Home Solar Energy Pricing

sunnyside3
sunnyside3 Registered Users Posts: 3
in General Solar Power Topics #1
Hey guys,

I am just doing a little research on what people are willing to pay for solar energy. I was hoping you could give me some feedback on the questions below:

Would you be willing to double your electricity bills for the 5 years in order to receive your average electricity consumption for the next 25+ years? (it would be solar energy)

How about 1.5x your bills for the next 10 years for 25 years of solar energy?

Would you be willing to pay a very large upfront cost, slightly above $10,000, in the form of a prepayment to receive the delivery of solar energy that will fulfill your average monthly kWh usage for the next 25+ years?

Please let me know your thoughts!

Thanks!
SS
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Comments

  • NorthGuy
    NorthGuy Solar Expert Posts: 1,913 ✭✭
    #2
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing
    sunnyside3 wrote: »
    Would you be willing to pay a very large upfront cost, slightly above $10,000, in the form of a prepayment to receive the delivery of solar energy that will fulfill your average monthly kWh usage for the next 25+ years?

    I just did. Although it was substantially more than $10K.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing

    welcome,
    i'm not sure what it is exactly you are asking here as solar almost always costs more than a pre-existing utility cost, ok at least for comparing to off grid. gt may have a viable payback period but it is often nearly a decade or longer for most of those to break even. we would never advise to increase your power usage as we say the exact opposite in that we condone the conservation of power. it is cheaper to save a watt than produce it.
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,613 admin
    #4
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing

    I did too--"pre-pay" my energy bill... I also did this to "grandfather" my access to a particular rate plan that was advantageous to utility customers (time of use with heavy weighting for power I generate--or use--between noon and 6pm during the "summer").

    However--I also realize there is a big risk that my utility will change from a $4 per month billing cost + $0.30+/$0.09 per kWH charge for power to a $40+ per month base charge and a $0.06 per kWH for power costs (and equal or lower amount payment for power I generate)...

    Grid Tied power only makes sense because of current laws and regulations. It could easily not make sense if the rules are changed to be more favorable for the utility (in my humble opinion, in California--in general--the rate plans are generally weighted in the favor of residential customers).

    I would suggest that conservation is always the best first use of money... GT Solar is, currently, an OK use of money--especially for people that use a lot of power (over ~900 kWH per month in California). But it is a gamble.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,006 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing

    Kinda odd questions to ask on a solar forum. Most people here understand that solar tends to be more expensive than Grid. and most have paid more in some sense.

    I've got slightly less than $10K invested, and I hope I won't put more money into it until the electronics fail in 7-10 years, or the battery dies in @13yrs. Gird tied will also have an expense in 10-15 years or replacing their inverter, unless you intend to establish a company that will provide this and insure the replacement of inverters and insure the functioning of the solar panels/wiring, also insure that the utility won't change the defining of their 'net metering' by establishing higher line/User fees to cover fixed costs. reducing the amount they consider 'deferred electrical costs'
    Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
    - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.
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  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing
    sunnyside3 wrote: »
    Hey guys,

    I am just doing a little research on what people are willing to pay for solar energy. I was hoping you could give me some feedback on the questions below:

    Would you be willing to double your electricity bills for the 5 years in order to receive your average electricity consumption for the next 25+ years? (it would be solar energy)

    How about 1.5x your bills for the next 10 years for 25 years of solar energy?

    Would you be willing to pay a very large upfront cost, slightly above $10,000, in the form of a prepayment to receive the delivery of solar energy that will fulfill your average monthly kWh usage for the next 25+ years?

    Please let me know your thoughts!

    Thanks!
    SS
    Off grid or grid tied? They are two totally different markets with very different ROI pictures.
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  • sunnyside3
    sunnyside3 Registered Users Posts: 3
    #7
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing
    ggunn wrote: »
    Off grid or grid tied? They are two totally different markets with very different ROI pictures.

    You would only be receiving the power...no ownership of the facility or leasing structure.
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  • Eric L
    Eric L Solar Expert Posts: 262 ✭✭
    #8
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing
    Would you be willing to pay a very large upfront cost, slightly above $10,000, in the form of a prepayment to receive the delivery of solar energy that will fulfill your average monthly kWh usage for the next 25+ years?

    I think we need more information to give an informed answer.

    For example, is the idea that you would make this upfront payment and then be guaranteed to receive 25+ years of your average electrical usage at no further cost? Or is it that you would make this payment, and then just go back to paying for electricity as usual, but have it be guaranteed to be "solar" (so you'd be paying this huge lump sum for solar power, but own nothing and see no improvement to your rate structure)?


    Another question: since you say there would be no equipment ownership, would the "buyer" lose the balance of their investment if they moved before the 25 year period expired?

    Is this different from a solar leasing agreement? If so, how? If not, why do you think people would be interested in paying on these terms when existing solar lease agreements seem more favorable?
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  • sunnyside3
    sunnyside3 Registered Users Posts: 3
    #9
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing
    Eric L wrote: »
    I think we need more information to give an informed answer.

    For example, is the idea that you would make this upfront payment and then be guaranteed to receive 25+ years of your average electrical usage at no further cost? Or is it that you would make this payment, and then just go back to paying for electricity as usual, but have it be guaranteed to be "solar" (so you'd be paying this huge lump sum for solar power, but own nothing and see no improvement to your rate structure)?


    Another question: since you say there would be no equipment ownership, would the "buyer" lose the balance of their investment if they moved before the 25 year period expired?

    Is this different from a solar leasing agreement? If so, how? If not, why do you think people would be interested in paying on these terms when existing solar lease agreements seem more favorable?

    You would have no further costs. The upfront payment or 5-10 yr payment plan would provide you with energy for guaranteed solar energy.

    The contract would stay with the house and would be sold with the house as an added benefit.

    The main difference between it and the current solar leasing agreements out there like what SolarCity, SunRun, and Sungevity offer, is that they require you to have the panels on your roof and the program I am doing research on would not. There would not be any solar panels on the household's land.
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  • solar_dave
    solar_dave Solar Expert Posts: 2,397 ✭✭✭✭
    #10
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing
    sunnyside3 wrote: »
    You would have no further costs. The upfront payment or 5-10 yr payment plan would provide you with energy for guaranteed solar energy.

    The contract would stay with the house and would be sold with the house as an added benefit.

    The main difference between it and the current solar leasing agreements out there like what SolarCity, SunRun, and Sungevity offer, is that they require you to have the panels on your roof and the program I am doing research on would not. There would not be any solar panels on the household's land.

    So you are just replacing the generation part of the utility and the deliver charges would still all apply. What rates would you charge for generation per kWh? What happens on night time usage?

    BTW fat chance on getting the utility buy in on that plan. Here the AZCC (PUC) would have to approve and currently they are all in the utilities pocket.
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  • Eric L
    Eric L Solar Expert Posts: 262 ✭✭
    #11
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing

    If it were like a transferable solar lease agreement with the panels at another location, I would probably be willing to pay a modest premium over the best traditional solar lease agreement in my area (this assumes such agreements were broadly competitive with utility power, which many are). By "modest" I mean maybe 5-10% more; this is roughly the value I would assign not having the panels on my roof. (I don't mind solar panels on a roof, but if I sold the house it would be nice not to worry about the buyer's opinion on this, while still having the solar lease terms as a selling point).
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #12
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing

    sunnyside3:

    Kindly explain exactly what research you are doing, why, and for whom.

    Your inquiry has a taint of solicitation about it.
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  • bmet
    bmet Solar Expert Posts: 630 ✭✭
    #13
    Re: Home Solar Energy Pricing
    sunnyside3 wrote: »
    You would have no further costs. <snip> There would not be any solar panels on the household's land.

    Okay, I'll bite. The answer is No, for several reasons.

    Utilities buy and sell power with whomever offers them the best bulk rate, especially co-ops. If there's no equipment on a customer's property, how do they know their power is coming from solar?

    Also, best laid plans always require changing with the times. One cannot guarantee "no further costs" if the economy creates losses. Just this month RSS feeds mentions 3 solar power manufacturers filing for bankruptcy, YET here in San Antonio there is a start-up solar panel manufacturer which is hosting 2 job fairs in the very near future. This $100,000,000 facility is projecting to create 400 local jobs. If you consider the recent failure of well-supported ventures like Solyndra, how can this start-up even think their business model is better than all these other competitors?

    Lastly, any Utility which needs to make a profit will have to pass costs on to the consumer. Your generic proposal, that a large one-time investment is all that is required, is not sustainable in the real world. Sounds like a Ponzi scheme.
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