Technically, tax credit requires "professional" installation. Just something to think about.
My TOU is a bit of a joke. 5 cents off peak, 6.3 cents on peak. The bigger peak issue is the demand charge which solar helps little for. But you can time the a/c with the sun. But clouds happen, ovens happen in the evening etc.
SHW was $6k. Net after incentives was close to $1.5k. Our utility did a study and the average annual savings was $200 at the 10 cents/kwh price. With TOU-D, I can heat nearly all the water I do have to heat off peak so the savings is more like $100 annually if I didn't have a recirc pump.
The annual savings is less than expected because the average person who gets solar hot water uses far less hot water than average. The average in the study paid $300 a year before solar and the govt average is $600. Since I have the recirc pump, I would use close to the average without solar.
So either way, lucrative is probably not appropriate.
My TOU is a bit of a joke. 5 cents off peak, 6.3 cents on peak. The bigger peak issue is the demand charge which solar helps little for. But you can time the a/c with the sun. But clouds happen, ovens happen in the evening etc.
SHW was $6k. Net after incentives was close to $1.5k. Our utility did a study and the average annual savings was $200 at the 10 cents/kwh price. With TOU-D, I can heat nearly all the water I do have to heat off peak so the savings is more like $100 annually if I didn't have a recirc pump.
The annual savings is less than expected because the average person who gets solar hot water uses far less hot water than average. The average in the study paid $300 a year before solar and the govt average is $600. Since I have the recirc pump, I would use close to the average without solar.
So either way, lucrative is probably not appropriate.
