We spoke to a lady who was paying $399.98 ($400) a month, on average, for electricity. Using the simple calculator at costtodonothing.com, we plugged in her average bill and used the minimal 5%, for the average increase of power rates every year, as an escalator compounding over thirty years. (You can do this too at costtodonothing.com.)
She is going to spend $334,835.05 for electricity over the next thirty years unless she does something about it.
We designed a system for her that checked all her boxes. A twenty thousand Watt (20kW) solar array (50 panels) that would produce enough electricity to compensate for 100% of her current electric consumption. Two batteries that would light up her home eight milliseconds after a power outage and keep it lit all day and night and recharge with free energy from the Sun every sunny day. We even included a removal and reinstallation of her panels should she replace her roof in the next five years. Total cost to her? $88,000.00. She needs to think about it.
This system we designed saves her, and her family, 74% of their electric cost over the next thirty years. Protects them against outages and brownouts due to an already sketchy and increasingly unreliable power grid. Gives her the option of true energy independence. She needs to think about it.
Would you? Do you?
If I wanted to trade you $334,835.05 for $88,000.00 would you need to think about it? What if I threw in the added benefit of electricity during a power outage? Still need to think about it? See why we are frustrated?
Here is what is going on here. Even though we understand it, it is still frustrating for us. She is skeptical because she is smart. She knows that solar is booming and it has attracted some unsavory sales professionals and sketchy contractors to it. The fact that many giant solar companies have recently filed for bankruptcy, been sued, or otherwise gone away is evidence of her need to be cautious.
She has doubts about our claims. What she doesn’t have is the time to become a solar expert to the extent where she can verify our math. An added frustration is that even if she did have time, she would not know where to begin to acquire the education needed. She is not going to think about it, she has the catchy condition coined “analysis paralysis” by the sales industry. In the world of solar, some skepticism about claims is smart but paralysis is expensive.
Here’s what she, and you too probably, are not going to do. You are not going to become a solar expert, scour the internet for the components at the best prices, take YouTube courses on solar and electrical installation, and DIY a grid tied solar and battery system. It would take you years, and even then, your municipality and power company would not allow you to do the work yourself. (BTW, the best stuff isn’t even available to the general public.)
Here is the course we recommend to her, and you. Find a way to trust someone in the industry, then put it in their hands. It doesn’t have to be us, there are other good solar companies out there, but it should be us. We check all the boxes required to earn consumer trust. We have been in business for over twenty years. We have all the licenses and insurance required and zero complaints with the DBPR. We have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. We have excellent ratings on Google.
Even with all that, we are still not perfect. We have made mistakes. There are too many opportunities for something to go wrong in this industry and over the last twenty-five years we have stumbled into most of them at one time or another. On rare occasions, we find a new one too. Our Ace in the hole is noble intent.
Every single employee here, old or new, on good days and bad, is required to always have the customer’s best interests in mind. That means our salespeople are not allowed to sell products or services our customers don’t need or want or won’t work for them, lie to get a sale, or make any promises we as a company can’t fulfill in house. Our service people are instructed to solve our customers’ issues as efficiently and economically as possible.
If, when, something goes wrong, we are all expected to scramble to correct with as little inconvenience to the customer as possible. If you need someone to trust, we have spent the last twenty-five years earning it. We’re ready when you are.
