“How much do solar panels cost?”
This has been my most asked question since I started helping people control their electricity costs. This isn’t always the easiest question to answer either. The answer for someone with a small townhouse and a $100 a month average electric bill will be much different than for someone with a large custom home and a $250 a month average electric bill.
The important point to keep in mind is that solar power will always cost less than your electric bill.
The way most solar works in Texas, is that an installer outfits your home with its own solar panel system, which produces enough electricity that you won’t have to buy any more electricity from the electric utility company. These panel systems are usually large, sophisticated units that last for 25 years or longer. That means that these systems will pay your electric bill.
The biggest misconception with solar is that panel systems are expensive. When in reality, a quality solar panel system you can save over $50,000 through it’s life.
Let’s take the examples from earlier and look over some quick numbers that prove my point. The first homeowner spends $100 a month on his electric bill a month, so over one year spends 1,200, and over 25 years (the lifespan of the solar panel system) spends $30,000. A solar panel system for this homeowner would have been somewhere between $8-12,000 (after credits and rebates) that means a savings of up to $22,000!
The second homeowner has even better opportunities with solar. In this case, they spend $250 a month. Over a year they spend $3,000 on electricity, and $75,000 over 25 years. In this case, their solar panel system would need to be a bit larger, so we would be in the $20-30,000 range. This means they have the opportunity to save up to $45,000!
That doesn’t even take into account that your electric bill goes up every year either! With solar panels, your payment will never go up and never be a surprise!
Most of our customers finance the total amount of the solar panel systems on a $0 down 15 or 20 year term. With this option, your monthly solar payment is much less than what your electric bills were before going solar.
