Who says there has to be a cash ROI? What's the ROI on a hot tub? A vacation in Vegas? A membership at a nice club?
Some people simply like doing what they think is their small part to maintain the place.
When Ransley is in a position to call someone an idiot, it's time for them to pause and take stock...
It would at least be a good idea to find out what the guy's cost per KWH for electricity is. Otherwise, you're comparing apples and oranges with a $600 electric bill, particularly since the poster said a similar house in a community served by another electric company would be $200.
It would be a better idea to understand that it makes far more sense to do an energy audit before doing anything else. Installing Solar Panels is far down the list. Pick the easy low hanging fruit first, before reaching for the one or two apples that require a cherrypicker to reach.
I live where electricity is very expensive, and a $600 bill would be unusual in a house less than 5000 square feet.
For that matter, geo-thermal heating and cooling generally has a much faster ROI than photovoltaic.
If all you are looking at is cost, you do the cheapest stuff first. It's often the most effective, anyway.
Solar panels can be obtained very cheaply in some areas.
te:
my neighbor leaves his outside lights on all day, im sure his bill is
600 a month, but mine is 600 a year and when its warm the AC is on, to pay 7200 a year to me shows someone who doesnt care about moneyStart with a solar water heating system. Best bang for your buck.
Well every body have they own opinion Solar power???? I have attended seminar on Solar power when I confronted manufacture reprisenetive how long for average home to recover investment the answer I got 15 to 18 years and that is no accounting on equipment failure and if that money was invested in CDs Solar power is good for those people living way out where is nothing better available. So in my opinion it is lot of crap. Sorry Tony
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California (PG&E) has a progressive electric rate schedule: the more you use the higher your marginal rates are. There are five "tiers". The lowest rates are about 11 cents / KwH. The highest (tier five) is about 36 cents / KwH. If he is paying $600 / month, he is clearly well into tier five. At that marginal rate, solar panels can be economical until they reduce your net consumption into a lower tier, particularly in Sacramento, where there is a lot of sun.
However, I agree with the other posters: first find out why you are using such an extraordinary amount of power. Fixing that would have a much greater and faster pay back than solar panels.
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