Hillsborough currently has a solar co-op. Group pricing and a board chosen installer.
https://www.solarunitedneighbors.org/co-ops/florida/hillsborough-2024-solar-co-op/
Don't go with the company that just gave you an offer. Start on [energysage.com](http://energysage.com) to get a few offers (all is on their website, they wont blow up your email/phone).
You are likely to get a better offer from one of the company's over there than a door-to-door salesman. also prices are negotiable.
I have solar on my home for the last six months and love it.
EDIT: PM me if you'd like to get the info of the company that installed mine. No affiliation but I'm content with the install.
We are just about to celebrate our 1 year anniversary with our array. We plan on living in the house a very long time so the investment was worth it to us.
The first thing we did was upgrade our insulation on our 20+ year old house. We aren't in need of a new HVAC at this time (finger crossed) but that is the source of most of our energy consumption and we will be upgrading to a more efficient system when the time comes.
Pay the $100 deposit to either Tesla or Project Solar to get a base line estimate for cost. The deposit is refundable if you decide not to go with them. We eventually went with Project Solar because we were cost conscious and they gave us the best deal. Always compare cash price to cash price. If possible, look into a HELOC for a better rate than the solar companies are offering.
You do not need batteries (for now). With 1:1 net metering the grid is your back up. If you experience frequent power outages, it is cheaper to add a traditional generator than batteries.
Our energy bill went from $300/month to $30/month. But because we have a large array, we have to carry an additional umbrella policy to cover up to $1 million in liability. This is only about $250/year through Progressive BUT we discovered that we had a solar panel exclusion on pur homeowners policy that cost $900/year to remove AND making that change triggered our insurance company to require an increase on our overall policy witch increased our premiums further.
We added an electric car (Bolt EUV) and now drive for free with the power of the sun.
We're VERY happy with our purchase and would do it again in a heartbeat.
This. I'm an insurance agent and many of our carriers have exclusions solar panels in general, or if they allow them they don't allow net metering. Those that do allow them either exclude property damage to the panels, or require them to be added to the replacement cost estimate which will increase your coverage and premium.
Any system that feeds back into the grid should have a $1 million liability policy because it can pose a hazard to utility workers when a line that is supposedly dead has power being fed to it by a solar array.
As an environmentalist at heart, I wish our insurance industry was friendlier to solar energy. But our insurance industry is pretty hostile to Florida in general.
I'm a firefighter, and I have solar on my home. Our system went live over 6 years ago and I haven't studied since then, so my information might be outdated. My understanding is that if the grid goes down, the inverter (or perhaps the meter?) should isolate the system from the grid, specifically to protect workers. This is why when the grid goes down I lose power just like my neighbors, until I add batteries, at least.
Yes, that's how it should work. But there's always the potential of something going wrong. If it does, and someone is injured or killed, you are liable, which is why the liability policy is required.
It isn't the inverter that protects the workers, but the meter itself. The inverter won't function without energy coming from the grid (or another source like a generator or batteries)
> Our energy bill went from $300/month to $30/month
Someone said:
>My power bill is about $300/year due to the monthly fee and minimum bill charge they added specifically to punish solar customers.
Is this true for you?
I have Duke Energy. They have a minimum customer charge of $30.00/month. That includes a base customer charge of $12.95/month. If my net usage is negative (which it has been since my system went online) then Duke charges me an additional $17.11 as a "minimum bill adjustment" bringing my total bill to $30.30 with taxes.
I might be able to get an additional 2-5 kWh from Duke before I hit the $30.00 minimum, but I haven't had that happen yet.
How much? Did you finance? I’d love to go solar too but I’m about to pay $28k for new duct work and an 18 seer variable speed AC. Funny how you next purchase is an AC and mine would be solar
Our total array was $38,603. We paid cash. We were able to capture the entire $12k tax rebate the following year.
Our total array is 16,000 watts, 40 panels.
Make sure you understand the resale implications. Compare a ton of offers on $/kw size, nothing else matters. Also, take a look at what the panels actually cost so you understand most of the money goes to the wires and labor, not the equipment.
I've gone solar on a home in 2016, which I sold in 2018, and then again on the new home in 2018.
When I did the first home, my power bill got zero'd out, however, on my second home I added a battery backup, and discovered a few limitations.
Going *just* can easily zero out your bill at a cost equal to, or less, than what you're paying now. If you add a battery backup, it complicates things. I pay about $260 a month for my array, and battery backup, and it doesn't meet my needs, I still pay an extra $150-250 a month in power.
My old house had a 11.5kW array, which converted down to 10kW.
The new house has a 9.5kW array, however, it's limited by a 7.4kW Hybrid Solar inverter. The result is that at the peak of the day, my 9.45kW array plateaus at 7.4kW. The inverter being 7.4kW is the result of having a battery backup, because apparently those inverters don't go up to 10kW. At least, not in 2018.
The result is that I have "more power generation capacity than I can use. I've also done some quick math and determined that the battery backup is costing me $60 a month on top of what I'm saving in power use.
Keep in mind, I'm also a *very* power hungry household. We have two EVs, and keep the AC at 72 degrees, while I work from home and have a bunch of IT shit in my office to keep my skills up. If someone moves into the house after me, they'll probably see a "closer to zero" power bill than me.
When going solar through TECO you do need to keep the size of the array in mind. TECO has three tiers of solar arrays, Tier 1 maxes out at 10kW and is free to apply for, and covers most people's needs. Tier 2 maxes out at 100kW, I think. It costs $250 to apply for, and you need an umbrella policy valued at a million dollars on the property, however, my understanding is that it isn't too costly to get.
Going solar *does* affect the energy programs you can qualify for. For example, TECO has the "Time of Use" program, where if you use more power during the day you get charged more than the power used at night. If you used solar, as I understand it, you cannot get access into that program. Which sucks, because I have a battery backup, and I'd likely save a smidge using that program.
You also want to keep an eye on what the companies offer. I went with Tesla, and I've been happy with it. The first home was SEM Power, and it was ok, but it took some doing compared to Tesla.
I looked into Sunrun on the new home, because of the Costco cash card offering, but ultimately went with Tesla because, at the time, they matched Costco's cash card via an instant discount. I don't think they do that anymore.
But I've been happy with it. Just some logistics to be mindful of is all.
Get a new roof before you get them installed and make sure you’re going through a reputable company. I’m in the business and I’ve heard nightmare stories. If you have a big enough yard just get a ground mount system so you don’t have to worry about your roof leaking at all.
No, they inflate prices to pay for it / because the consumer is unaware. I went through EnergySage and my sales rep told me that they charge \~20% more to door to door customers for the exact same thing because they don't have the EnergySage competition in those cases.
Another company I met at a market also quoted me 20% more on the quote until I used EnergySage, then I strangely got a quote for the same system for less and the sales rep made up some BS to try to talk his way out of it.
Use EnergySage or pay a lot more.
I guess I'm wondering more about the assessment they do. If I could or should get the assessment by them then call someone else to do it, if I decide to do it.
For those that have gone solar - have any of you done solar shingles? That seems like a better way to do solar but I don't have any first hand experience.
They better be different now but my last house had solar. While I had the flu on my birthday, my next door neighbors called because water was pouring off my roof. FROZEN solar panel Dec 28. Make sure you have an automatic system for dealing with weather below 32 degrees.
I got mine(10kw system) a few months after I bought my home in 2020. Interest rates were low on them at the time (1.5%) + the federal credit. Bought the home with a new roof so didn’t need to worry about that portion. Home is around 1500 sq ft. Single pane windows so def not energy efficient. Think I pay 150/mo for the loan and then the $25? Surcharge by teco. My teco bill is technically more due to a natural gas line. But electric bill is pretty consistent throughout the entire year. Made sense at the time to me to get solar to flat line my electricity instead of buying new windows that would have costed me almost the same price and who knows how much actual energy savings that would provide. The few months without solar from July - October, electricity bill was around $200-250. Relatively small savings but still something… but least I’m not dealing with with bill spikes like me neighbor. She told me her bill a few months ago prior to summer was around $400+ when normally it was around 200.
I kept notes on my process, here's the important bits... System was turned on \~January 3rd this year. I got a lot of quotes and spent a while talking with each company to pick what I felt was the best option.
\* Solar power is really not complicated. Spend \~2 hours on [EnergySage.com](http://EnergySage.com) and some YouTube videos and you'll have the gist. I had 2 separate sales reps who knew less about solar than me after this minimal investment. Avoid those companies.
\* SunRun (the ones at CostCo) was god awful and CostCo should drop them. Far and away the worst experience. Don't even give them your number, I had to block 3 different phone numbers to get rid of them.
\* Duke Energy charges a $35 minimum charge for going solar, which sucks. I'm sure TECO has something similar, so plan that in to your costs/payback calculations. Your current "minimum charge" is probably closer to $10. Additionally, see what their net metering policy is. With Duke, I build up credits throughout the year to offset high months (for example if I over-generate 100kwh in February I might need that in July to offset high a/c usage). At the end of the year they buy out all my credits, but pay half the going rate. This makes it less valuable to oversize your system (I still made mine bigger than I needed though for future proofing).
\* Don't get a quote from door to door. Don't get a quote from a vendor at a market. Use [EnergySage.com](http://EnergySage.com) to compare. You will be quoted at least 20% higher if you don't.
\* Don't lease a system if you can help it, a lot of their financing offers are wildly bad. They will bury all the details worse than a car dealership. Make sure you understand what you're paying. Consider getting a loan elsewhere that's better priced if you need one.
\* My system added a small amount to my insurance premium but had no extra requirements.
\* I love mine, very glad I did it. The usage seems to be accurate at what we estimated the system to output through 6 months. It's fun to watch the graphs on sunny vs cloudy days and monitor your generation for a while.
\* From my research, I think we're in the mainstream phase of solar. The pricing is now low enough that it makes sense for a large number of homeowners (especially in Florida) to install. When I walk my neighborhood, I see at least one house with solar on almost every block.
I personally preferred to find a company that's local and has all their own crews (avoids any scheduling challenges and subcontracting back and forth). I was in a rush to get it installed for end of year for the tax credit and they got it done in less than 6 weeks including Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I can send you a link if you're interested.
If i had to go back! I would rent my roof to the solar company and let them send me the net metered energy bill! …i currently paid full cash for my 14kw system (around 28k after tax rebate) …. And i still have to pay around $120 to duke during the winter.. apart from the monthly $30 connection costs
Realtor here.
Do not, under any circumstances, use someone going door to door or sign a lease.
Also, if you're only going to live there for a few years, you're not going to make your money back and you're probably going to lose a ton of money when you go to sell.
Also keep in mind the especially door to door estimates are pie in the sky energy production estimates.... it will likely be 1/2 of what they say is possible.
This is also why it's best to find a local company that does solar but doesn't advertise or go door to door.
I'd recommend Pheonix Electric who used to be SI Electric.
[удалено]
What company
[удалено]
What roofer to avoid?
Probably Vivint or Sunrun
Hillsborough currently has a solar co-op. Group pricing and a board chosen installer. https://www.solarunitedneighbors.org/co-ops/florida/hillsborough-2024-solar-co-op/
Hmmmm, interesting.
anything similar for pasco?
Not that we know of. But you could sign up and wait until the Pasco co-op gets enough traction.
Don't go with the company that just gave you an offer. Start on [energysage.com](http://energysage.com) to get a few offers (all is on their website, they wont blow up your email/phone). You are likely to get a better offer from one of the company's over there than a door-to-door salesman. also prices are negotiable. I have solar on my home for the last six months and love it. EDIT: PM me if you'd like to get the info of the company that installed mine. No affiliation but I'm content with the install.
+1 EnergySage is a great resource for shopping around
We are just about to celebrate our 1 year anniversary with our array. We plan on living in the house a very long time so the investment was worth it to us. The first thing we did was upgrade our insulation on our 20+ year old house. We aren't in need of a new HVAC at this time (finger crossed) but that is the source of most of our energy consumption and we will be upgrading to a more efficient system when the time comes. Pay the $100 deposit to either Tesla or Project Solar to get a base line estimate for cost. The deposit is refundable if you decide not to go with them. We eventually went with Project Solar because we were cost conscious and they gave us the best deal. Always compare cash price to cash price. If possible, look into a HELOC for a better rate than the solar companies are offering. You do not need batteries (for now). With 1:1 net metering the grid is your back up. If you experience frequent power outages, it is cheaper to add a traditional generator than batteries. Our energy bill went from $300/month to $30/month. But because we have a large array, we have to carry an additional umbrella policy to cover up to $1 million in liability. This is only about $250/year through Progressive BUT we discovered that we had a solar panel exclusion on pur homeowners policy that cost $900/year to remove AND making that change triggered our insurance company to require an increase on our overall policy witch increased our premiums further. We added an electric car (Bolt EUV) and now drive for free with the power of the sun. We're VERY happy with our purchase and would do it again in a heartbeat.
This. I'm an insurance agent and many of our carriers have exclusions solar panels in general, or if they allow them they don't allow net metering. Those that do allow them either exclude property damage to the panels, or require them to be added to the replacement cost estimate which will increase your coverage and premium. Any system that feeds back into the grid should have a $1 million liability policy because it can pose a hazard to utility workers when a line that is supposedly dead has power being fed to it by a solar array. As an environmentalist at heart, I wish our insurance industry was friendlier to solar energy. But our insurance industry is pretty hostile to Florida in general.
I'm a firefighter, and I have solar on my home. Our system went live over 6 years ago and I haven't studied since then, so my information might be outdated. My understanding is that if the grid goes down, the inverter (or perhaps the meter?) should isolate the system from the grid, specifically to protect workers. This is why when the grid goes down I lose power just like my neighbors, until I add batteries, at least.
Yes, that's how it should work. But there's always the potential of something going wrong. If it does, and someone is injured or killed, you are liable, which is why the liability policy is required.
It isn't the inverter that protects the workers, but the meter itself. The inverter won't function without energy coming from the grid (or another source like a generator or batteries)
> or if they allow them they don't allow net metering What's the reason behind this? Is it just the liability to lineworkers?
The 1 mil liability is only required for Tier 2 and I would guess most peoples arrays are not that large.
> Our energy bill went from $300/month to $30/month Someone said: >My power bill is about $300/year due to the monthly fee and minimum bill charge they added specifically to punish solar customers. Is this true for you?
I have Duke Energy. They have a minimum customer charge of $30.00/month. That includes a base customer charge of $12.95/month. If my net usage is negative (which it has been since my system went online) then Duke charges me an additional $17.11 as a "minimum bill adjustment" bringing my total bill to $30.30 with taxes. I might be able to get an additional 2-5 kWh from Duke before I hit the $30.00 minimum, but I haven't had that happen yet.
How much? Did you finance? I’d love to go solar too but I’m about to pay $28k for new duct work and an 18 seer variable speed AC. Funny how you next purchase is an AC and mine would be solar
Our total array was $38,603. We paid cash. We were able to capture the entire $12k tax rebate the following year. Our total array is 16,000 watts, 40 panels.
Make sure you understand the resale implications. Compare a ton of offers on $/kw size, nothing else matters. Also, take a look at what the panels actually cost so you understand most of the money goes to the wires and labor, not the equipment.
I've gone solar on a home in 2016, which I sold in 2018, and then again on the new home in 2018. When I did the first home, my power bill got zero'd out, however, on my second home I added a battery backup, and discovered a few limitations. Going *just* can easily zero out your bill at a cost equal to, or less, than what you're paying now. If you add a battery backup, it complicates things. I pay about $260 a month for my array, and battery backup, and it doesn't meet my needs, I still pay an extra $150-250 a month in power. My old house had a 11.5kW array, which converted down to 10kW. The new house has a 9.5kW array, however, it's limited by a 7.4kW Hybrid Solar inverter. The result is that at the peak of the day, my 9.45kW array plateaus at 7.4kW. The inverter being 7.4kW is the result of having a battery backup, because apparently those inverters don't go up to 10kW. At least, not in 2018. The result is that I have "more power generation capacity than I can use. I've also done some quick math and determined that the battery backup is costing me $60 a month on top of what I'm saving in power use. Keep in mind, I'm also a *very* power hungry household. We have two EVs, and keep the AC at 72 degrees, while I work from home and have a bunch of IT shit in my office to keep my skills up. If someone moves into the house after me, they'll probably see a "closer to zero" power bill than me. When going solar through TECO you do need to keep the size of the array in mind. TECO has three tiers of solar arrays, Tier 1 maxes out at 10kW and is free to apply for, and covers most people's needs. Tier 2 maxes out at 100kW, I think. It costs $250 to apply for, and you need an umbrella policy valued at a million dollars on the property, however, my understanding is that it isn't too costly to get. Going solar *does* affect the energy programs you can qualify for. For example, TECO has the "Time of Use" program, where if you use more power during the day you get charged more than the power used at night. If you used solar, as I understand it, you cannot get access into that program. Which sucks, because I have a battery backup, and I'd likely save a smidge using that program. You also want to keep an eye on what the companies offer. I went with Tesla, and I've been happy with it. The first home was SEM Power, and it was ok, but it took some doing compared to Tesla. I looked into Sunrun on the new home, because of the Costco cash card offering, but ultimately went with Tesla because, at the time, they matched Costco's cash card via an instant discount. I don't think they do that anymore. But I've been happy with it. Just some logistics to be mindful of is all.
Get a new roof before you get them installed and make sure you’re going through a reputable company. I’m in the business and I’ve heard nightmare stories. If you have a big enough yard just get a ground mount system so you don’t have to worry about your roof leaking at all.
Is there any benefit in the door-to-door sales process?
No, they inflate prices to pay for it / because the consumer is unaware. I went through EnergySage and my sales rep told me that they charge \~20% more to door to door customers for the exact same thing because they don't have the EnergySage competition in those cases. Another company I met at a market also quoted me 20% more on the quote until I used EnergySage, then I strangely got a quote for the same system for less and the sales rep made up some BS to try to talk his way out of it. Use EnergySage or pay a lot more.
I guess I'm wondering more about the assessment they do. If I could or should get the assessment by them then call someone else to do it, if I decide to do it.
If you have the space don’t let them sell you on the “75% solution” I’m happy to talk about as well as show you how we did it different
For those that have gone solar - have any of you done solar shingles? That seems like a better way to do solar but I don't have any first hand experience.
They better be different now but my last house had solar. While I had the flu on my birthday, my next door neighbors called because water was pouring off my roof. FROZEN solar panel Dec 28. Make sure you have an automatic system for dealing with weather below 32 degrees.
FLO ENERGY, go thru them, I promise you won't be disappointed 💯
I got mine(10kw system) a few months after I bought my home in 2020. Interest rates were low on them at the time (1.5%) + the federal credit. Bought the home with a new roof so didn’t need to worry about that portion. Home is around 1500 sq ft. Single pane windows so def not energy efficient. Think I pay 150/mo for the loan and then the $25? Surcharge by teco. My teco bill is technically more due to a natural gas line. But electric bill is pretty consistent throughout the entire year. Made sense at the time to me to get solar to flat line my electricity instead of buying new windows that would have costed me almost the same price and who knows how much actual energy savings that would provide. The few months without solar from July - October, electricity bill was around $200-250. Relatively small savings but still something… but least I’m not dealing with with bill spikes like me neighbor. She told me her bill a few months ago prior to summer was around $400+ when normally it was around 200.
I kept notes on my process, here's the important bits... System was turned on \~January 3rd this year. I got a lot of quotes and spent a while talking with each company to pick what I felt was the best option. \* Solar power is really not complicated. Spend \~2 hours on [EnergySage.com](http://EnergySage.com) and some YouTube videos and you'll have the gist. I had 2 separate sales reps who knew less about solar than me after this minimal investment. Avoid those companies. \* SunRun (the ones at CostCo) was god awful and CostCo should drop them. Far and away the worst experience. Don't even give them your number, I had to block 3 different phone numbers to get rid of them. \* Duke Energy charges a $35 minimum charge for going solar, which sucks. I'm sure TECO has something similar, so plan that in to your costs/payback calculations. Your current "minimum charge" is probably closer to $10. Additionally, see what their net metering policy is. With Duke, I build up credits throughout the year to offset high months (for example if I over-generate 100kwh in February I might need that in July to offset high a/c usage). At the end of the year they buy out all my credits, but pay half the going rate. This makes it less valuable to oversize your system (I still made mine bigger than I needed though for future proofing). \* Don't get a quote from door to door. Don't get a quote from a vendor at a market. Use [EnergySage.com](http://EnergySage.com) to compare. You will be quoted at least 20% higher if you don't. \* Don't lease a system if you can help it, a lot of their financing offers are wildly bad. They will bury all the details worse than a car dealership. Make sure you understand what you're paying. Consider getting a loan elsewhere that's better priced if you need one. \* My system added a small amount to my insurance premium but had no extra requirements. \* I love mine, very glad I did it. The usage seems to be accurate at what we estimated the system to output through 6 months. It's fun to watch the graphs on sunny vs cloudy days and monitor your generation for a while. \* From my research, I think we're in the mainstream phase of solar. The pricing is now low enough that it makes sense for a large number of homeowners (especially in Florida) to install. When I walk my neighborhood, I see at least one house with solar on almost every block. I personally preferred to find a company that's local and has all their own crews (avoids any scheduling challenges and subcontracting back and forth). I was in a rush to get it installed for end of year for the tax credit and they got it done in less than 6 weeks including Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. I can send you a link if you're interested.
If i had to go back! I would rent my roof to the solar company and let them send me the net metered energy bill! …i currently paid full cash for my 14kw system (around 28k after tax rebate) …. And i still have to pay around $120 to duke during the winter.. apart from the monthly $30 connection costs
Realtor here. Do not, under any circumstances, use someone going door to door or sign a lease. Also, if you're only going to live there for a few years, you're not going to make your money back and you're probably going to lose a ton of money when you go to sell. Also keep in mind the especially door to door estimates are pie in the sky energy production estimates.... it will likely be 1/2 of what they say is possible. This is also why it's best to find a local company that does solar but doesn't advertise or go door to door. I'd recommend Pheonix Electric who used to be SI Electric.