Growing up in a large family, Sky lived in a house with solar panels on the roof. His dad was a John Wayne, conservative-family man. -Very hardworking and he had 7 kids. He believed in doing something the right way, and the best way.
We would have loved to follow his lead, but solar panels are a really big money investment.
So, we talked about it once in a while, but never took the plunge.
Sky heard ads on the radio for Solar City. They offer a lease program. This program takes advantage of some of the green power rebates being offered in California- and by paying lease payments spread out over many years, the price is made reasonable. They have a no money down program, and then an even better offer if you put a certain percentage down. We went with the 2nd option. By leasing the panels, Solar City also monitors their performance- a win/win.
Before the crew could begin their work- they had to power up their tools the old-fashioned way.
Whisper...they used an electrical outlet.....
Our house was built in the 1950's -because our electrical box was one made for a 1950's house, we could not put the maximum number of panels on our house- unless we upgraded our electrical box. We were already laying out cash upfront to lower our lease payments...so, we said 'no thanks' to the new box. Instead, we had fewer panels installed.
The panels on our roof will not be adequate to totally power our house. But, they should take our electric needs down to the very lowest and next lowest pay scale on our electric bill.
You know that scale- the one that no one living could achieve..so you are pushed into the higher rate tiers quickly on your electric bill. Yes, that scale. Now- we will live on the lower rungs of the tier.
Oh yeah...oh yeah...oh yeah!
With our electric rates increased every year, we were very motivated to not be so dependent on our electric company. We don't live in Los Angeles county- where we hear of rates being dramatically increased every year- so thankful we don't have to deal with that...Yet, our increases are still problematic.
Here is our solar power doo-dad...(yes, I'm really tech). It took Solar City most of the day to install the panels. They were a very curteous crew. At one point, they accidently punched a few screws through our vaulted ceiling in the bathroom. They were quick to fix it, patch the holes and repaint. Nice guys, all of them :)
When they were all through, we stood in front of our electric meter and watched it spin backwards.
Yes, it really does spin backwards! I thought that was total hyperbole, but no lie, it really does.
It's pretty satsifying.
This is a totally unsponsored post- but* Solar City does offer referral rewards to current customers for referring new customers- I would love, love, love it if you mentioned I sent you, if you decide to go with Solar City.