A company called Sunrun stopped by my house yesterday. I listened to the pitch and showed them some utility bills. With all the fees and adjustments it looks like I pay about $.12-$.13 a kilowatt hour. They claim they can get me as low as six or seven cents without the fees and I would have a back up battery. No out of pocket cost. There is a long-term contract, of course for them to give all the solar panels and battery.


What is the hidden danger that's going to kill the deal

The apparent business model is any excess electricity get sold back to the grid and thus how they make money. And something about them taking all the tax breaks because they're the ones that paid for the hardware.

That sounds reasonable, but also too good to be true

Most grids won't allow you to sell back excess any longer, and at best, is an offset/credit at a wholesale rate to what you consume at a retail rate. Add to that a potential hassle if you were to sell the house, the aesthetic, impact on cost of future roof replacement/repair.

I sell excess back to utility but its at the wholesale rate, less than half the retail price. In Colorado.

jt2hunt said:

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Sounds to me like the only time those make sense is where you get some type of huge energy rebate that makes your install cost. Literally zero. What's the point in breaking even only after 17 years of use.

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To be clear. I have no out of pocket cost. Just an agreement to use it for a long time.


To me, it seems like a wonderful deal other than the potential problems of selling the house later

Our house could run for approximately five days maybe longer on the back up battery which is the main reason I'm considering it or would consider it

You may not have a direct out-of-pocket cost, but you're obligated to pay it off on a long-term debt. Regardless and that's what you're paying in your monthly utility bill now or not your obligated to pay that regardless of whether you live in that house or you don't.

Check the contract carefully, I have heard of cases where there is a certain amount of solar production that goes to the solar company every month first and then extra production is to bring your supply costs down. If production is down in one month they still get their cut but you end up with a higher bill.

Also, is there any end point ? Solar looses a certain percentage of efficiency every year. If they get their cut every month first, you end up potentially paying more and more as the years go by.

That rate then mention getting you down to is for a brand new system, what rate will you get after 10 years ?

Selling is a valid consideration as the buyer is stuck with that company and that could hurt your sale.

Solar companies have recently been popping up and going out of business like crazy. Make sure this is an established company and even then it is a crap shoot on whether they will be in business to handle any maintenance or equipment failures.

I found two people in our development that have used the company that approached us.

Both were unhappy with the deal and how it played out

Ikanizer said:

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I sell excess back to utility but its at the wholesale rate, less than half the retail price. In Colorado.

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dang, I'm in colorado (core) and I'm net metering. So kwh for kwh.

I should break even in 8 years (not accounting for cost increases). Just got up and running last month. Cost me $23k for a system that will produce 22MWh per year, which is what my consumption is, so should not be paying for any usage (after a full year cycle goes by and it evens out), just the demand charge (~$20-~40 a month) and min. account fee of $20/mo.
Compared to $300+ average per month.

I'm pretty happy with, and net metering seems the only way to go. Batteries are expensive, and trading back kWh at wholesale makes zero sense.

When I installed my system it was same/same. I would sell at the same rate that I would buy at. But that has changed and now it makes no sense. Trying to find a different provider here in Houston. Do I have lower bills than if I did not have solar, yes. Do I have some month with no bill, yes. Do I have no bill like was promised when the system was sold to me, NO. Have I tried to get the company to audit and fix the system so it delivers what they promised, yes. Have the come up with every excuse to say it is not the system, YES.

Just trying to manage it the best I can at this time and appreciate it when it does lower my bills and those few months when there are no bills. Rant over

Martels Hammer said:

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I found two people in our development that have used the company that approached us.

Both were unhappy with the deal and how it played out

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And you're still considering?

I had a company named Icon, I think, that gave me a pitch in the Houston area. Basically, they would install their panels and a battery and I would have a fixed contract to buy electricity from their equipment for like 25 or 30 years.

It basically broke even with what I currently pay through retail in the grid, but I gained a free outage proof setup (like a generator would be) via the battery and panels.

However, the only way it worked was to also be signed up for a retail plan with free nights. So the panels and battery would run the house during the day, and at night we would use free electricity and charge the battery back up from the grid if necessary in high usage months.

So the whole scheme depended on Reliant (or whoever) still offering a free nights plan up to 25+ years from now or else it would actually be (potentially much) more expensive

62strat said:

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Ikanizer said:

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I sell excess back to utility but its at the wholesale rate, less than half the retail price. In Colorado.

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dang, I'm in colorado (core) and I'm net metering. So kwh for kwh.

I should break even in 8 years (not accounting for cost increases). Just got up and running last month. Cost me $23k for a system that will produce 22MWh per year, which is what my consumption is, so should not be paying for any usage (after a full year cycle goes by and it evens out), just the demand charge (~$20-~40 a month) and min. account fee of $20/mo.
Compared to $300+ average per month.

I'm pretty happy with, and net metering seems the only way to go. Batteries are expensive, and trading back kWh at wholesale makes zero sense.

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Mine is a DIY system installed 8 years ago on a cabin near Creede. I sized it to offset our average annual consumption. The monthly connection charge has creeped up from $25 to about $45. Once a year I typically get a check for <$50 for power delivered to the grid.