I saw a post from 2013 but nothing newer so thought I'd start a new thread.
Does anyone have them?
We cant afford to buy them (25K) but there is a company that installs them for free and then you pay a lower price for energy and anything you have in excess they cut you a check at the end of the year. After 6 years you can buy the panels from them if you wish at a lower cost.
Sounded good then they sent the image and OMG my entire roof will be covered!! 
pomelo / 5720 posts
We do. They were not cheap, I'll say that, but my DH used to cover solar technology for work and he really wanted them. They should pay for themselves in 6-7 years, so we saw it as a longer term investment. I don't have a pic but they don't look nearly as bad as I was thinking they would!
wonderful pea / 17279 posts
We had a couple panels to hear the pool in our old house. I'm not sure up much they cost the prior homeowner. We barely used the pool/ pool heater.
pear / 1521 posts
@Mamaof2: We don't but my husband worked for a solar company for 5 years and his opinion is that rented panels are not a good deal for the homeowner. The company putting the panels on is getting way more out of the deal than you are. I guess from an environmental standpoint more panels on more houses is a good thing though.
pomelo / 5720 posts
@Mamaof2: not entirely. They are on one side of our barn/garage, and two sides of our house. Our house is an expanded cape so from the back its shaped like a "U". You can only see one the solar panels from the road on one side of the house.
ETA: we do not rent ours. We bought them outright.
squash / 13208 posts
@petitenoisette: the benefit for us is a lower cost per kwh for energy and any excess power we generate we get cash back for- we wont pay any $ for the panels for installation, upkeep or insurance
I know we miss out on the rebates and such but we don't have the 25K to pay for the panels either so.....
pear / 1521 posts
@Mamaof2: Yea I mean he worked for a company that sold them outright so of course they're going to say the rented ones are a bad deal 
I just found this calculator https://ilsr.org/ultimate-solar-calculator/
Also it seems that if you aren't staying in your house for 10+ years then buying makes little sense.
coconut / 8472 posts
We have ours through Solar City. If anyone wants a referral link let me know 
.
They cover a good portion of our roof, but I don't mind the look so it doesn't bother me. I wish we had more, lol. They cover about half of our electricity use, and it costs about half of what National Grid costs. For us it's a win-win, except that we thought it was going to supply closer to 100% of our energy.
Here's a google satellite view of our house.
squash / 13208 posts
@ShootingStar: one more question - did they say it would cover 100% and then only cover 50?
They said ours would cover 92% and I am wondering how close we will get to that number-
nectarine / 2400 posts
@Mamaof2: I'm confused, what does the solar panel company get out of this arrangement? Cuz it sounds awesome for you so why would they do that lol? Who is his through?
apricot / 360 posts
My in-laws have solar panels and I know they are happy with them. They bought them outright.
They cover the majority of their roof, but they don't look too bad.
squash / 13208 posts
@gotkimchi: so they would get the rebates for the installation - that's a big one.
Also, if I bought them outright all the energy the panels provide would be free to me. Since I am not paying for them I am paying the company (vivant) .11 per kwh vs .17 that I am paying PECO - so they get that money but I save money too.
coconut / 8472 posts
@gotkimchi: When you rent solar panels the company owns all the energy that comes in through them and then you pay them a fee for it. We pay either 12 or 15 cents per kwh, I can't remember.
@Mamaof2: So they said it would produce up to X amount. And we hadn't been in our house very long so we had no idea how much energy we were actually going to need. We expected to use less and we expected the panels would produce more.
nectarine / 2400 posts
@ShootingStar: I just looked into this and apparently renting them isn't legal in my state 
GOLD / nectarine / 2884 posts
I don't have them but I buy solar power credits through the power company. I think we would love to get some though! According to Google we would lose money though....
GOLD / nectarine / 2884 posts
@Mamaof2: I haven't researched it but I'm assuming the power company won't pay enough for the power to make up for the cost of the panels? Or the cost for the panels is too much in this area? I'll check into it and see...
pear / 1788 posts
We kinda do! We had them when we lived in AZ, and will have them on our new build home next year. Right now we live in a condo, so we bought panels on a solar garden in town. We have enough to cover our energy usage now, and it will reduce how many we need to put on the new house. Since they are at the solar garden, we don't have to do the maintenance!
pear / 1697 posts
We tried to get panels through Solar City. We went through multiple, lengthy consults and then were ultimately told that our house wasn't suitable. It was frustrating, we spent easily 5 or 6 hours on the process.
pomelo / 5866 posts
We bought one solar panel just for our solar water heater. It cut our bill more than half. Now Our bill is so low (we don't use much energy due to natural lighting and small lot size, plus electric company rates went down) it doesn't make sense to buy panels for the rest. We would need to make the panels last more than 30 years to break even. Those are my own calculations...we haven't gone through with a consultation. I am sooo glad we did the water heater though.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
We had solar city come out and give us an estimate and they basically said we don't consume enough power for it to be worth it for them to install, lol.
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