Perhaps one of the most critical elements in owning a solar system is treating your power generation source as an investment. Think about this: what home owner spends money on various aspects of their home with the intent of getting nothing in return? None! It can even be argued clear down to the landscape around your home. There is a certain appearance you may be going for, meeting the requirements of a home owner’s association, or even trying to obtain shade around the patio area; the point here is efforts are bring made to yield an intended result. In addition to the outcome, a key premise behind our economy is built around time; the rate by which you expect the outcome often has a correlation to the price you pay.
This is a common theme our Peak Power Solutions consultants hear in the field; customers want to know how fast they can stop paying the high utility rates, rates that seem to keep climbing to pay for a lot of infrastructure, operational cost/maintenance, and programs that are not important to them. Equally as critical, our customers don’t want increased burden as a result of the the solar system installation and/or operation. What burdens could possibly spring up by getting cheaper power?
I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I am type of person who likes to guide prospective owners through the full breadth of what a solar system means to their way of life, even down to the not so pretty aspects. When we start to weigh the totality of the product and service, it looks much more like a construction project than anything else. Engineering, permitting, skilled labor, racking, and all the associated components make up any typical construction project. It’s easy to forget the robustness of this endeavor; your number one physical investment in life, your home, will be subject to a project that will require increased weight load and maintenance upon your roof. Not only do customers have zero desire in paying for all the previously noted costs of the for-profit minded utility, they have low interest in owning all the hardware it takes to harvest and deliver the power. Again, it comes back to the customer just simply wanting that cheap, consistent electricity.
Before the days of solar, the only way to receive electricity of course was through the traditional utility model. The electricity was produced at a large generation facility that took up hundreds of acres, voltage increased by a transformer to be transmitted through large transmission lines, voltage decreased by a transformer for local distribution lines/poles, and likely the voltage “stepped down” once more before arriving at the your meter box. Why do I bring this up? Well, everyone accepts the vast tapestry of poles, wires, substations, and transformers scattered around town needed to deliver electricity to our homes. A solar system installation is no different, a paradigm shifter of sorts away from the utility and on to yourself. Here lies the heartbeat to what our Peak Power Solutions energy consultants hear from consistently from customers: they finally get to take control.
In some parts of the state, Community Choice Aggregations (CCA’s) are springing up which offer and alternative to communities to purchase the power commodity (that is, the generation portion that makes up your utility bill) apart from the utility. Typically, these offerings encompass non-emissions generation sources to meet the growing customer demand. But like the utility, the CCA’s will undoubtedly have price increases to procure the power. I hope by shedding light on the energy scene as a whole, you continually gain insights to help you make a sound decision. Peak Power Solutions is your avenue of choice when it comes to traveling into the world of energy liberation; we look forward to hearing from you.
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