this statement is not a bill, it allows a customer to keep track of their accumulating charges and surplus electricity. The customer will also continue to receive their regular PG&E bill for other applicable charges such as minimum charges, meter charges, customer charges, demand based charges and gas charges.
• 
• After 12 billing cycles, the corresponding charges and surpluses are reconciled, this is called the annual true-up bill. Any remaining charges must be paid and any excess surpluses are typically zeroed out. Excess Energy: Net Surplus Compensation If you generate more electricity than you consume over the 12 month true-up period, you may be eligible to receive payment called Net Surplus Compensation (NSC) for the excess energy.

Learn more about Net Surplus Compensation >>

How to Read Your NEM Statement
The Net Energy Metering Statement is a useful tool to understand current energy use and see how things are progressing—it provides a monthly and year to date snapshot of your accumulating charges and credits and the total net energy.

See a detailed explanation of your NEM Statement >>

Paperless Billing
You can download and view your Net Energy Metering (NEM) statement online at any time. Plus you can now further your green commitment by going paperless and stopping your paper statements.

Log in to My Energy

• Click on “Pay & Manage” tab and the “Accounts & Services” sub-tab.
• Under Services Linked to My Profile section, select the electric Service Agreement associated with your solar account.
• In the top left hand section, click “View of Detail of Bill” to download your current NEM Statement or select a prior NEM Statement from the drop-down menu.

If your electric Service Agreement (from your NEM Statement) is not displayed in the “Accounts & Services” sub-tab, follow these additional steps:

• Under Services Linked to My Profile section, click on Link Services.
• Select the new service agreement and click the Add button.
• Proceed with Step 3 from above.
• If you would like to stop receiving the monthly NEM Statements and go paperless, please contact the Solar Customer Service Center at 1-877-743-4112.

The post Net Energy Metering and Billing by PG&E appeared first on SOLAR JOEY.

Check out California’s new “high-water” mark for solar set yesterday — 1,300 megawatts of power over a three-hour period of time:

For more than six hours, solar was producing more power than any other renewable energy source in California. In August 2012, the state saw a record 1,000 megawatts of power produced. This latest record was spurred by a surge of large-scale installations in the third- and fourth-quarter of 2012. California installed more than 190 MW of solar PV in Q3 and more than 400 MW of PV in Q4, with a majority of the projects at the commercial and utility scale.

(Hat tip to KCET’s Rewire for catching this interesting graph from California’s Independent System Operator.)
STEPHEN LACEY: FEBRUARY 7, 2013

The post California Sets a New Solar Power Record appeared first on SOLAR JOEY.

When you invest in solar panels for your house, you can count on these things: You will cut your monthly energy bill, and you will increase the market value of your home.

Count on some other things, too. You will increase the replacement value of your home. One 2011 study found that, on average, a 3.1-kilowatt solar system added about $17,000 to a home’s value. And it also makes it more desirable to prospective buyers if you put it on the market.

What it all means is that you’ll need to talk to your homeowners insurance agent. The premium for your policy is based in part on how much it would cost to rebuild your home if it were destroyed by covered perils including fire and wind. It also protects you in case of break-ins and other specified events.

As for reporting the presence of a solar system, you’d need to do the same if you added a deck or replaced the roof or installed granite countertops. Anytime you do something to increase a home’s value, you’re increasing the amount it would take to rebuild that home.

That means you’ll need more coverage for your home. You’ll need to talk to your agent to determine your next step. While some carriers won’t insure homes with solar panels because they worry about the added liability, most will cover you for the new value of the home.

Even if your carrier has no problems with solar panels, it might be a good time to shop your coverage with multiple providers. You might get a better rate and, even more importantly, better coverage through comparison shopping. While contacting carriers might seem tedious, check out a website such as IRED.com to request multiple quotes from several highly rated carriers, as well as help evaluating them.

While this means that you could wind up paying for coverage, it is important not to hide your system from your insurance carrier. According to some experts, more than a quarter of all denied claims are due to policyholders withholding changes they’ve made to their home or lifestyles.

The extra money you will pay on your premium will be worth it should you have to file a claim. You’ll sleep better knowing that the solar system that’s saving money on your energy bill is fully protected along with the rest of your house.

The post Do you need solar panel insurance coverage? appeared first on SOLAR JOEY.

As one of the first Founding Partners for the new stadium, and the exclusive sustainable energy provider of the 49ers, NRG will install a number of state-of-the-art solar elements, including three solar array-covered bridges, a solar canopy above the green roof on the suite tower portion of the stadium and solar panels over the 49ers training center.

The arrays will have a total peak capacity of about 400kW and will provide enough power over the course of a year to offset the power consumed at the stadium during 49ers home games. As a result the stadium will be the first professional sports venue in California to achieve net zero energy performance.

NRG will install a number of state-of-the-art solar elements, including three solar array-covered bridges, a solar canopy above the green roof on the suite tower portion of the stadium and solar panels over the 49ers training center.

“NRG is much more than a Founding Partner, they are providing the energy leadership, infrastructure and expertise to help us achieve the vision of making the new Santa Clara Stadium an economically and environmentally sustainable showcase for innovation,” said Jed York, Chief Executive Officer, San Francisco 49ers. “As we strive to build a stadium that embodies all that is unique and special about both the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, this partnership with NRG will make very lofty goals become realities.”

The new stadium in Santa Clara is the next generation of stadium design. One of the most unique features of the facility is the green roof atop the suite tower on the west side of the stadium. The three solar bridges, connecting the main parking area to the stadium, will include hundreds of solar panels. In keeping with NRG’s philosophy of creating iconic solar elements at NFL stadiums, the solar bridges will be the first in the NFL.

“The 49ers are not only one of the leading and most successful franchises in the history of the NFL, they have also been for decades community leaders in the Bay Area and with the entire 49ers fan base. Today and going forward, we are honored to support the 49ers as they extend their off-the-field community leadership into the critically important arena of clean and sustainable energy,” said David Crane, President and CEO of NRG Energy. “And NRG is proud to partner with the San Francisco 49ers and the Santa Clara Stadium Authority in the pursuit of another milestone, the LEED certification of their new stadium.”

In addition to the solar array, the stadium’s green initiatives include public transit access, convenient bicycle parking, a walking path from the San Tomas Creek Trail, water-conserving plumbing fixtures, recycled materials and a long list of other sustainable design elements.

As the sustainable energy partner of the 49ers, NRG will continue to explore other opportunities to help enhance the stadium’s sustainability efforts such as installing electrical vehicle charging stations to the new stadium. NRG is currently building the nation’s first comprehensive, privately funded electric vehicle charging network.

NRG, the nation’s largest competitive power generator is a leader in providing safe and reliable energy solutions in new and innovative ways to American businesses and consumers. It is also the largest solar power company in the United States with more than 900 megawatts of solar generation in operation or under construction.

About the new Santa Clara Stadium

The Santa Clara stadium will not only be the new home to the San Francisco 49ers, but it will also serve as one of the world’s best outdoor sports and entertainment venues. It was designed by HNTB and is being built by Turner/Devcon. The $1.2 billion venue will have 1.85 million square feet, seat approximately 68,500 and will feature an expected 165 luxury suites and 9,000 club seats. It was designed to be a multi-purpose facility with the flexibility to host a wide range of events, including domestic and international soccer, college football, motocross, concerts and various civic events, and will be expandable for major events such as the Super Bowl. For more information, go to www.newsantaclarastadium.com.

About NRG

NRG is at the forefront of changing how people think about and use energy. We deliver cleaner and smarter energy choices for our customers, backed by the nation’s largest independent power generation portfolio of fossil fuel, nuclear, solar and wind facilities. A Fortune 300 company, NRG is challenging the U.S. energy industry by becoming the largest developer of solar power, building the first privately-funded electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and providing customers with the most advanced smart energy solutions to better manage their energy use. In addition to 47,000 megawatts of generation capacity, enough to supply nearly 40 million homes, our retail electricity providers – Reliant, Green Mountain Energy and Energy Plus – serve more than two million customers. More information is available at www.nrgenergy.com. Connect with NRG Energy on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @nrgenergy.

About the San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers, owned by Denise and John York, currently play in the NFC West division and won each Super Bowl contest it entered, earning five Super Bowl trophies including Super Bowl XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV and XXIX. The franchise also has six conference championships and 19 divisional championships and was the first major league professional sports franchise to be based in San Francisco over 60 years ago. Please visit www.49ers.com and follow the 49ers on Facebook and Twitter @49ers.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available:http://www.businesswire.com/multimedia/home/20130123006305/en/

SOURCE: NRG Energy

The post Santa Clara Stadium will install a number of state-of-the-art solar elements appeared first on SOLAR JOEY.

Download PDF
http://votesolar.org/resources-impacts-of-net-metering-in-california/

Net Metering in California and a solar lease is the best way to offset rising electricity costs! Contact Solar Joey 24/7 about getting setup and solar lease financing. Feel free to get started today with a solar energy quote.

The post Net Metering in California benefits ratepayers! appeared first on SOLAR JOEY.

Power companies in the biggest U.S. solar state are required to buy electricity from home solar generators at the same price they resell it to other customers, meaning utilities earn nothing to cover their fixed costs. The rules are short- sighted because eventually rates must be raised to make up the difference, according to Southern California Edison, which has joined with competitors to estimate potential losses.

As more homes and warehouses get covered in solar panels, higher rates imposed on traditional consumers risk a growing conflict between renewable-energy advocates and power companies that foresee a backlash in California and 42 other states with similar policies. The tension has also emerged in countries including Spain and Germany, where solar investments are curbing investment in the power grid.

“You get into a situation where you have a transmission and distribution system with nobody paying for it,” said Akbar Jazayeri, vice president of regulatory operations at Edison, a unit of Edison International (EIX) and California’s second-largest electric utility.

To deter losses as solar abounds, states typically set a cap on the amount of photovoltaic power utilities must buy under so-called net-metering policies. Those allow a meter to run backward during the hours a day when a home or business is selling the power to the utility. California’s limit is 5 percent of a utility’s aggregate peak load.

California Public Utilities Commission Seal

New Customers

About 20,000 customers of San Diego Gas & Electric had connected 146 megawatts of solar panels to its grid as of Nov. 1, accounting for 1.2 percent of its peak load. The company is adding 409 new net-metering customers a month, said Stephanie Donovan, a spokeswoman for the state’s third-largest utility.

SDG&E currently can’t collect about $18 million to $20 million a year in grid costs from customers with rooftop solar panels, according to Dan Skopec, vice president of regulatory affairs for San Diego-based Sempra Energy (SRE), the utility’s owner.

The utility will be shifting about $200 million in annual costs to customers without panels when the state reaches its cap, Skopec said in an interview. Solar customers “avoid charges, not just for energy, but also the costs of the transmission and distribution system,” he said. “That’s why we say it is not sustainable.”

Passing Costs

Southern California Edison will transfer about $400 million in annual costs to people without solar systems when the state hits the cap, David Song, a spokesman, said in an interview. PG&E Corp. (PCG)’s Pacific Gas & Electric, the state’s biggest utility, will pass on about $700 million a year, according to Denny Boyles, a spokesman, for a total of $1.3 billion from the three utilities.

That’s about 3.9 percent of the $33.5 billion spent on electricity in 2010 in California, based on the latest figures available from the U.S. Energy Department.

“The problem exacerbates with each new system that goes on a roof,” Mark Bachman, an analyst at Boston-based Avian Securities Inc., said in an interview. “Utilities will need to get reimbursed for their grid costs by a shrinking number of consumers.”

California utility customers installed 245 megawatts of solar panels in 2011 and have already added more than 315 megawatts this year, according to the California Solar Initiative, a state program to encourage rooftop energy systems.

Solar Growth

Installations of U.S. residential and commercial solar systems totaled about 1,050 megawatts in the first three quarters of the year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, compared with about 1,100 for all of 2011.

SolarCity Corp. (SCTY), which installs and owns rooftop solar systems, has gained 49 percent since its Dec. 12 initial public offering. The San Mateo, California-based company has built solar power systems on more than 45,000 U.S. building, and its home state is its largest market, according to its website.

Growing demand for rooftop solar has been driven, in part, by net metering, said Eran Mahrer, vice president of utility strategy at the Washington-based Solar Electric Power Association.

The policy “has been the most important tool,” he said in an interview. “There’s a lot of debate about what is fair. The caps provide a checkpoint where regulators and utilities can stop and revisit the effects.”

Raising Caps

The growth is also driving efforts to raise net-metering caps. California revised the way it calculates its limit in May, effectively doubling to about 5 gigawatts the amount of solar energy that state utilities will eventually be required purchase.

California utilities oppose efforts to expand net-metering programs. Solar customers, who typically sell power to the grid when the sun is shining and use the income to offset charges for using electricity at night or on cloudy days, “are just using our system as a storage device,” said Jazayeri. “They should pay something for that service.”

So far, regulators haven’t been sympathetic to utilities’ complaints about rooftop solar power. The California Public Utilities Commissionrejected in January San Diego Gas’s request to impose a “network use charge” that would have added a fee to customers with rooftop solar panels.

Easing Stress

And solar developers say rooftop systems actually benefit the power grid by providing power during the hottest parts of the day. That eases stress on wires and transformers and helps utilities defer maintenance and upgrades, said Todd Pedersen, chief executive officer of Blackstone Group LP’s Vivint Inc., which installs residential solar.

“We need an honest cost-benefit analysis of adding distributed solar to the grid,” Pedersen said in an interview in New York. “It’s in everyone’s interest to resolve this now because I see no signs of slowing as solar becomes cheaper than the utilities in most states.”

In New Jersey, the second-largest solar state, utilities had connected 689 megawatts of net-metered solar power to the grid as of Aug. 31, about 3.6 percent of the state’s 19,000 megawatts of peak demand.

That exceeds the state’s 2.5 percent limit, so regulators may now authorize utilities to stop accepting requests for grid connections. They haven’t yet, partly because New Jersey power companies are required to get 4.1 percent of their electricity from sunlight in 2027 and promoting rooftop solar through net- metering programs will help them reach that goal even if it reduces revenue, the agency said in an e-mail.

German Backlash

People in other countries are protesting higher rates stemming from net-metering programs. In Germany, the world’s largest market,Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing a backlash against higher power bills related to renewable energy. Grid fees will boost household bills an average of 10 percent next year, according to industry analyst Verivox.

Permitting net-metering programs to grow indefinitely is “not sustainable,” said California State Assemblyman Steven Bradford, who represents Los Angeles. He wrote legislation that was approved in August requiring the state to conduct a detailed study on the economic impact of rooftop panels before making any additional changes to the cap. He expects the study to show net metering has a negative impact on utilities and customers who don’t have solar systems.

“You can’t purchase wholesale power at retail prices and not affect your bottom line,” Bradford said in an interview. “Utilities are seeing it already.”

He said rooftop solar is becoming a significant burden to both utilities and consumers, especially the poor who can’t install panels. “Additional costs — and we’re talking about $1 billion in the aggregate — will disproportionately hit people on fixed incomes.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Martin in New York at cmartin11@bloomberg.net; Mark Chediak in San Francisco atmchediak@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net

The post California Utilities Say Solar Raises Costs for Non-Users appeared first on SOLAR JOEY.

Is residential solar right for you?
What to consider before signing up:

Take a look at your bill: At least in financial terms, it doesn’t make sense to shell out for solar – as either a buyer or a leaser – unless you’re already running up a large monthly tab with PG&E. In California, energy hogs are penalized with higher rates. If you’re paying those rates now, solar might look reasonable. Not so for more modest electricity users. Use your bill as a point of reference when considering payment options for solar.

Double-check any promises: A solar service company hoping to sign you up may offer a projection of all the money you’re going save with panels on your roof. That estimate will be based on the difference between your payments to the solar service company and those you would otherwise make to PG&E. How does the company know what utility rates will be over the next 20 years? They don’t, of course. They guess. Make sure you know what that guess is before signing up.

Harnessing energy from the sun, guaranteed: The more electricity your system produces, the more it will eat away at your utility bill. When you’re doing the math on whether solar adds up for you, you’ll want to have a baseline to work with. Find out how much electricity production is guaranteed.

Lease versus power-purchase agreement: The difference between a solar lease and power-purchase agreement boils down to what you’re technically paying for. With a lease, monthly payments are made for the system itself; with a purchase agreement, a homeowner is simply paying for the power it generates. In practice, the distinction is not always so important, because purchase payments can be rearranged from month to month to resemble any lease agreement. It’s more important to focus on the details of the payment plan itself.

Insurance: Most solar service companies will offer insurance as a standard feature of any contract. It’s up to you to make sure that insurance is up to snuff. For example, many companies use independent contracting firms to perform the installation, so check to see whether they carry insurance too.

Plan on moving? If you’ve signed an agreement to have solar panels placed on your roof, you’re tied to that arrangement, whether you’re living under that roof or not. Short of paying to have the entire system moved to your new address, if you decide to sell your home halfway through a lease or purchase agreement, you have two options: Prepay the agreement completely or find a buyer who is as eager to have solar panels as you once were. While many solar service companies will present this as a non-dilemma (who wouldn’t want to buy a house with guaranteed lower electricity bills?), a leased system shouldn’t be thought of as an asset to the value of your home – even if you like it, it’s something that needs to be paid for, which makes it a liability.

Know your payment, love your payment: Solar service companies offer a wide range of payment options – zero down, all at once, fixed, adjustable, or kilowatt per hour. Before deciding on what and how you’ll be paying, it’s important to make sure that it’s an amount you’ll feel comfortable paying for the duration of the agreement, regardless of what happens to PG&E rates or the cost of newer, more efficient solar panels between now and 2032.

Consider all the options: The majority of new solar customers are going with the third-party model, but that doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. If you have enough spare cash to buy a system and pay for installation, insurance and maintenance, and don’t mind the paperwork, consider that. And while it’s unlikely that your bank would offer you more favorable rates, run the numbers on taking out a loan to purchase a system. If you’re really adamant about going green, consider the less-glamorous options, too – weatherproofing your windows, getting more energy-efficient appliances and reducing your energy consumption.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/homeandgarden/article/Is-solar-right-for-your-home-4097935.php

The post Is residential solar right for you? appeared first on SOLAR JOEY.