Are Solar Panels Worth The Cost? Three Year Review of Solar Paneling My Home

Hard to believe, but it's been nearly three years since we finally installed solar panels for our home. My wife and I had been talking about going solar for years, but we were always waiting for someone else in the neighborhood, or one of our friends or family to be the first to do it.

Finally, I had enough of the waiting and decided to start researching solar companies near me. I really wanted to do business with a solar provider that was based here on the SouthCoast. If I ever needed help or had a quick question, I didn't want to be dealing with a solar company located three thousand miles away. There's something to be said of a local business that is right here on the SouthCoast that can answer all my installation questions. They are more accountable. When you can bump into the owner of a company at a fundraiser or while out to dinner at a restaurant, they have a reputation to maintain. That's a big reason we chose Isaksen Solar in Fall River for our solar panel installation.

Issues We've Had With Solar
Three years later I can tell you this; We have not had one single issue with our solar panels since they were installed three years ago. The electricity behaves the exact same way as it did before we switched, but there are some major differences.

What is Different About Solar?
1. We don't subscribe to electricity anymore. We're not tied down to Eversource or National Grid. When we pay for our electricity (our solar bill) we are paying towards something we'll own in a few short years. We're not paying into this endless pool of money, like a never ending Netflix bill. You'll never own anything if you keep paying Eversource the old fashioned way, but one day soon we'll outright own our solar panels. After we own our panels, our power will be totally free. Imagine the resale value on a home with free electricity?

2. The cost of electricity is only going one way. Every year the prices are adjusted. Now I may be wrong, but I NEVER remember those prices being cut, I only remember electricity prices going up.

3. I love how my solar panel monthly cost is fixed. I know exactly how much I'll be paying every month, and it's a lot lower than what I was paying three years ago. I can't imagine how much I'd be paying Eversource now that prices have gone up even higher.

Here's How We've Saved Money
There are still federal tax credits and state tax credits that act as an incentive to going solar. The government literally helps you pay for the job to help keep the cost of solar panel installation down. Take advantage of these incentives while they are still available!

Over and above the tax incentives, we sat down and added up how much money we have saved on power by switching to solar. Three years into this, our family has saved over $10,000. This is money that I would have had to pay Eversource, but instead we kept it in our bank account for things like vacations and saving for college.

Solar Financially Works For Us
Speaking for the Rock family, going solar made a lot of financial sense three years ago, and it continues to make a lot of sense. We did the whole project without spending a dollar on a down payment. We needed no cash up front. I can tell you that there are government subsidized loans still available that are at shockingly low interest rates. I'm talking about nearly free money here.

The best time to go solar was yesterday. The second best time to go solar is today.