Solar panel saga continues
Apr. 10th, 2015 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dennisgorelikI Just had the solar panel salesman over my house.
We talked over 3 hours.
He told me that his usual appointment is about one hour, and usually he is successful at selling.
He told me that he usually have 3-4 appointments every day and he sells about 2 times per day.
With 5% commission and $30K average sale price he makes a lot of money. You do the math.
Well, I think he overestimated it a bit, but it's still a lot.
BTW, he pays to the guy who setup appointments $40 per lead.
So, assuming I do not buy from him (which is likely, but not definitely), he lost $40 and 3 hours of time.
---
Now, back to solar panels benefits for me.
To simplify, according to his calculations, if I get a 12 years loan for 100% of sale price and then use 30% tax rebate from the government, then my loan payments would be about the same as my current electric bill savings.
So, for example with solar panel that would cost me $150/month monthly payments on the loan, I will cut $150/month from my electric bill.
Due to 3% inflation electricity price is going up about 3% every year. But my loan payments would stay fixed.
And after 12 years, when I repay that loan, I would have to pay nothing.
Another interesting benefit the salesman told me about is that string converter works with solar panel has batteries that keeps electricity for couple of hours.
Sounds like Uninterruptible power supply to me.
I wonder if it would actually be able to maintain power for 2 hours.
The salesman told me that since roof on my house does not have any shades, I should use string converter (instead of microconverters that are beneficial if solar panels have varying power output).
The price for 7KWatt converter is about $25K with installation (2.5 times higher than internet price without installation).
I do not want to install it myself, so I would need to find somebody to install it.
Update 1:
The salesman claimed that solar panel installed on my roof would at least keep its value if I would try to sell my house (30% tax rebate would help).
He also claimed that in California these solar panels even increase house cost by more than they were bought for.
Part 1 of Solar panel saga
We talked over 3 hours.
He told me that his usual appointment is about one hour, and usually he is successful at selling.
He told me that he usually have 3-4 appointments every day and he sells about 2 times per day.
With 5% commission and $30K average sale price he makes a lot of money. You do the math.
Well, I think he overestimated it a bit, but it's still a lot.
BTW, he pays to the guy who setup appointments $40 per lead.
So, assuming I do not buy from him (which is likely, but not definitely), he lost $40 and 3 hours of time.
---
Now, back to solar panels benefits for me.
To simplify, according to his calculations, if I get a 12 years loan for 100% of sale price and then use 30% tax rebate from the government, then my loan payments would be about the same as my current electric bill savings.
So, for example with solar panel that would cost me $150/month monthly payments on the loan, I will cut $150/month from my electric bill.
Due to 3% inflation electricity price is going up about 3% every year. But my loan payments would stay fixed.
And after 12 years, when I repay that loan, I would have to pay nothing.
Another interesting benefit the salesman told me about is that string converter works with solar panel has batteries that keeps electricity for couple of hours.
Sounds like Uninterruptible power supply to me.
I wonder if it would actually be able to maintain power for 2 hours.
The salesman told me that since roof on my house does not have any shades, I should use string converter (instead of microconverters that are beneficial if solar panels have varying power output).
The price for 7KWatt converter is about $25K with installation (2.5 times higher than internet price without installation).
I do not want to install it myself, so I would need to find somebody to install it.
Update 1:
The salesman claimed that solar panel installed on my roof would at least keep its value if I would try to sell my house (30% tax rebate would help).
He also claimed that in California these solar panels even increase house cost by more than they were bought for.
Part 1 of Solar panel saga
