$4,995
$29,800
16.8%
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Many proposals, many disappointments
$4,995
$29,800
16.8%
Property
- Owner:
- Several
- Type:
- Residential
- Address:
- 63 Howe Rd, Cohasset, MA 02025
- Size:
- 2,800 sq ft
Technology
- Type:
- Solar PV
- Installed:
- April 2023
- Size of System:
- 11.2 kW
- Purposes:
- To generate electricity
Financial Details
- Gross Cost of System:
- $44,000
- Value of Rebates:
- $1,000
- Value of Tax Credits:
- $13,200
- Net Cost of System:
- $29,800
- Annual Savings:
- $4,995
- Own or Lease:
- Cash Purchase
- Additional Financial Notes:
- Each potential installer provided deceptive financial analysis. All were in 2023 dollars instead of discounting for future inflation. This made the payback period appear short when in fact the discounted payback was substantially longer. Each installer based their utility purchase of the power my system generated on the rates of my last utility bill instead of an average over the year. Due to the temporary spike in energy generation costs, the rate deviated from the long term average by a factor of 3, further overestimating the future rate the utilities would buy my power for.
Professionals & Suppliers
- Products:
- LG Energy Solution
What You Need to Know
Description:
Not built due to negative NPV when accurate utility rate values were used. Installation costs in Massachusetts averaged $3.58/watt at the time I received proposals. None of the installers would install for less than $3.90/watt at that time. Meanwhile installation costs in some neighboring states were less than $3.15/watt. California, a high wage state had installations of about $2.80/W.
Advice:
Don't take installer financial analysis at face value. The proposals I received all made assumptions that have collapsed in the last 90 days. You need to take inflation and the long term utility rate trend into consideration. Do your own financial analysis and use discounted cash flow methods.
Experience with Installer:
All installers sent deceptive financial information and despite the fact that some where installing for much lower rates in surrounding states refused to even match the average in Massachusetts.
Additional Notes:
One further note. It is in the installer's interest to avoid using high output panels because they want to install more panels with lower nominal power ratings. It was a struggle to get proposals that used 440W panels instead of 400W panels. Caveat emptor.
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