Considering getting solar panels for my house this year before the rebate drops next year. Looking at purchasing rather than lease but have not ruled out the lease just yet. I have a newer home that is prewired for solar. Home is approx 2k sq/ft with energy bills averaging $165 during the summer and $65 during the winter (heat is natural gas). I do own a tesla but we have free super charging for 2 years otherwise electic bill would be around $65 more per month. PG&E has a metered system so the excess solar is sold back to the grid and credits my account. I’m considering Tesla energy for solar panels since they seem to be the cheapest. Who here has got it and what has been your experience? Does it live up to the kWh selling point they advertise for California? What did you do to calculate if its worth the investment? Did you also get the power wall? Tc: 475k 16 yoe. edit: here is the costs of the solar panels. Price does not inclue 30% tax credit. small: 14-19 kWh per day. $10,773 or $65/mo lease. (currently favoring this system as it would make my power bill $0 for the year) med: 29-39 kWh per day. $21,546 or $130/mo lease. large: 43-59 kWh per day. $32,319 or $195/mo lease.
Worth looking into all the law suits facing Tesla solar due to so many fires.
Yep. Reading about it. Although it seem rare and the cause is a faulty connector, which I would hope has been rectified in the current units....I hope. My roof is concrete tiles, so risk of a fire burning through it is not very high.
Since PG&E credits you for unused generated power, the only benefit of powerwall is during blackout, IMO. Unless you want to completely get “off the grid” it’s probably not worth the investment. I don’t have Tesla solar, but my general advice is to go with a bigger array to account for future increase in energy consumption. Once you get solar, you will likely want to cut down on the gas use (electric drier, electric stove, radiant floors, etc), so the energy use might increase significantly for you unless you are OK to continue using gas too.
My feelings exactly. I don’t think I need to go completely off the grid right now. And personally I like gas (for cooking) at least. Changing out my HVAC for a heat pump or some other system is not an option. I’m not that committed. 😬
With 475kTC you can easily pay cash without a single thought. So the cost is almost irrelevant from a cash flow affordability perspective. But with such low power bills the actual ROI of the cost will take a long time. Assume you dont have kids or run AC much? If you add kids and run AC more during kid years it will help ROI, as you will be doing shit tons of laundry and dish washer and cooling the house for kids. If those are not likely scenarios then the ROI timeline becomes fuzzier. But obviously you can afford it and perhaps selling back to the grid enough will help too. unless your power bills are 300-400$ the solar discussion is murky and hard to quantify for many. Charging the car at home in 2 yrs will also help. YMMV
Yep. All thoughts I’ve been having. I have 2 young kids so we’re running appliances and AC a lot. Even with that electric bills are not super high. The house has amazing insulation. Since the cost of solar is dropping every year, I’m thinking of waiting 2 years when I actually have to pay to charge my Tesla. I might have two Tesla’s by then. The cost then might be cheap enough to offset the tax credits today. Currently the break even point is like a decade or more depending on the size of the system. But I would recoup some of this cost in the value added to the home (for purchases only).
Your bills are so low, why would you bother? My electricity bill is 190 in summer and 260 in winter, also have an EV. I still don’t think the high cost of solar justifies any savings even with these bills
I may be able to get you a system that makes sense. Open to talking?
Decided to hold off on this. Cost doesn’t really add up. Maybe if I had a drafty old house that sucked energy use like crazy, I would totally go for it. Costs needs to be much lower to take the plunge. Caveat...deciding factor was the Tesla system requires a powerwall now. Would be convenient with the future power outages we will likely see. But not at this price.
Agree with the comment below, have you looked into a lease? I can get you a quote if you want to crunch the numbers.
You don't have to go with Tesla itself you can look at other panels too. Add the tesla battery later when outages are more regular. My bill is similar to you 70-90 all year around. I am skeptical to about going solar.
I urge you to rent the panels instead of buying them. More economical.
How did your find out that you have pge metered system?
Do it!