by Thaddeus Flint
New York State wants to give you $10,000. What’s the catch? The catch is that you will also have electric bills that are around 80% less than what you pay now. You just have to go solar.
A few years back solar electric systems for homes and small businesses didn’t make economic sense to those choosing to live in cloudy upstate New York, a land of endless winters and fleeting summers. Our limited sunlight could not provide enough days of power to justify the expense of solar. It would have taken twenty years or more before a solar system could have paid for itself. That was then. Today solar systems are far more efficient than their predecessors. And with the benefits currently being given by both the State of New York and the Federal Government, a homeowner can get a home solar system that will pay for itself in as little as nine years.
The systems are still not cheap. Harry Hicks of HL Fuel in New Lebanon estimates that an average system will run around $29,000. Hicks added HL Solar Energy last fall to his heating oil and propane delivery businesses. But because Hicks works in partnership with Earthsponse, a renewable energy company in Binghamton which is federally certified, solar installations by HL Fuel can qualify for government rebates which could drop that $29,000 down closer to $9,000.
“The rebates right now are so wonderful, that’s why everybody in New York State wants to do it,” said Hicks. According to him, an average size house in this area will probably require a 5,000 watt (5kW) solar system to meet most of its power requirements. Completely installed, including labor and materials, this will run toward that $29,000 figure. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) then contributes around $10,000 by mailing the homeowner a check within two months of the project’s completion, bringing the cost down closer to $19,000. When the homeowner files their taxes for that year they qualify, on average, for a $5,000 tax credit from New York State and a Federal tax credit of another $5,000. The total rebates would now be around $20,000. To make it even easier to budget, homeowners who install a 5kW system can qualify for 12 month financing with no interest and no payments. The grant and the tax credits are pre-guaranteed; HL Fuel inspects the property first to see that it has enough exposure to the sun in order to qualify before an estimate is drawn up. Work would only begin after NYSERDA approves the project, which takes around 30 to 60 days. The installation itself only takes two to three days.
The remaining $9,000 needs to be paid out of pocket. But a home’s electrical bill could drop as much as 80%. There are no batteries with this type of system, which makes it almost maintenance free. When little power is being consumed the extra electricity being generated by the home system is sold back to the power company. “When the sun is out and you aren’t using power, you are just spinning the meter backwards,” said Hicks. Apparently the meter actually does go in reverse, something many home owners might merely dream of seeing. The power company will then come out and put in a digital one free of charge, the old type mechanical meters were designed back in a time when nobody ever expected them to go backwards. With average annual savings calculated around $1,000, the system is paid for in around nine years. “After that,” said Hicks, “depending on how long you live in this house, you are going to save 80% a year for the rest of your life.” With the price of oil already $13 more expensive than it was at the end of 2010, it seems almost inevitable that electric bills will start to climb as well. So go solar, live long and prosper!
Homeowners and businesses looking for more information or a free assessment to determine if solar is an option for their property can go to the HL Fuel’s solar website www.hlsolarenergy.com/. HL Fuel installs solar systems from Columbia County to as far north as Arlington, Vermont.
