Customer Reviews
Solar Panels FAQ, Solartime USA
If you’re financing your solar panels, there’s no upfront cost. You’ll just be switching your cost from your electric company to solar, not spending any extra money. If you choose not to finance your solar panels, however, your cost is going to be between $2,800 and $3,200 per kilowatt.
It varies based on the size of your home and how much direct sunlight you get, but you can expect a minimum of 40-200k in savings over a span of 25 years. The bottom line: you can expect to save a lot.
Only one to two days! While the inspection and permit processes will take longer, solar panel installation is quite quick.
None! While other parts of the country need to wash solar panels in order to keep them operating at an optimal level, Texas has enough rain to wash off any dust from the panels so that you don’t have to worry about it.
If you buy into solar this year, you’ll receive a 30% tax credit, and there are usually utility and city incentives, as well (such as cash back). The faster you act, the better, though. If you wait until 2020, your credit will drop to 26%, and it’s likely to keep going down in the future.
You have a number of options when it comes to paying for your solar panels -- you can use cash available through your local bank, you could finance through Solartime USA (or a local bank or financial partner), or if neither of those options work for you, you can always opt for leasing. Cash and in-house financing are both very easy when you go through Solartime USA and provide full ownership of the solar system.
Yes! Your solar panels will still produce about 20% of their maximum capacity of energy when it’s stormy, as there is still ambient light, just being blocked by clouds.
Solar panels should increase the value of your home by the full value of your solar system. Also, with a large number of people moving to Texas out-of-state, you’ll want to be able to be competitive in the housing market if you’re looking to sell. Many of these people are already used to solar energy and will be looking for it when they go to purchase a home. So, not only will solar panels increase the crude value of your home, but they will also increase the overall appeal.
When undergoing your city and utility solar inspections, your utility company will generally install a smart meter that calculates exactly how much energy you use and allows you to sell any excess energy to the company. There are also some net metering programs you can look into if you’re interested.
By using the ‘Sunny Portal’ app available for Apple and Android, you can see exactly how much you produce and calculate how much you’ve saved.
- Turn off your internet router
- Check the Sunny Portal app to see which inverter is disconnected (On the right side of your inverter there are two stickers that have the inverter number on them)
- On the inverter that is offline, turn the dial on the left side to “0” (if you are in doubt, it is absolutely fine to just turn both inverters off)
- Wait 2 minutes, then turn the dial on the left side of the inverter(s) back to “I” and turn your internet router back on
Once you’ve reset the connection, it can take an hour or more to start seeing production again. All production that was not showing up while the app was disconnected will also appear.