I wonder what the appraisal district agrees with that?

And will the company be in business for 20 years in case the need of warranty claim comes up?

I don’t let them get many words in before I send them on their way.

I've become interested in a relatively small ($5-10K) solar setup that I will do myself since I purchased a motorhome a few years back and became interested in being able to run my AC units with solar vs the onboard generator. Most of the cost is in the batteries ($900 each for Battleborn lithium's ). I live in a 100+ year old home with brand new wiring and subpanels but still rocking 20 year old window AC units (gas heat). My goal is to have enough capacity to run 3 small 5K window units (I'll buy the new ones with inverter technology) all day long and into the night, then switch to 110 if needed. Then have a pigtail installed by an electrician to run my house off my portable generator if need be. That's my "slowly get off grid" idea. I can add and update panels and batteries as I go without financing anything. Solar is becoming cheap, it's the labor to install it that is expensive.
I've always wondered why the RV industry has been "Off Grid" since basically the 70's, but houses are still being built strictly electric.

I know and have seen first hand that water well solar pump panels can withstand baseball size hail and still generate enough electricity to pump water, although they were cracked all to heck. I want to say most (quality) water well solar panels are designed to withstand 1" hail at something like 55mph. We have a lot of hail here in the panhandle and they hold up fine.

I've yet to see what I would call a 'legitimate' company offering these. It's always some fly-by-night, neighborhood-walker-type sales people. If that doesn't scream SCAM I don't know what does.

Sad to hear and without a doubt many of the guys selling do not know the product and only the sales pitch. However this does not mean to not consider them. I did a considerable amount of research and diligence before I went ahead. In my particular situation The panels were not a bad decision , after a year I will have data to know exactly what the payoff is.

I've looked into them for my house....they are a terrible "investment". If I remember correctly it was going to take about 12 years to make my money back.

I would think with electric prices 70-80% higher than they were a year ago, the ROI period has shrunk considerably. I'm sure the components and install prices have gone up YOY, but not to the extent that kWh electric prices have. Unless you live in neighborhood of cookie cutter tract homes, I could see that expense being passed on to the buyer if you decided to sell before you recoup your expenses.

Are you going to get Anything back on what you spend on electricity now? At least with solar you have something to look forward to.

Cut the Power Line

Very possible the ROI has gotten better. I looked a year or two ago. My house is fairly large, but also pretty energy efficient. I think my average electric bill for the year is around $300 or a little less, so a $40k system would take a long time to make it back even if my bill went to zero.

Where are you located that the electric prices are 70-80% higher than last year?

Pretty widespread news that rates kWh rates have gone from ~$0.10 last June to ~$0.18 this June.

According to the state's Power to Choose website (via The Dallas Morning News), the average residential rate in Texas for June 2022 is 18.48 cents per kilowatt hour. Compared to June 2021, that's a 10.5-cent increase. That means a nearly $80 monthly increase for a household using 1,000 kWh of electricity.

WFAA local news just had a segment on this and showed the rates at .18+.. Also talked about going Solar. Glad now that I recently locked in for 3yrs at .12.

We are not seeing that with our electric Co-op here. Just a $15 monthly storm related charge.

Our house was going to cost about $40k, $200 a month

This would cover our current usage so theoretically if they do it right you should never have an electric bill.

Basically ends up being about what we pay currently for electricity but will never go up.

$2700 sq/ft house and 1600 sq/ft shop

All electric

Pros: cost should never go up, should be cheaper in the long run. The panels are very strong and it would take softball size hail to damage them.

Cons: if you move you are still stuck with the bill unless you can sell it to the new owners.
Will start loose efficiency around 20 years. Which is when you'll pay them off unless you pay it off early or outright.
You are not off grid unless you pay extra for the battery bank to store energy. If your goal is to be off grid a generator is probably a better option and a lot cheaper.

I have a buddy, who is going off grid in Arizona. He’s getting a Tesla power wall, says that the way to go. But he won’t use a lot of electricity.

Generac has the Powercell too. I like the concept.

2 things.

You guys jinxed me with all your talk about salesman. Look up today and there is a guy standing in my driveway selling solar.

These rate increases can be traced right back to all the people begging for government help from a power outage.