Solar companies..good, bad, ugly?

[Houndoc]

Looking into doing the solar panel thing at home, as well as possibly the veterinary clinic.

With all the push for tax credits, no out of pocket etc is seems like an industry ripe for scams and shoddy work, not to mention some jobs look down right horrible.

Any experience positive or otherwise with any of the companies out there?

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Its just not worth it to me. Every year the solar panels get better and better. Which sucks, because you can't upgrade them every year.

Another thing that pisses me off, is that I can't use them as back up power for my house if the power goes out. I might as well just hook my 4000 watt diesel generator up to the house anyway. I'll be able to run my fridge, heater and other things pretty easy.

 

[Tonkaman]

I talked with a really nice guy from Vivant about it. Honestly I'm convinced that if you plan to stay out for 20 years it will definitely be worth it.

I basically had papers in my hand to sign, when I changed my mind. The only reason I backed out is that I don't plan to stay put long term and I don't think I'd get enough money back or an increase in home value.

The tax credit was pretty good, something like 30% of the system cost, if you meet certain criteria. My system would have been for 80% production (average monthly power) and cost me $140 a month for 20 years. Now remember I would still be paying to be in the grid and an average of 20% of my power consumption. That's still pretty cheap since the power would be in the low tier price bracket. Anything I generate goes back to RMP and they credit my account. This means that after a year or so the credits would accumulate to help pay for that extra 20% of power I need in the summer months.

I also ran the numbers to go 100% solar power but it just doesn't create enough benefit for the added cost. Mine nearly doubled the amount!

Anyway, I could ramble on for another hour! Honestly it's fascinating stuff, and I'll look into it deeper down the road. If you'd like that guys contact info I can dig it up for you.

 

[Tonkaman]

Oh I forgot to point out that it is a tact credit not a rebate. So unless you need more tax deductions it may not be as good as it looks

 

[Brad J]

I live less than a mile away from Intermountain Wind and Solar and have a few bids from them the last couple years. Several of my neighbors have used them with great results. We would have had panels installed years ago if our roof did not need to be replaced. We are waiting for the time and money to do that first. We have had bids from a few other companies and some say they will get back to us but never do. My cousin is with one of the smaller Solar Panel companies and he said to go with Intermountain Wind and Solar if I don't go with him. We had a visit from Solar Brio a couple weeks ago but they seem to want to Lease the panels and had some bad online reviews. I would not go the lease route. My neighbor that was the first one in our neighborhood to get Panels had the money to buy the system without getting a loan. He wrote out a check for it and loves now only paying $12/month. Made me very jealous.

http://www.intermtnwindandsolar.com/

 

[smartass_kid]

asked same question before wife and i split


https://www.rme4x4.com/showthread.php?113179-Going-solar-yea-or-nay

 

[moab_cj5]

For me the payback was longer than the lifespan of the panels. Like Nate, and others have stated, it just isn't worth the investment right now for me. If you run the numbers and have a good payback, do it! I would say that the cheaper the bid (from my experience with my neighbors), the worse the install and the worse the panels.

 

[Houndoc]

In my case, we do plan on being in the house long term, and unfortunately pay enough in taxes to benefit at both state and federal level.

I am not looking at it simply as cost savings measure- at least at home (looking into as well for my business and that is not looking to be a good investment) but also trying to do some little bit of good for the environment.

So the big question to me is which companies are good, who to run away from.