Benefits

Here are some of the reasons you may consider when deciding to purchase a PV Solar Power System. Owning a Solar Power System is purely beneficial.

1. Rebates. In California, The Million Roofs Solar Initiative made govt. funding possible for up to $2.6 for every watt installed. That means that up to 28% of the total cost of the system will be paid for by the state of California. Commercial systems owners can receive 30%-50% off the total installation. The drawback to this is that this subsidy declines every six months, so if you are thinking about installing a Solar Power System, the time is now.

2. Unlimited Electricity. After a solar system is installed for the property, the property owner barely needs to rely on expensive utility services. The property has its own power source. The owner of the system can also profit significantly by selling unused energy to the utility company. Utility companies are required by law to give credit for unused energy that is sent to the grid.

3. Protect yourself against inflation. With electricity and natural gas prices soaring substantially each year, this new source of energy is owned by you. The only cost is the total installation fee, and even that goes back in your wallet. The initial investment, with our design, will be returned within 6-12 years . After installation is complete, you will not have to worry about electricity and natural gas prices constantly rising.

4. Solar energy may provide growing domestic employment. Due to the solar industry’s development, there is a nationwide incentive to create more than 30,000 high quality jobs by 2015 in manufacturing, engineering and construction, mostly in small businesses.

5. PV can save the US consumer tens of billions of dollars in the near-term with Net Metering. Wholesale electricity prices have increased an average of 29.8% since 1999 . Consumers are paying more and more for electricity every year, and it is growing at astronomical rates. With a PV Solar System, the roles are reversed. The consumer’s system is like his own power plant, and whatever energy that is not used by his system is sent back to the grid. The more the consumer sends to the grid, the more money the consumer saves.

6. Solar Systems are environment friendly and provide renewable energy. It is estimated that every kilowatt of installed solar generation prevents 14,000 pounds of carbon dioxide (associated with global warming). In total, worldwide PV installations today avoid roughly 8 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year into the atmosphere. More than 90% of greenhouse gas emissions come from the combustion of fossil fuels . PV also uses 98% less water consumption per Mw/h than the most efficient natural gas generation.

7. Our PV Solar Systems are 100% reliable, warranty and are extremely low maintenance. Additionally, they are engineered to provide automatic operation without producing noise, gas or air emissions and without requiring fuel or extensive mechanical maintenance. All you need to do is wash it down about once a month.

Rebates + Tax Credits

The California Energy Commission (CEC) is currently paying a rebate of $2.60 per watt for residential solar power systems. This rebate usually covers 30–35% of the total system cost. (link, http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/erprebate/index.html)
Furthermore, investments in residential solar electricity qualify for a $2,000 federal income tax credit.

The amount of the rebate declines by $0.20/Watt twice a year on July 1st and January 1st. Residential home owners must apply for these rebate programs before the next deadline in order to take full advantage of the rebate at the current level. Eshone Electric will provide you with all necessary paperwork, and assist you with the completion of your rebate application.

These incentives cover a substantial portion of the total cost, and result in solar power being less expensive than utility power.

Installation

Call Us. In order to give you our best estimate, you need to give us as much information about your property as possible. All we need from the initial call is to know the following:

• How big your last 12 electricity bills were
• What appliances you have in your house
• How old your house is
• Roof characteristics, what it is made of, which direction it faces.

Schedule A Free Site Evaluation. Set up a meeting with one of our consultants. This meeting is basically to provide the property owner with any information about solar energy, our system, how it works and about all the rebates and tax breaks. This is also when our consultant collects the information about the property so that he can build a proposal. The whole evaluation takes 1-2 hours and is completely free of charge.

Receive Your Proposal. The proposal is intended so that you can get all of the information you need right in front of you. In the proposal you will receive:

• Projected system performance and required size.
• System price and incentives/rebates/tax breaks.
• Total lifecycle payback
• Internal rate of return
• Resale Value Increase
• Cash flow
• Projected billing

The proposal may be received by email or in person by one of our consultants. Together we will help you determine if solar energy is a good investment for your property.

Sign the Contract. When you come to the right decision, we will send you our contract which you will then sign and send back. That, essentially, concludes your efforts for the project. From that point on Eshone Electric takes care of the rest: design, permitting, construction, inspections, utility interconnection, and rebate collection.

Installation. The project will begin as soon as possible, as it usually takes 2-3 weeks to start and three days to install. This can be done once the contract has been signed and we have obtained the city permit and materials for the project.

Municipal and Utility Inspection. When the system is installed, governing municipality as well as your utility company will come and inspect the system. Eshone Electric will schedule these appointments for you, as well as attend them. Following the inspection, PG&E will upgrade your meter to a Net Meter and generation to grid may commence. Your system will begin running, and you will be provided with all the necessary owner’s manuals, warrantees, instructions and electrical and structural drawings. In the case where internet monitoring is installed, you will be fully trained to use the program.