Thomas – Melbourne, FL

We can now put away even more for retirement and enjoy going out more too!

Thomas – Melbourne, FL

What interested you about going solar initially? 

We knew electricity was going to only get more costly so we wanted to ensure that we would be able to control our costs in retirement as much as possible. This is why we purchased our solar panels and after 7 years, we are still very happy that we went with solar panels, as you can see from our billing history from FPL. In fact, because we were saving so much energy, we went over a year without having to pay for any electricity to FPL and that is when FPL mandated a minimum charge of $25.00 whether we use their energy or not. They are now making us want to use more energy rather than less, so that we are at least using energy that we are paying for.

What was the process of going solar like for you?

I developed an excel sheet of over 10 companies to review and decide who had the best reputation, product, price and warranty overall. Ask a lot of questions and make sure they plan to stick around.

Have any of your habits changed since going solar?

We lowered our temperature on our A/C to be even more comfortable during the hot summer months, without our bill going up!

Do you have any data on your solar system’s performance? What electricity savings have you seen since going solar?

Yes, absolutely! See our summary of FPL billing above. We can now put away even more for retirement and enjoy going out more too!

What advice would you give to someone who is considering going solar?

Make sure it’s the right thing to do for you…consider the following questions:
1) Will you be staying in that home for more than 10-15 years? (to get your ROI)
2) Or, will you be owning that home for that amount of time and perhaps renting it out. The low cost of energy for your renters is a very good perk!
3) Bottom line, can you afford to do it….For Example: If you are already paying, on average, $180 month on your energy bill, and you can get a loan payment for that amount or less, then perhaps it’s a good idea.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Do your homework!