This is the end of our second year using solar energy. If you want to read about our experience during and after our solar panels' installation and a list of our last year's bills comparing our bills to before the panels were installed, click here. 

This post is a continuation of bill comparison over the last three years.

I'll repeat in this post that we still have an electric bill, and that we also pay IGS Solar each month for the energy the panels harvest. The more sun that shines on our roof, the higher our IGS bill. This wasn't clear when we signed our agreement with Trinity Solar, who met with us and installed the panels. 

Before our panels were installed, our 2018-2019 electric bill (no IGS bill included, of course) for the year was $4,077.13 

Our 2019-2020 electric bill plus the IGS bill for the year was $3,883.84

Our 2020-2021 electric bill plus the IGS bill for the year was $3,394.27

My hope, of course, is that our electric bills keep dropping. But . . .

Our IGS bill was $1,584.3 in 2019-2020.

Our IGS bill was $1,541.71 in 2020-2021.

So this bill averages about $1,560.00 per year. This is the catch. The IGS bill isn't an electric bill. When the person on the Trinity Solar commercial that I often see states their electric bill is virtually non-existent, the viewer isn't told there will be a bill besides an electric bill arriving each month that will never be virtually non-existent. Thus, even if our electric bill becomes totally non-existent, we still have the IGS bill to pay. And will IGS's rates ever go up? 

I don't know what the expense or involvement is in owning solar panels. But what this renter's understand is, is that after 25 years the panels are ours. Will the panels and/or our roof need replacing by then? 

I don't regret getting solar panels. Our main goal was being more responsible with our family's consumption of energy. But I wish Trinity Solar was clear in their explanation of our responsibility. The deceiving commercial is unethical. One actor says he funds vacations with money he saves on his electric bill. Those can't be extravagant vacations. 

I've seen people get so excited at the thought of saving money on their utility bill each month. I got excited too. Saving significant money and going greener at the same time is most desirous. 

But going greener alone is valuable enough for me. Add some financial savings and there's even more reason to celebrate. 

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.