(02-19-2024, 02:08 PM)Hurricane Wrote:

(02-19-2024, 10:51 AM)WingerDinger Wrote: I guess it depends on the system and the number of panels.. I have a ten panel system that does a pretty good job for the size home we own. 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1600 sq ft.. Huge difference in my electric bill. Down roughly from $250 per month to anywhere from $50 to $100 a month..

Our electric provider also gives us a check once a year for energy buy-back.. Basically we sell the energy that we don't use, back to our electric provider..

Worth it in the long run if you can afford it now.. We purchased our system years ago. My wife's sister is purchasing a new solar system for her home up in PA, and she's being charged $25k..

We paid a small fraction of that, years ago..

Where I live in Northwest Ohio, theres very few people I know using solar. I'm just not sure if it would be the right choice for someone like me. Divorced, bought a small house. My son turns 15 in a few weeks so it won't be too many years from now and he will move out. 

The house I bought was a small, over 100 year old house. I refinished everything, including reinsulating, wiring, furnace/central air, etc. My electric bills currently are actually pretty awesome. I average about $80 a month, super cold months like Jan was, a bit more. It actually broke $135. Seen a bunch of people complaining about having $600-$900 bills. I do have gas for the furnace, but thats about $40 a month. 

So all in all, I'm not sure if the investment into solar would be beneficial for me or not. Seems the costs for the setup and installation are going crazy anymore.

It sounds like it would be a waste of money in your situation unless you lose power on the regular. The grids are getting older and power companies don't maintain and upgrade as often as they should, so reliable electric service could become an issue down the line. 

Or you could have a freak incident like we did in my county in December 2022 when idiots shot up and destroyed some equipment at a couple of substations and 90% of us were out of power for five days. Duke Energy had to have equipment brought in from out of state and their guys worked 24/7 to get us back online. Guess who paid for it? Not the people who caused the problem  and not Duke. 

I'd love a system just to be more self reliant but where we live currently it's not an option.

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