thoughts on solar panels?

[FLA]

my father has been getting solar panel quotes, I don't think we're going to do it. We'd have to do the rental kind due to cost of buying them outright so no tax savings and our power bill is not quoted as all that much lower than what we pay now.

has anyone done this?

[Fishindude77]

Do the math. Was pretty hard to justify at $70,000 install price for enough to provide my full power needs, even with the big 1/3 tax write off and getting some additional returns in "green energy credits".

It's a real long payback, and who knows if the equipment will last that long?

[FLA]

since we wouldn't own, they would do all the maintaining, we cannot afford to buy outright. So the math is supposedly a roughly $50 savings on power every month but there's no guarantee. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the risk vs savings.

[optimist]

my father has been getting solar panel quotes, I don't think we're going to do it. We'd have to do the rental kind due to cost of buying them outright so no tax savings and our power bill is not quoted as all that much lower than what we pay now.

has anyone done this?

We looked into installing rented solar panels provided by Solar City. Supposedly that would cost us nothing and would lower energy bills a bit. However, Solar City has really terrible reviews, plus the lease is for 30 years, and if you sell the house the lease conveys - so that might be a problem.

[bjl584]

The payback on them is probably pretty long.

If you live somewhere with lots of sun they could be a good investment. I live somewhere where it's cloudy a considerable amount of the time, so solar panels probably wouldn't be that economical to install here.

[Drake3287]

I also think the price is to expensive based on my monthly electric bill or possible savings. Although our utility bill is gas & electric combined, I'm guessing our electric is only $50. a month. Both my water and garbage bill is way more then that.

[ThinkingCapital]

In general, I've found that they'e tough to justify when it comes to cost. It's hard to make your money back in savings.

[FLA]

so far I have not been impressed by the two companies that came. I'm trying to talk my dad out of jumping on.

[MakeAStash]

Leasing is like having credit card debt. I don't want to be, in effect, paying someone for decades. Plus it makes your house harder to sell since the new buyers are stuck with what to them will appear an old, inefficient system.