Solar panels are becoming more popular as more people decide whether they want to invest in them. Solar companies sometimes keep their pricing vague and focus instead on the promise to save huge cash. These often exaggerated promises make it difficult for homeowners to research companies and get quotes to determine if solar is worth the investment.
This can make it difficult for consumers to decide whether or not they want solar panels, despite increasing solar affordability. There are many factors to consider when installing solar, including legal terminologies such as tax benefits and solar easements. Additionally, there are many purchasing options.
This is a lot of food for one person to eat.
ESD Solar is committed to transparency and providing complete customer service.
What Does It Mean?
We want every customer to feel confident about their solar purchase. This confidence is achieved by making it simple for customers to calculate the solar value with just three easy steps:
- Find out why they’re going solar
- Calculate their solar savings potential and the cost of the system
- Offer the best solar market deals
Your “Why” To Go Solar
We begin by helping homeowners understand the main benefits of solar energy. It is easier for homeowners to identify their “why”, our main reason for going green by exploring the benefits. What are the main benefits of making the switch to solar?
Monthly Savings
The monthly savings is the most important benefit for homeowners. Solar companies today use software to create and install solar systems that offset 100% of their customers’ electricity bills. A solar system can be affordable for homeowners who pay a monthly fee to remain connected to the electric grid.
These savings allow you to have a lot more flexibility about what you can expect, depending on your personal preferences. You have the ability to control where your money goes by purchasing solar. We can give you a free ESD Solar estimate that will show you all of the options.
Clean, renewable energy
Going solar has a second benefit: it reduces the impact on the environment. The most common type of clean and renewable energy is solar panels. This is energy that produces power from an energy source that can never be exhausted. Solar energy is considered renewable because it is dependent on sunlight. It is also clean as it doesn’t emit any harmful carbon emissions.
Solar power allows homeowners to stop relying on coal-burning power stations and instead can give back to the earth by installing solar. Each solar system is equivalent to two cars driving more than 150,000 miles per day! Get off the streets.
It is great to go solar for its green impact!
No More Price Hikes
The third and most important benefit of going solar is your ability to control the electricity that runs your home. Utility companies have control over the electricity costs of whole cities, and sometimes even entire states. They can increase the price of electricity at any moment and significantly increase your monthly bill.
This benefit can be compared to the fact that the electricity price has risen by more than 60% in the past 20 years. It’s hard to believe that the price of electricity will not rise in the coming 20 years. Going solar is the best way to fight the monopoly of utility companies on power prices.
Legally Protected Energies
Fourth benefit: Solar easements are a term that isn’t often covered in the media. Anything that passes through the property’s boundaries is called an easement. Public easements are power cables and sewage pipes, which technically belong to the city or company that laid them. These lines are still your property but their owners have certain rights.
Solar Rays Are The Same Thing, Believe It Or Not.
To get the power you need, a solar panel requires sunlight at specific times and angles. You are responsible for any damage to your power if something happens at these angles or exposures (e.g., a neighbor plants a tree or a private firm builds a tall structure). You have the right to those solar panels and can sue for damages. Your solar panels are yours to control.
Increase The Value Of Your Home
Solar can also increase your home’s value. Today’s homebuyers are grabbing solar as a hot commodity. Solar systems can be a great investment for homeowners looking to increase their home’s value by anywhere from 1% up to 10%.
Consider all of the major benefits that solar energy offers homeowners. This will allow them to find their “why” and move on to the next step to see if it is worthwhile.
Calculating The Cost And Savings From Solar Energy
Homeowners will be able to determine whether solar panels are worth the price if they have a clearer reason for going solar. ESD Solar understands that every homeowner is unique. Even if homeowners have great reasons to go solar, there are times when their circumstances don’t allow them to make financial savings.
We pre-qualify all of our customers before they embark on their solar journey. There are some scenarios that could prevent homeowners from going green:
- Rooftops with insufficient sunlight exposure
- A taxable income is not sufficient to be eligible for all the tax credits
- You cannot benefit from power bills that are too low
We won’t sell you something that doesn’t benefit you. We can quickly help you determine if your situation falls into one of these categories by providing a free estimate. We recommend you don’t go ahead with solar if you don’t fit into any of these categories. We have made it clear to our customers what they are signing up for before they pay any money. We can help you decide if going solar makes sense for you.
We know that a customer can benefit from solar energy once they have passed the pre-qualifying phase. To create a detailed solar proposal, we ask homeowners for their most recent energy bills.
The proposal team will use the homeowner’s billing information and sunlight tracking software to calculate how many panels are needed to offset 100% of their electricity bill. (Or whatever percentage they choose). Once the proposal is complete, one of our solar specialists will meet with the homeowner to walk them through the costs, savings, and installation process for going solar with ESD Solar.
The solar specialist will answer any homeowner’s questions in full transparency. The homeowner is presented with either a digital or physical proposal detailing the timeline for the repayment of their initial investment.
The average homeowner will see a return on their investment in 6 to 9 years. We do our best to ensure that the monthly loan payment for solar owners is less than their initial electricity bill. This will allow them to save money from the beginning of their solar journey. We aim to maximize the savings and confidence of our customers. The long-term benefits of owning a solar system far outweigh any short-term lease benefits.
Consider Ownership Vs. Leasing
There are three main ways to install solar panels. We discuss each one in detail in our article Solar Seems Right for Me. Do I lease or buy? These are the three options:
- Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
- Solar Lease
- Solar Purchase
Many companies will offer you any deal that sells their product. You might hear them talk about how leasing reduces upfront costs and how they will monitor your system for you. They might not mention that leasing doesn’t provide tax benefits, or that their contract installs price-escalators to match increases by normal power companies. (Remember how this was one of the main benefits of solar energy? ).
Moving if you want is also complicated by a lease. Instead of owning solar property, you are trying to convince someone else to buy it. You lose the opportunity to enjoy another benefit, as well as the equity that you get from owning it.
At ESD Solar, we encourage ownership. This will help you increase your home equity as well as reap the benefits of owning solar. However, we won’t pressure you to make a big commitment. We want you to have all the information you need so you can make the right decision. We want to meet with you immediately at no cost.
This post was written by Daniel Massaad, owner and expert solar technician at Energy Solutions Direct! ESD is the top choice for solar Companies in Houston! Our licensed and certified contractors are masters of their craft; with years of experience servicing the great Tampa Bay area and beyond, the choice is simple. ESD excels at offering you the best in solar value!