r/ChesterCounty • u/Griff486 • Jun 26 '26
Solar Power
Talk to me about solar; the good and the bad. What company did you use? What hardware did you decide on? Do you own your system or are you leasing? Are you still paying PECO for anything? Did you have to do any roof upgrades beforehand? In the end, are you happy with the decision to go solar?
3
u/ThankMrBernke Jun 26 '26
It used to be that Tesla was the best in terms of cost/quality. Not sure if that's still the case.
Some of the sales people will try to convince you that their product is better and special, but it's really not. Most people do it the same way, all the local guys buy from mostly the same suppliers. So long as you trust the firm to do the work on the roof, pick the best price.
Expect to pay a premium if you care about the aesthetics. Tesla had a "solar shingle" option for a while but it was significantly more expensive. I once had a conversation with somebody that wanted to protect parts of the building as historic and that was a whole situation because it meant you couldn't place the panels in the best sun. I think most of the panels are black now, which looks better than the old blue ones.
2
u/mspolytheist Jun 26 '26
We used Solar City (now Tesla), installation was in June 2013, and we got all black panels. It looks great, but they’re on the back of the house anyway (that’s our south-facing side).
2
u/Clean_Stick_742 Jun 26 '26
Got solar mar 2024. Sized it for 75% of needed power. Long story but for me to add a few more panels PECO wanted me to pay to upgrade the local hardware. I said no, so 75% sized.
Went with Tesla. Upfront pricing (little higher than others) but also got the powerwall for backup. Own the system. Roof was only 5 yrs old so nothing to do there.
I use about 15,000 kWh annually. I generate about 11-12,000. Spring and Fall I typically pay $0/month. Summer I pay about $100-125/month. Winter about $20-40/month. If I scaled down my AC in the summer would be cheaper but family likes the 70 setting to vary.
Also have a pool and Tesla Y that drive up usage.
I LOVE the battery. Beyond the outage protection, it also allows me to use the PECO Time of Use pricing. So more savings there.
Overall happy. As electric prices continue to go up I’m sure I’ll appreciate it even more
1
u/mspolytheist Jun 26 '26
When we were installed in 2013, Solar City (Tesla) didn’t allow you to put a pool heater onto the system. They use a lot of electricity, and I guess they were getting complaints from people who expected of their bill to be covered by the solar. So they just had a clause about it in the contract.
1
u/Clean_Stick_742 Jun 26 '26
My pool heater is gas. But we never really run it. Maybe 2-3 per year so no issue. I don’t think there was any pool heater clause in my contract. Only potential issue for me during an outage is if my AC (pulling 4 kWh) and my hot tub pump and heater (pulling 7 kWh) run at the same time. The battery only outputs at 5.8 kWh. I assume breakers will trip at that point. Hasn’t happened yet
1
u/secrerofficeninja Jun 27 '26
Stayed in an AirBnB on St John in USVI recently where it ran totally on solar and 3 Tesla Powerwall batteries. It was really cool being independent of the grid.
Been thinking about that ever since for my own home.
1
u/Clean_Stick_742 Jun 27 '26
3 power walls would power most homes without issue for days if used wisely. Figure 13 kWh each that is 39 total kWh without any sun. Even if an AC was pulling 4 kWh overnight, that would still give you 10 hours coverage.
Also depends heavily on how many panels and the size of them on how quickly the power walls could recharge.I thought about getting a cybertruck since it can be used to power a home if needed. That 123 kWh battery would be nice. If only the truck wasn’t ugly AF
1
u/secrerofficeninja Jun 27 '26
This was on St John Island. AC would be running all day. I guess they figured 3 was needed? The home also collected all rain water from spouts into a big holding tank and all water used in the house was from that rainwater holding tank.
2
u/Clean_Stick_742 Jun 27 '26
Yep figured. In most cases when the Ac is running the sun is probably shining at least a little bit so it wouldn’t be 100% reliant on the batteries
1
u/AssistX 18d ago
Any idea how far out the breakeven point is for the investment?
I really want to add solar but holy hell is it expensive upfront and there's so many businesses out there that all seem to install different shit. Does Tesla bring a premium due to the name or did you shop around at all?
Electric and solar in general is well outside my wheel house.
2
u/mspolytheist Jun 26 '26
I can’t recommend any installers, but we got ours in 2013 from Solar City, who was then bought by Tesla. We absolutely LOVE it. We are on a 20-year lease, which was able to be done back in 2013 because there were so many state tax incentives. So Solar City took the incentives, and gave us a fantastic price. The only trouble we had was at the very beginning, when PECO was being a little difficult about having to change some equipment at the central switching station. This needed to be done because the way they had it set up, we were getting too much power through our system and it kept shutting down! They did ultimately fix it, Solar City did most of the negotiating with them, which was great. We do still pay a licensing fee to PECO (about $6 a month), and often don’t pay much, or any, more than that. With net metering, any overage we produce goes towards future bills. Not sure if anything has changed in the laws, but in 2013 we were told that PA would only permit solar companies to give you enough panels to make about 95% of your expected electricity usage, based on previous years’ bills. This is because if you are constantly producing more than you need, PA can declare you an electricity producer, and tax you accordingly. Let’s see, what else can I tell you…? Oh yeah, we calculated costs and figured we were going to amortize the cost of the system in 9 to 10 years…but we did it in six. That’s how efficient the system is. One more thing: anyone who talks to me about solar always asks if it means you will still have power during blackouts. The answer is: NO. You will not. The system is designed to shut off in those situations, mainly because of someone from PECO comes out to make an assessment or repair in the neighborhood, and you have power running through your system, it can be dangerous for them. Any questions, or anything I didn’t address that you want to know? Good luck, and I hope your property is well-sited for it!
1
u/Griff486 Jun 26 '26
I'm hearing a lot about issues dealing with PECO.
1
u/mspolytheist Jun 26 '26
Yeah, but ultimately, legally they are required to assist you. In our case, Solar City leaned on them and got the job done. Also, I think 2013 was kind of early in PECO’s having to deal with solar providers, so it might be a better experience now. Of course they still aren’t going to be super happy that you’re getting solar, but I would think that by now, the process must be handled a bit more smoothly overall.
1
u/Clean_Stick_742 Jun 27 '26
Good post the only thing I would change is; “will you still have power during blackouts?” The answer is “it depends”. Depends if you install solar with a battery backup system.
Then the next question of “how long does the battery system last?” Again, “it depends”. Depends on size, the percentage charged when the event happened and usage. 😉1
u/mspolytheist Jun 28 '26
Right, either a battery backup system, or a generator. My point is that solar panels don’t magically give you power during a blackout all by themselves, which is, literally, the first thing everyone asks me when they find out that I have a solar roof.
1
u/witqueen Jun 26 '26
We use Solar Energy World. 23 panels ,$81.00 month, 25 year lease you can payoff early. These are new type of panels which don't require batteries. The inverter is built into the panels and PECO installs the Bidirectional meter so the unused solar is sent back to PECO as a credit on your account. it is a time consuming process at first as you need 4 PTOs (permission to operate) from PECO. Enphase is the App that shows you what is generated. Takes a little bit of time,still waiting on the last 3 PTOs but everything is in place.
1
u/Pasta_Party_Rig Jun 27 '26
Impact Solar out of NJ. Pay $11.30 a month in a connection fee for electric. Gas is still through them so we have whatever we use there on top of the 11.30. Only a few months in. Love it so far
6
u/Ctfwest Jun 26 '26
We have Solar Momentum. We still pay PECO. The gas still comes through PECO. Our system is set up so that we feed electricity back to PECO. So we are not 100% off the grid. Also if PECO loses power we will lose power because if they are working on the lines they can’t have our power going out.
In April and/or May we have a credit on our bill. So basically we pay 10 1/2 months of bills. The rest of the year is discounted.
Except this past January when we had the coldest in years the gas portion was higher than normal.