Do Solar Energy Savings Pay Off?

Harnessing sunlight for electricity is now more affordable than ever. But will it save you money?

Around 2009, the cost of an installed residential solar energy averaged between $25,000 to $35,000 per home, according to Evergreen Solar – National Council for Solar Growth. 

Compare this to 2016 when Evergreen Solar – National Council for Solar Growth explains, “The average cost to install a solar panel was $3 to $4 per watt”. Our new financing solutions combined with lower prices make solar power more popular than ever before.

Many American solar-driven homeowners chose to use a system that is at least 5 to 6 kW at the onset. These prices allow many homeowners to embrace solar energy for less than $20,000*. Homeowners with systems already built could also benefit from lower market costs if they want to upgrade their existing system.

System Size Matters

Increased costs come with bigger systems. This means, of course, doubling the size of your solar energy system would most likely double the cost. But, with the addition of a solar energy storage (or battery) unit, you can still get the most out of your solar array, even if you’re opting for a smaller system.

To understand more about how batteries work and how they save you even more money check out this post.

Because of the many factors that go into energy consumption, we go to great lengths to ensure we properly size your system. These factors review the size of the home, air conditioning or heat running, appliances, lights, etc. Our team then combines all of these factors together to calculate the perfect-sized system for your home’s usage.

Some homeowners, for example, can operate from home thus consuming more energy during the day than at night. This means they do not need to store the solar energy for night-time use. Therefore during the day, when they consume the most energy, they will want to generate as much energy as possible with a larger array.

While others may not work from home and thus they do not consume nearly as much energy during the day. They do, however, use much of their energy at night, making this type of customer is a perfect match for a battery unit coupled with a solar energy system.

Having an improperly sized system could lead to excessive expenditure. Since your system can generate more energy than you need, you thereby are giving away free energy to the utility company. Any energy your array generates is sent back to the power grid if your home can’t use it immediately.

Solar panels do not have the ability to ‘store’ electricity, so the electricity has to go somewhere. In other words, instantly after output, solar energy needs to be consumed, stored, or sent to the power grid.

Some utility companies like Georgia Power will even ‘buy-back’ energy you send to the utility grid from your solar array. Providing yet even more savings. Contact a CSUSA representative for information on the solar programs your utility company offers.

What do you get when you go solar?

When you produce your own free energy from the sun you’ll get huge savings on your utility costs. The addition of solar energy to your home will also reduce your carbon footprint. All in all, you will get thousands of dollars in savings on your electricity costs. Even our smallest systems will generate tens of thousands of dollars over their 25-30 year lifespan.

In addition, you will also increase the value of your home by adding renewable energy. Property values will grow up to $20 per $1 of electricity savings each year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Even with a 5 kW solar power system alone, you could potentially raise your home’s worth by at least $15,000-$ 20,000*.

Having a solar energy system will also stabilize your energy bills. Energy rates continue to rise every year, with the national average annual increase of around 2.5 percent. Adding your own power generation source like solar energy keeps your utility costs down and stable, thus allowing you to avoid fluctuating rate prices and helps add to a positive rate of return.

Each solar energy system we sell comes with a turn-key installation process. As well as full-service monitoring. This allows you to see your home energy consumption and solar production.

Additionally, our solar energy systems are warrantied both by ourselves and the manufacturer. For full warranty details feel free to reach out to us.

Savings from the Federal Solar Tax Credit

The federal tax incentives also help to reduce the cost of the system. However, the solar investment tax credit (ITC), will decrease from 26% to 22% after December 31st, 2020.

In order to qualify to receive this income tax credit incentive, your solar energy system must be installed on your home prior to December 31st, 2020. This means that as more people begin to go solar in Georgia we begin to book up. The only way to ensure your system is installed in time is to call and set up your FREE consultation as soon as possible.

Our number one goal is to provide the best service to each of our customers. With COVID-19 causing some delays in permitting and decreased staff has forced some installations to go beyond our usual timeline. 

However, now that we have taken the proper precautions in adapting to this ‘new normal’ our calendar is becoming full quicker than ever before. 

If you’re interested in taking advantage of this incentive, give us a call TODAY before time runs out! 770.485.7438

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_{*Figures are dependent on the size of the system, utility rates and incentives, approved financing, cash incentives, tax incentives, etc. contact CSUSA for details}