What is My Story of Purchasing Solar?

For over a decade, I noticed that quite a large number of people came to my door trying to sell me solar. That taught me something. If there is enough money to be made to justify a door to door salesman, then solar must be very profitable for those who sell it. I came to the hard and fast conclusion that solar must have a good profit margin for those in the business. I thought to myself, rather than letting them make so much money off of me by selling me solar, I need to find a way to make that money for myself. I did not succeed.

Then, in the summer of 2020, a friend who had leased a solar system for his home (this is a terrible idea, if you ask me), convinced me to let his solar salesman come to my house and try to lease or sell me a system. To avoid being rude, I let him refer me. He had told me he would get a multi-thousand dollar referral fee if I bought solar through his salesman. Again, it occurred to me that solar must have an awfully lot of profit in it if a company can give a multi-thousand dollar referral fee to its customers. I was right, and I did avoid this one.

The salesman gave me an estimated system size, then he offered me a lease. He quoted me $4.00 per watt for a purchase. I had just enough sense to tell him that I wanted to do some research, and I began considering what solar should cost, the ups and downs of leasing, and whatever else I could discover on the Internet. His price was way too high.

I arrived at what I thought was a fair price in terms of dollars per watt. At the time, that number was $2.25. I quickly learned that leasing a system would reduce the value of my house, and that it really wouldn't save me much money at all. Then I did a crazy thing. I put my name into a couple of solar web sites that then sent it to solar providers. Before you know it, the phone began to ring (and ring, and ring).

One company called me and gained my trust and interest (oh, no!). They happened to be the same company that was providing the leasing option for my friend's salesman. Yes, that salesman was doing nothing more than selling a lease for another solar company, and taking a fee off the top. But, when I asked about purchasing, the solar company on the phone quoted me a price (based on my house size, my electric bills, etc.) that was almost exactly $2.25 per watt. I made the commitment and bought a system. Sadly, I think I paid too much.

I must give the solar provider credit for a few things. They made the purchase very easy, including a very low interest rate loan by a companion company. Then, they gave me a very easy to read and understand proposal, and they did the installation in a very short period of time. Everything worked perfectly, and still does. There have been no service calls. I purchased the system on August 21st, they surveyed my house in-person on August 24th, the system was installed on September 17th, and My local utility gave me permission to begin using the system on September 24th. It had taken only just over a month from the day I purchased until the system was producing power. And, nothing ever went wrong after that.