It Is Time to Go Solar
BUT first let's help you get through some of the deceptions from the Solar Industry and then show you some product information and warranties terms
Sales Deceptions
1. Everyone qualifies for the IRS Investment Tax Credit (ITC).
Not true. Your 30% tax credit is based upon your taxable income. You have to have taxable income to qualify which a lot of people do. People using as an example a W2 & 1099 to report income to the IRS means you have taxable income. It doesn't mean the solar system is not worthy of your investment if you don't have taxable income, it's just means you might not qualify for the IRS credit. Cash purchase shows a tremendous savings over $120,000+ over the life of an average solar system. If you financing, the cost of financing adds to the costs, but you come out way ahead. It also saves and locks you into your monthly energy cost if you finance the purchase. If you pay cash for the system, the only thing you will pay in Florida is a minimum monthly fee from the electric company for the net meter. Monthly billing ranges in price from $15-$30 for the connection fee.
If your income is lower and you normally receive a tax refund or you are receiving retirement income and don't normally owe any Federal Income tax or don't have taxable income, we suggest contacting your accountant for advice. The accountant may have advice to claim differently on dependents. It really depends upon your circumstances OR possibly you don't qualify for the credit. It doesn't mean this investment won't save you money. It will and the sooner you switch, the sooner you save.
2. Financing lender fee. (the big subject they don't want you to know) and they hide it. More discussed on the DECEPTIVE FINANCING TAB
3. Can you include roof replacement costs in the IRS Tax Credit? Yes, but the IRS says only if the shingles are solar shingles. Some solar companies also hold a roof contractor license and can replace the roof and install solar panels. Thanks to a few major law firms with frivolous lawsuits, the insurance companies make you replace your roofs based upon age not wear and tear in order to continue insurance coverage.
If the solar sales rep tells you the IRS includes roof replacement (not solar shingles) then they are misleading you. If you file fax form 5695 for a 30% tax credit with the roof costs, you risk exposing yourself to defrauding the US Government. Some companies include the cost of the roof (or spray foam or A/C system) and then offset the cost of the solar system stating they sold you an expensive solar system. This is an FYI, so you know. It's a fine line because the IRS recognizes the sales costs of a solar systems can vary from company to company. We recommend you discuss this risk with your accountant.
4. Some solar sales reps might represent they are true patriots and only sell 100% "American Made" solar panels. The truth is "American Made" means some of the parts are made in the United States and some of the parts are not, but they are assembled in America. All the manufacturer must do to use the USA label is assemble at least 53% of foreign parts here in America. It is not possible that the solar panel is 100% American made because Cobalt is used in the solar panels and America does not mine for Cobalt. The first Cobalt mine has just re-opened in America in February 2023. The real truth is there have been companies in America assembling solar panels for decades. Cobalt is heavily mined in Africa and the mines are heavily owned by the Chinese. There is still an advantage of buying a solar panel product partially made and assemble in the United States as you have a state side manufacturer to go to in case something goes wrong.
American solar companies are able to produce their panels at a competitive cost using high-quality silicon creating higher efficiency as well as their superior production methods. Chinese solar companies, on the other hand, have had to sacrifice efficiency in order to keep production costs low. Remember they have to pay shipping and custom charges to get their products into the United States for their completed solar panels.
5. As a means of getting your business, some solar sales reps might undersized the system by reducing the total amount of solar panels for your property compared to another solar company's estimate. In this way it will appear as they are the cheapest bid, but instead they are under stating the amount of panels needed to get to net zero bill from the electric company for your property, but instead the solar company is charging a lot more money per watt for the panels they are providing. You just don't notice because the price is less, but the solar system is smaller. That means you are paying more money per watt for your system than the competitor's bid. A typical Buyer would not know this deceptive dance.
The end result is you will likely be adding more panels at the higher watt costs later when the system size does not produce zero net energy as promised. If you paid by means of a loan, this can cause an issue adding more panels if you don't qualify for a higher loan. Hopefully you are qualified for a higher loan amount so you can get the appropriate amount of panels to achieve net zero bill or end up with somewhat of an electric bill.
6. Salesperson are taught to draw out the first 30 minutes of your meeting to build repoire at your home. A high pressure sales people uses the newly established repoire as a means to not leave your house until they sell you. They may give you a slightly high number on the total costs of the solar system and then "Call the boss" for a discount if you sign today. All part of the high pressure sale to get you to say YES and sign.
7. Watch out for un-supported claims on Solar Companies' websites. Number one in the Nation, Number one in solar reviews, highest rated and reviewed in the State. Anyone can claim anything on a website. It looks good, BUT when you do the research, it's just not true.
8. Solarreviews.com is a lead generation for solar sales people just like Zillow is a lead generation for real estate agents. Company ratings maybe undeserving. Best place is to check a true company ratings is with the Better Business Bureau or Yelp has honest reviews. It is hard to get honest reviews because Solar Companies hire bloggers to write good things about their company and if they join the BBB as a member, the BBB makes complaints private, not public. Better to use our services as we have many other options to vet Solar Companies true workmanship and longevity in the business. You don't want a company here today and gone tomorrow.
9. Another high sales technique is hurry up and sign the contract, you have up to 3 days to cancel, BUT then they add to that statement and say you can really cancel all the way up to before the solar company pulls permits. (Risky) Before the salesperson leaves your home, their plan is to have you sign an electronic contract via Docusign or another electronic signature company. The salesperson should notify you that you have 3 days to cancel the contract if you change your mind. Please make sure you print the contract and read it thoroughly and follow the instructions if you decide to cancel within the first 3 days.
10. Door knockers deceptions (they are NOT the power company there to do an assessment of your energy consumption). Some of the appointment setters are trained to dress up with a hard hat and neon yellow vest. They are not the power company, they are appointment setters there to set an appointment for the high pressure salesperson to come back and sell you a solar system. I do give credit for the hard working person brave enough to walk on to someone's property un-invited. There could be dogs that bite or an angry homeowners that don't appreciate the invasion of privacy. When they represent themselves truthfully, that's dedication. Being honest about what they are doing is fair enough. Totally different if they are being deceptive on why they are there and who they represent.
Statistics show door knocking for solar sales is highly effective so it will continue. If they were deceptive in their presence, they are already off to a bad start.
11. To be clear, you do get a tax credit if you qualify A true statement is you could send less money to the IRS or take a credit for an outstanding debt you might already owe to the IRS or get back federal tax money paid through your W-2 paychecks back in a refund. The deception comes when a sales person tells a person who owes money to the IRS or someone who doesn't have taxable liabilities that you can take the money you receive FROM the IRS and apply it to the solar loan or reinvest the money into something else or go take a vacation.
If you set up your solar loan to use the total tax credit as a one time down payment adjustment to the loan terms, than a person who owes money for tax liabilities will pay the loan instead of the IRS.
If you owe money to the IRS, the 30% tax credit will credit your IRS account balance dollar for dollar. The solar loan typically allows for a one time lump sum payment at (typically) the 15 month term. If you use the tax credit on an outstanding IRS tax amount that you already owe and you do not send the 30% amount to the solar loan company, the amortized loan payments will go up.
The initial solar loan payment is generated based upon the IRS full credit going to the loan within 15 months otherwise the payments will adjust and go up.
If the IRS 30% credit is more than what you owe that year or expecting back from your tax return, you will have to make up the difference on the loan to keep the same payments. (see examples below) You will be able to use the balance of the IRS credit on your next year's tax returns up to four continual years until the 30% tax credit is extinguished.
Examples for those who owe money to the IRS every year: Your new solar system is $25,000. Your IRS tax credit would be $7,500. You owe $7,500 to the IRS as your taxable income. You would file your tax form 5695 and send no money to the IRS. Instead you take the $7,500 monies and send it to finance company on month 15 for the one time adjustment in order for the solar loan payments to stay the same or they will go up.
Second example. You new solar system is $25,000. Your IRS tax credit would be $7,500, but you owe $10,000 in back taxes to the IRS. You file tax form 5695 with your tax returns and you will be credited the $7,500 on the outstanding IRS debt bringing the IRS debt down to $2,500. In order to keep your solar loan at the same initial payments, you will have to come up with a $7,500 payment to the loan on the 15th month otherwise the payments will go up. On the plus side, the IRS charges ridiculous interest rates and penalties. Your solar loan likely has much lower interest rate than the IRS and doesn't have ridiculous penalty charges.
Last example. Your new solar system is $25,000. Your IRS tax credit would be $7,500. You owe $5,000 to the IRS this year. You would file your tax form 5695 with your returns and send the IRS nothing but the returns. The $5,000 money you would have sent the IRS, you use to send the money to the loan company to make a one time loan payment during the 15th month adjustment period. The IRS tax credit was $7,500, but you only owed $5,000 that year so you have a $2,500 credit balance for the next year's income returns. You still have to make the one time payment of $7,500 to the solar loan or face a higher payment in 15th month. In other words, you are still making a $5,000 payment to the solar loan company not the IRS, but you still have to come up with $2,500 for the solar loan in order for the payments to remain the same. If you send the $5,000 and not the $2,500 of the $7,500 IRS Tax Credit, it not as bad if you sent them nothing. The payment will adjust, but not as bad.
We hope to help you avoid deceptions. For more deceptions go to the Deceptive Financing Tab
If you would like us to help you get 3 bids from highly reputable solar companies, please fill out the contact form below. We try to reply as soon as possible, but please give us up to 24 hours to reply in case we are busy with other clients. We hope we can help you find the right system for the right price from a reputable company with full disclosures. Solar is a very wise investment done correctly. We have seen first hand deceptions and don't feel it's fair so we are doing our part to get the correct information out.
Solar Panel Warranties
Amerisolar________
Astronergy________
Axitec____________
BenQ Solar (AUO)_
Boviet solar_______
Canadian Solar____
CentroSolar_______
Certain Teed Solar_
China Sunergy____
ET Solar_________
First Solar_______
GCL____________
Grape Solar_____
Green Brilliance__
Hansol__________
Hanwha_________
Heliene_________
Hyundai_________
JA Solar_________
JinkoSola________
Kyocere_________
LG______________
LONGi__________
Mission Solar Eng_
Neo Solar Power__
Panasonic________
Peimar Group____
Phono Solar______
QCELLS_________
REC_____________
Renogy Solar_____
Risen____________
S-Energy_________
Seraphim________
Silfab____________
Solaria___________
Solartech Universal
Suniva Inc________
SunPower________
SunSpark Tech____
Talesun Energy____
Trina_____________
Upsolar__________
Vikram Solar______
Winaico_________
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80.60%
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85%
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84.95%
80.20%
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80.70%
83.5%
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80.20%
83.10%
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80%
92.50%
84.80%
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92.50%
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92%
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86%
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82.50%
80%
83.10%
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80.10%
80.20%
Roof Leak Warranties
Roof Leak warranties vary from company anywhere from 1 year to 25 years, but how many solar companies will be around in 25 years?? Most solar companies will have a caveat if your roof is not brand new. Can't blame them there, but if the roof is in poor condition, they shouldn't be installing the solar system on it to begin with so it is imperative the owner realizes the true situation about the condition of their roof. An extra precaution would be to call a licensed roofer and have them inspect the roof to make sure there is no problems and have the roofer put his observations in writing. An eager solar company may go for it and place the solar system on the roof when they really should have waited until roof repair work was done or the solar company should have recommended a roof replacement be done if the roof is too compromised for the placement of solar panels. If you are placing solar panels on a used roof, the roof leak warranty on the solar contract should be written clearly and certainly not leaving the evaluation of a later warranty problems to be the sole discretion of the solar company. They should not use that language or have a dispute resolution in case of a disagreement.
New roofs are much easier as they are in top condition, but know the solar roof leak warranties are typically warrantying only the place that their equipment caused a problem on the new roof, not the entire roof. Again fair enough. If they are warrantying the entire roof from defects, then make sure all warranties are in writing. Some solar companies are also licensed roofer and getting a new roof with them could lengthen the roof leak warranty being offered.
What is a solar panel warranty?
A solar panel has two warranties: a performance warranty in percentages and product (or materials) warranty in years. A solar panel’s performance warranty will typically guarantee 90% production at 10 years and 80% at 25 years. An equipment warranty will typically guarantee 10-12 years without failing.
A solar panel’s product warranty insurance covers the integrity of the panel itself and protects you against problems such as manufacturing defects, environmental issues, premature wear and tear etc. As with most warranties, a longer period is generally more advantageous to you. When evaluating a solar panel warranty and its manufacturer, the two most important factors on which you should focus on are:
1. Product (or materials) warranty
2. The performance warranty
See the charts below to compare different brands product warranty and performance warranty.
What problems can solar panel warranty insurance prevent?
If you install a solar panel system for your home or business, by far your most likely scenario is that your panels will perform trouble-free for decades. But solar panel problems do occur from time to time, so if you happen to experience an issue with a solar panel after it’s been installed, it’s important for you to understand that the rest of your system will not be rendered inoperable—not by a long shot.
In all likelihood, depending on the nature of the panel failure, the rest of your system will just continue running with the failed panel left in place. But occasionally, panels fail in ways that impact the performance of neighboring panels. In either case, it’s the solar panel’s product warranty insurance that will cover you if you ever need to get a bad panel swapped out for a new one. That is why you want to use micro invertors with the system.
Evaluating and comparing the product warranty coverage of panel manufacturers can help assure you that your service and support needs will be covered if a solar panel problem ever occurs. Manufacturers’ product warranties are therefore an important complement to other considerations in assessing not only a panel manufacturer’s technical specifications but also its business practices. In case a solar panel fails, the manufacturer will ship you a replacement panel and in some cases, even pay for shipping cost and labor cost to replace it.
Why does a solar panel warranty matter? Banks uses the term"bankability". Banks spends tons of money to research bankability for loans. Warranties are a big part of "bankability".
A solar system represents a multi-decade investment. Your return on that investment is directly related to the amount of electricity your solar energy system generates year-after-year. The electricity generated by your solar panel system allows you to either buy little or no electricity from your utility company. The less energy your solar system produces, the greater your dependence on the utility. It’s a net zero game. If the panels in your solar system degrade quickly over time, then you’ll derive less long-term value from your system than if your panels degraded more slowly. Some warranties will replace defective panels if they degrade too quickly. This is another items that needs to be discussed with a solar sales person and put in writing.
What is a solar panel performance warranty?
The amount of electricity a solar panel produces declines slightly every year. That’s true of all solar panels, but to varying degrees. A common practice in the solar energy industry is to guarantee that the panels will not lose more than 10%-20% of their power output capacity over the first 25 years and is a crucial benefit of a good solar panel warranty. Said another way, panel manufacturers generally guarantee that their panels will produce electricity at 80%-90% of their power output rating at the end of 25 years.
Performance warranty coverage is yet another indicator of a panel manufacturer’s service and support policies in the event that you ever encounter a problem with your solar system. Whereas product warranty issues are fairly straightforward to demonstrate (either your panel is working or it’s not), proving that you’re experiencing a panel performance problem that should be covered by warranty can be far more subtle, the reasons for which are beyond the scope of this brief article. Suffice it to say that higher 25-year performance warranties (i.e., slower degradation) are viewed more favorably than lower performance warranties, but as a practical matter, the performance warranty may be a better indicator of a panel’s intended degradation behavior than of its manufacturer’s support practices. If your solar panels degrade faster than what the warranty specifies, the manufacturer will either repair the solar panel or provide you with a replacement panel. Some manufacturers even pay to ship the solar panel to you and labor cost to replace the panel.
How the top solar panel manufacturers stack up?
The table below summarizes product (parts) and performance warranties for the leading manufacturers who sell solar panels in the U.S. market. For panel manufacturers whose performance warranty offerings vary depending on the module, the highest value is listed. The table below summarizes the product (parts) warranty side by side with the performance warranties for the leading manufacturers who sell solar panels in the U.S. as of 2019.