A Solar Sigh

 


I’d been jonesing for a solar powered home since the only option was to buy solar panels. They were so expensive that money saved using them wasn’t assured to cover the cost of the panels and their instillation for 10 or more years. Creating a smaller carbon footprint is now more viable.

Hubby and I are renting the solar panels on our roof because we know nothing about maintaining them or storing the energy they produce. I had heard positives about Trinity Solar, so we went with them. The following is an honest description of our experience. I’ve included our PSE&G bills from the year before we incorporated solar energy, this year’s PSE&G bills, and our IGS Solar bills. You may check my math.

The Trinity salesperson frazzled us by showing up a day before our appointment time. During his spiel, if he mentioned we’d receive a bill from PSE&G, and a bill from IGS Solar, we may have paused with more questions. IGS owns the panels and receives tax credits on the panels’ harvesting of solar energy.

The salesperson mentioned a $500.00 start-up bonus. We understood this as compensation for Trinity needing someone home for days to allow access to our attic and basement before, during, and after the panels’ installation. However, we failed to get the bonus agreement in writing. So, no bonus for us.

We have pictures of the installers from Trinity on our roof with a large water jug perched on our chimney’s lining. When the installers left, I found bricks from or chimney thrown in our yard with wet putty slathered on them. Trinity never told us they had knocked loose the bricks or that they had tried to repair them. Trinity denied doing damage to the chimney. However, our pictures show the chimney intact with the water jug atop the chimney.

Our solar panels collect kilowatts of energy. IGS Solar charges us for those kilowatts. Since the panels were installed in the summer, our first IGS bill was $178.05. This shocked us. We don’t have central air conditioning, so our summer PSE&G bills before the solar panel installation were much lower than winter bills (we have electric heat). We weren’t prepared for such a large bill during a summer month. Our winter bills are now lower, but that unexpected initial IGS bill along with our PSE&G bill was a hardship.

 

PSE&G 2018 to 2019                              PSE&G 2019 to 2020                          IGS Solar 2019 to 2020

8/25/18 to 9/25/18 = $97.82            8/23/19 to 9/25/19 = $132.20                9/1/19 to 9/30/19 = $178.05

9/26/18 to 10/24/18 = 171.05          9/26/19 to 10/24/19 = 23.90                  10/1/19 to 10/31/19 = 93.82

10/25/18 to 11/26/18 = 582.52       10/25/19 to 11/22/19 = 167.78             11/1/19 to 11/30/19 = 80.08

11/27/18 to 12/26/18 = 684.23       11/23/19 to 12/26/19 = 666.68             12/1/19 to 12/31/19 = 53.45

12/27/18 to 1/26/19 = 782.72           12/27/19 to 1/27/20 = 550.24              1/1/20 to 1/31/20 = 66.69

1/27/19 to 2/26/19 = 816.88             1/28/20 to 2/26/20 = 504.36                 2/1/20 to 2/29/20 = 82.91

2/27/19 to 3/27/19 = 599.50             2/27/20 to 3/26/20 = 354.79                 3/1/20 to 3/31/20 = 123.85

3/28/19 to 4/26/19 = 331.02              3/27/20 to 4/27/20 = 249.34                4/1/20 to 4/30/20 = 152.96

4/27/19 to 5/29/19 = 192.06              4/28/20 to 5/27/20 = 23.09                  5/1/20 to 5/31/20 = 189.10

5/29/19 to 6/26/19 = 67.90                 5/28/20 to 6/25/20 = 21.37                  6/1/20 to 6/30/20 = 206.42

6/27/19 to 7/26/19 = 132.33              6/26/20 to 7/27/20 = 42.02                  7/1/20 to 7/31/20 = 197.72

7/27/19 to 8/22/19 = 102.42               7/28/20 to 8/25/20 = -33.34               8/1/20 to 8/31/20 = 159.25

 

 $4560.45 - 483.32 (gas) =                                     $2702.43                                                        $1584.3

           4077.13

                                                                                                  $4286.73 - $402.89 (gas) = $3883.84

 

$4077.13 - $3883.84 = $193.29 

                                                                             

As show above, subtracting what we paid PSE&G and IGS this year from what we paid PSE&G last year, minus gas, we saved $193.29. It’s disappointing that we didn’t save more, which is what the salesperson led us to believe would happen. But, we did save some money, if you don’t count the repair work we need done to our chimney. The biggest bonus, which was really our main goal, is that we are conserving resources and helping the environment.

Please leave any questions in the comments section below. If you chose to go with Trinity and let them know I mentioned their company to you, hubby and I may receive $500.00. That will cover almost half the repairs to our chimney.

I wish you clean energy and good health.

CONVERSATION

8 comments:

  1. What kind of technology of heating system are you using, Dawn?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my. I won't be using that company. I hope it gets better for you with the bills, Dawn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Marie, I'll see if it's better next year. I've lost faith in Trinity, but others have had a decent experience with them. I deal only with IGS Solar because Trinity was just the company who installed the panels.

      Delete
  3. My daughter lives in your town, Dawn, and she has electric baseboard heat, too. She has solar energy panels on her roof. SunRun did her solar panels. Supposedly her bills have come way down because everything in her home is electric, PSE&G. Hope the bills continue to lessen for you and Hubby.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's been a year, so I'm not sure if the bills will lessen. I hope so. Thanks.

      Delete
  4. So Dawn, have the bills come down any now that winter will be with us soon? [I think.] I hope you are well my friend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's too early to know if the bills have come down. Maybe I'll post again on this after we have gone through another year with the panels. Thank you for asking. I'm well and hope you are too.

      Delete

Back
to top