At last! My solar panel FAQ post. Our panels were installed last summer, but I wanted to get familiar with them before posting my thoughts. We are always happy to answer more questions – these are just the most common ones! Feel free to hit us up on Facebook with any other questions you might have.
This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission for any purchases made through our links.
Who did we buy our solar panels from?
We purchased our panels through Sunpro Solar. Shortly after our purchase, they merged with ADT Solar.
I’ll talk about that process later.
How much do solar panels cost?
Well….here’s the dealio. It depends on your house and your energy goals.
We have a large house and didn’t want to remove our trees. We also wanted to get as much energy as possible from our panels. Our total cost was in the 40k range after we considered the tax credits and rebates we got.
However – do not let that scare you away from looking into solar! That’s truly the upper end of things.
Depending on your individual circumstances, the price point can wind up significantly lower than that. I know someone else with a similar home size as us and their cost was only about 15k because they have no trees and use less energy with fewer people in their home.
It helps to have a budget limit and energy goals in place before you start approaching companies for quotes.
How does the process of going solar start?
This is my favorite question because it’s the easiest to answer! It’s the part I struggled with the most, myself.
To get started, you need to look into what solar options are available in your community. I suggest touching base with your electric company, as well as any friends and family you may have that have gone solar. Here in the Midwest, our options are fairly limited compared to places on the coast and in larger metropolitan areas.
Be aware that this process can take quite a long time. There was about a year between our decision to go solar and the final installation of our panels onto our house. We knew we wanted to go solar, but the time to ask questions, review municipality requirements, sign a contract, and then wait for permits really added up.
Is there a battery to store the energy we generate?
This is another question that the answer depends on who you buy your panels from and what options you choose. Our plan had the option to purchase a battery so we could store any excess energy we generated, but we chose not to because it was pretty pricey.
It’s an upgrade we’ll likely make in the future but was outside of our comfort zone at the time we were making our purchasing decisions.
Are we still hooked to the grid?
Yep! Since we chose not to purchase the battery, we’re connected to the regular ol’ power grid. We have a fancy schmancy bidirectional meter that allows us to draw power from and send power to our municipal power grid.
At any point in the day that we’re drawing more power than we’re using, we earn credits with our power company that go towards electricity we draw back from the grid – overnight or on days we don’t generate as much as we use.
We have an app that tracks our energy generation and usage and tells us how “Energy Independent” we are each day.
Did we have to replace any appliances by going solar?
Nope. Literally, nothing on the inside of our house had to change at all.
I’m not entirely sure why this has been a common question, so if someone can explain that one to me please do shoot me a message. Switching to electric appliances is a good sustainable swap, but I’m not sure that any solar company would require that as a condition to going solar.
Did anything else besides the solar panels come with our purchase?
Yep! We received a nest thermostat, an energy audit, and a set of LED lightbulbs for our entire home.
(We already have LED lights in the whole house but we’ve enjoyed sharing them with folks we know that haven’t made the switch yet.)
The energy audit was pretty cool. Someone came to our home and measured drafts and heat loss from our ducts and water heater, among other things. We got to chat about what we were doing well and discuss areas for improvement. They made a number of small repairs and insulated some things for us.
What are the drawbacks to going solar?
In the interest of full transparency, I do want to mention the negative aspects of our experience going solar. Although I highly recommend our specific panels (all the LG models are awesome) I do NOT recommend going with ADT Solar for your installation or financing needs.
Our main complaint stems mainly from the fact that Sunpro merged with ADT Solar shortly after we signed our contract. Lines of communication broke down between the city, the power company, us, and the solar company. That was definitely frustrating to deal with and has led to a lot of long-term confusion and errors resolving a minor repair that was made early on.
Once things got settled in that merger things went fairly smoothly as far as installation goes, but that whole communication thing was such a huge hassle.
I wouldn’t expect that part to be as much of an issue for folks going forward, but I’m certainly not giving out any gold stars to ADT Solar for exceptional customer service.
Summer 2023 Update: We are still working with ADT on a resolution to previous issues, and I reiterate that although we LOVE our panels and do not want to dissuade anyone from getting them, we advocate for our followers to pursue other companies unless ADT is the only option in your area. I’ll continue to update this post as our service continues and if the company ever does make an effort to right these issues, I’ll absolutely be transparent about that too.
Do we recommend going solar?
I don’t think there’s a perfect yes or no answer to this. Overall, I do say yes – it’s worth it for most folks to at least look into getting solar panels. If nothing else, it’s helpful to know how the process works and be able to share that info with others in your area.
If you own your home and are planning to stay there for the long haul, swapping out a monthly energy bill to your utility company for a solar panel plan is likely to make financial and environmental sense. If you have the ability to buy panels outright, that’s especially worth pursuing.
Even when cost and other factors seem daunting, our family finds great value in pursuing challenging goals and rethinking how we view what is affordable to us as sustainability advocates.
We hope this FAQ helps answer some of your initial questions and encourages you to take those next steps in learning about solar energy options available to you in your area.
Thanks for the info! I have thought about this, but the original outlay is daunting.