Solar City
Few weeks ago we started researching Solar panels for our Los Gatos home and contacted Solar City for a bid. When Solar City contacted us their front line folks rejected our roof’s ability to generate enough solar power to justify the cost.
However, my husband was not going to take no that easily. So, he contacted them back and requested more info about how much square feet of rood space Solar City would need to cover our current usage. See, our challenge is that our home gets shades from 2 giant Redwoods that are in front and backyard of our Los Gatos home. And most Solar installers in the past few years were telling us that our roof has too much shade to justify a Solar installation.
But I am glad we didn’t give up the 1st time he heard the word NO. And you should not either. Our request led us to a conversation with a Solar City consultant that was helpful in developing alternative mapping of panels in other parts of the roof. However, to make sure we were on the right track, we provided this Solar City consultant the electric utility usage information which is available from PG&E when you login to your account.
The way these programs work is that these Solar companies are purchasing the solar power generated from your roof at a deep discount and are selling it back to the utilities to cover their cost of the equipment and the installation. What is the benefit the home owner you ask!? Well, home owners benefit from the reduce cost of utilities and the addition of Solar power should also make the home more marketable since it will cost much less to own and operate such a home.
Our average monthly bill for PG&E was $275 per month. The bid from Solar City will reduce it to $100 per month fixed for the next 20 years. We are still reviewing the proposal from Solar City to see what our options will be in 20 years since we plan to keep this house more than 20 years.
What are you doing about your rising utility costs and carbon foot print?