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I have been reading the forum for a few weeks, i just signed a contract to install 90 sunpower x22-360-ac panels on mt south facing roof. came out to 3.24 per watt pre federal tax rebates. The house is 8400 sf and average power bill is 475$ i thing this will wipe out my current bill.
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You are paying $105K for a 32.4KW system?
And your bill is only $475/month?
If you go from $475 to $0 that's still 12.9 years before you're at "breakeven" (assuming a 30% fed. credit and $0 for the time-value of money)
If the contract you signed has an easy way for you to back out, I would use that to get out of it.
I think you need to get more confidence in what affect a given size system will have on your bill.
ie. "32.4kW will produce in an average year XXXX KwH. My local power company is ZZZZZ. ZZZZZ has net metering that has a true-up once a year. If I produce XXXX kwH in a year and consume the exact same during that year then my bill will be zero." Or "ZZZZZ has net metering and a true-up once a year and they have tiered time-based rates. So if I produce 50% during the peak time and 50% during off-peak, but consume 75% during off-peak then I should be at $0 (plus or minus $200) with my N KwH of production even with only ____ kwh of production."
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I would have spent time getting an energy audit and the spent $$ on conservation measures. After that, and my bill was a slow as conservation could take it, I'd have spent some time understanding the time value of money, process economics and how electricity is billed and use all that to figure out the most cost effective array size (if any) for how long I'd expect to live in the home.
But, not my house/$$/life. Enjoy your system.Comment
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I figure 9 years with the preapoved 4.7% per year increase in power bill for the next 5 years. I actually have 10000sf heated including 1500sf garage, they guarenteed 50355 kWh per year. basically 4200kwh per month. i see it like buying rental property, spend 68000 and get a renter for 475 for 25 years guaranteed , plus future increases in power. I see it a a good deal, I currently have 7 rental homes.Comment
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i recently replaced 3 of my 6 havc sysyems with 18.5 seer systems. all bulbs in househave been replaced with leds, took 400 to peplace all . if i end up banking more power, ill change pool heater to a heat pump vs propane.Comment
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Just out of curiosity, how many tax years do you expect it will take to use up the $31.5k tax credit you get from this system? o_0 Goodness, that monthly estimated production would have nearly covered the total annual consumption of my family of four before we got an EV!Comment
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one, i usuallly have to pay 180k in taxes I know its a lot, but i basically pay 500 per day in taxes
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i went round and round with nogations, i honestly think i did good based on the 360 panels?Comment
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Have you looked at what a realistic average year production will be with that size system?
My experience with these salesmen is that the guaranteed production is very very low - like 20% lower than a realistic "average" year. AND the way they write the guarantee is that if you produce more than the guarantee in year 1 that overproduction carries over to year 2 and beyond. Which means that by year 6 it's likely that the system could be shut off for the whole year and still be OK per the contract.
I don't think I'd consider a rental property for $68k that only gave me $5.7k/year in net income to be a "good" deal.i see it like buying rental property, spend 68000 and get a renter for 475 for 25 years guaranteed , plus future increases in power. I see it a a good deal, I currently have 7 rental homes.
I'd say it's a mediocre deal - something that I'd probably pass up looking for a better deal.
Would you rather pay $68k for $5.7k/year OR $52k for between $4.7k and $5.2k/year?
(I think you could likely get 90 300W panels at ~$2.75/W - which would be after-fed-credit of $52k)
BTW - how did you get $68k?
70% of $105k is $73.5k.
Probably some other credit - so that $52k scenario would likely be even more attractive.
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You may think that, but a fair amount of informed and experienced opinion would say probably not. Sounds like you drank the Sunpower Kool-Aid hype and B.S.
If you have Sunpower, you could have had the same performance and fit for purpose quality for a lot less up front $$ using other equipment. Kind of like the difference between a Mercedes and a Toyota when the job is grocery hauling. Had you spent a bit of time looking around and informing yourself, you would have done better. Sunpower's good stuff, just way overpriced for what it delivers.Comment
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105k x .70 = 73500- 6000= 67500 They are guarenteing a 6000 rebate from duke power carolinas. basically 2.08 after rebates and creditComment
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Ok - looking at an article from the "Charlotte Observer" dated 1/22/2018 it looks like Duke is offering $.60/DC-watt with a max of $6k (10kW).
So the comparison really should be:
Cost: $68k ; Benefit $5.7k/year (maybe - doesn't sound like that's been really fully analyzed.)
vs.
Cost: $46k ; Benefit: Likely between $4.7k and $5.2k/year (might even be higher)
I'd chose the latter - but it's your money.
I'd think I could find a better use for $22k than having it give me less than $1k/year.
Heck, you could buy DUK stock and get back dividends of that much. (I'm not recommending that stock - just using them as an example since they are your POCO)Comment
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