Converting to solar power

[landscaper]

I'm nowhere near doing it but am starting to look into converting my house to solar power and have heard about "pushing and pulling" where you basically sell your excess energy to the power company. Any one have any experience with this?

[MudHog]

The term here in LA is called "Net Metering". You use the solar power during the day and grid power during the evening or cloudy days. I want to remember the panel cost was $25,000.00, but do not remember the capacity of the panel.

Before any thought of solar, you need to do an electrical usage study and a heat study on your home. Fix leaking windows and doors, upgrade the HVAC and water heater to consume less electricity, upgrade windows to reduce radiant heating, etc. All of those costs will drastically reduce the electrical usage, thus reducing the amount of panels needed.


The downside to net metering is the only time you get any net balance in the form of cash is if you were to close your account. The net balance just keeps building and building and the power company keeps getting free to them electricity. This also relates to the consumer spending to much money on the install because you never get paid for the surplus of power you are supplying the grid. This is why a "zero" bill isn't ideal and a "reduced" bill is the most economic. Sort of like income taxes. You as a person will achieve the greatest return IF you have to pay a small amount in income taxes. Reason being is because the refund amount has been sitting interest free to you in a government account when it could have been in your account building interest.