We installed solar electric in July 2007 in Northern California and up to now have been using the excess energy we produced in the summer. When you install solar in PG&E territory you change from a residential customer to a commercial producer and receive a monthly acccounting. As days become shorter and colder we use more electricity and we’re starting to eat into our surplus. Next July will tell if we properly projected our usage and size of our system. Marin Solar did our installation and we are extraordinarily pleased with their service and work. We used Sunpower panels which, at the time, were the most efficient panels available.
Being an accountant, a cost-benefit analysis was a must. Being house rich and cash poor we took out a HELOC loan to pay for the system but our monthly payments are equal to our previous average electric bill. The past 3 years electric bills increased an average of 12% yearly so just keeping the monthly payment the same will save us from energy cost inflation.
I’ve been considering a solar battery charger to keep those pesky batteries on cell phones, iPods & cameras on ready call. Some research though is making me reconsider. The jury is still out on this decision.
Update, July 2008: PG&E, calculated our year-end descrepancy and we owed the equivalent of one month’s bill to them at year end. This was mainly because much of the family decided that “since we have solar, it doesn’t matter how much electricity we use” - NOT!
We’re looking into solar thermal (hot water). I understand it, there is great variation on recommended systems depending on what part of the country that you live in so read this \”Homeowners Perspective\”, based in the San Francisco Bay area, with that in mind. Search out solar hot water information based in your local area for the best info for you.
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