EXPERIENCE THE EVOLUTION OF SOLAR POWER

Kristen’s annual electricity consumption is on average 13,000KWh. She had her system installed in 2020, where her annual electric bill without solar would have been $5,014, for the year of 2020. 

She ended up paying only $142, saving her over $4,872 on her electric bill for the year of 2020. Her system cost came out to $20,800 after federal incentives, and by 2022, she had saved over $15,000 on her electric bills, meaning that by the end of 2023, Kristen will have already gotten her return on investment; which is a 4 year ROI. 

Additionally, with our financing plans, Kristen ended up spending less every month paying off her system than she would have paying her electric bill without solar. At this rate, taking into account a 5% yearly increase on the cost per KWh, Kristen may end up saving over $220,000 on her energy bills over 25 years.

With the recent passing of NEM3.0, PG&E reduced the export rate for residential solar by around 75%; from roughly $0.30KWh to $0.08KWh, which was a massive hit to the solar industry. However, we were able to evolve (no pun intended) and still get Jane a 5 year ROI on her system through the use of batteries. 

During times of low energy production i.e. night time, overcast etc., you would typically need to import electricity from PG&E to make the difference for your power requirements. This was not an issue during NEM2.0 because the high export rates would make up for low production, allowing you to import electricity when needed while still keeping your costs down. NEM3.0 however, changed all of this; by storing the energy output from your solar panels in batteries, you won’t need to import electricity from PG&E during times of low production, making the reduced export rate negligible, allowing you to be near self-sufficient from PG&E as a result.

In Jane’s case, her annual electricity consumption is on average 8,000KW. Her system was installed in 2023, where her electric bill that year without solar would have been $3,055 (7,500KWh). She ended up paying $391 that year, saving her over $2,664 on her electric bill for 2023. Her entire system, including a battery, came out to $15,280 after federal incentives. At the current rate, she will have a 5 year ROI, only one year more than installations done during NEM2.0. We were able to keep costs low for Jane post NEM2.0 because we added batteries to her system at a cheap price. The addition of batteries with other competitors would normally double or triple your time to ROI, but not with evolution. At this rate, taking into account a 5% yearly increase on the cost per KWh, Jane may end up saving over $155,000 on her energy bills over 25 years.

River’s monthly energy bill before solar was on average $250. His biggest worry was whether or not he would be able to afford it. The price of his system came out to $21,540, however with federal incentives at 30%, we got his cost down to $15,078. 

This was however still a lot for River, so we got him on a monthly financing plan for $200 a month over a 6 year period. With his energy bills now going practically to zero, it turned out that for River, it was cheaper to pay for his system than it was to pay for his electricity bill without solar. He got his system installed in 2023 and couldn’t have been happier.

This is why our reputation is so good, we were able to work with River’s constraints to get him a system that made the most sense for him. We work with all of our customers to get the best possible service that they deserve.