One woman has shared her total energy bill after one year of using solar panels.
Are you willing to go green? With a rise in electric vehicles and Jaguar going electric-only, we've already covered the savings you could make by switching to EV. Similarly, some are seeing if they can save money on their home utilities by installing solar panels.
Over on YouTube, Shelby Church reveals how she 'took the plunge' a year ago and shelled out on solar panels for her Airbnb let in Palm Springs. Explaining the thought process, Church said: "The electric bills were just getting higher and higher, and I needed to do something about it.”
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She pointed to her highest bill, which was a whopping $892 for a single month in 2022.
Having spent a hefty $20,000 on 20 solar panels, Church dived into whether it was worth it.
Importantly, she applied within the timeframe of NEM 2.0, which allows her to sell her excess energy back to the grid at the price that she bought it for. Since April 2023, you can only sell your energy back for a fraction of the price, so she lucked out on this one.
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Her system can produce about 13,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) every year, but in the end, it was closer to 12,000 kWh. She warns that a common misconception is that having solar panels means you'll have no electricity bill from your provider.
In reality, you're still going to have some fees as long as you're connected to the electric grid. She says that a $20,000 system likely won't cover all your bills unless you have a very small house.
Church's electric bills from 2023 ranged from $282 to $776, which she puts down to electricity costing so much in the California desert. With her solar panels turned on in January 2024, she first noticed a real impact in February. While her electric bill from February 2023 was $557.63, February 2024 saw it slashed to $280.72.
Boasting a reduction of 50%, she was more than happy with her purchase.
Once the solar panels were turned on, her bill was never more than $400 a month. The biggest saving was April 2023's $702.94 reduced to just $112 in 2024. On average, her bill went down from $620 to $253.
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Crunching the numbers, 2023's total electric spend was about $7400 compared to 2023's being just $2,900. If you're saving $4,500 a year in electricity and spent $20,000 on a system, it's easy to see how you'll be making your investment back in just over four years.
She notes that even if you don't account for inflation, you'll be saving about $130,000 over the course of 30 years. When factoring in inflation, it could be over $212,000 in savings - making it seem like a no-brainer when it comes to installing solar panels.
Church also points out that they only made around $700 selling back to the grid. Still, there are various factors you could consider before stumping up for a solar system. Areas like Washington State typically have cheaper electricity rates, while you should also consider how long you're going to keep the house for. Summing up her findings, Church concluded: "I hope that some of you end up going solar because it also is great of course knowing it's clean energy. I charge my car with it, like it's awesome."
Not everyone can afford to spend $20,000 to puts solar panels on their, but if you can, it could be something to look into.