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Leasing solar panels

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Bruce S:
Then it would be possible to have an electric bill.
If you have a a sketch of concept for the" no electric bill ", it would be interesting to read.
There are several people in this forum who are completely off grid, either because the grid doesn't reach them or other factors.
I'm sure they like to read this concept as well. BUT I'm fairly certain they would tell you one way or another there's an electric bill, either to the power supplier or other factors.
I'm taking your end of time factor to mean the ROI period once the PVs are paid for in full.

Curious

David Hufft:
Ah, I see what you're saying. There is a fee for the net metering program so even if you always end up with excess credits, and you're not paying for electricity, you do have a "bill". It costs $8 a month.

dnix71:
Damon If David Hufft is out in California on PG&E they have him by the b@lls. There is a lot of outright criminal price fixing going on for many years. The industry group that allocates power has colluded to arbitrarily raise prices and cut off or threaten to cut off large areas of customers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_electricity_crisis
It's still going on http://www.mercurynews.com/pge/ci_21053334/electricity-is-cheaper-make-but-bills-are-still they are just more subtle about it.

Anything that gets you off the grid in that area is worth looking at. PG&E has neglected maintenance on it's gas distribution system and this happened https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_San_Bruno_pipeline_explosion They don't even know where all there pipelines really are.

The state of California is bankrupt. This is why http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/08/state-payroll-up-93-percent-costs-424-percent-in-last-decade.html and this http://www.forbes.com/sites/billfrezza/2012/07/12/california-cities-go-bankrupt-but-bullet-train-barrels-on/
This state is run by people who have committed treason. They spend money that does not exist while not paying their bills. The Fed is giving the state money under the table to pay for the shortfalls, just like they are giving Congress money under the table to pay for foreign wars.

David Hufft:
True, California bureaucracy sucks! -driving back toward topic- All the more reason to work toward owning your own system. If PG&E cuts you off you still have something to work with. Then all you would have to get is an off grid inverter and batteries...or just buy a hybrid system in the first place **product plug warning** like Outback's Radian system.

Lo_Volt:
Just figured that I'd update the thread and let everyone know what I ended up with. 

I went ahead and installed my own system.  I got a really good price on Motech 235 W panels (~$1.15/W which was awesome in 2012).  I had intended to use a SunnyBoy, but Solectria makes a 7500 watt grid-tie that gave me 500 watts more than the SMA.  It came bundled with the panels so I went that direction.  The system is ground mounted using an adjustable tilt mount from TTI. 

The total wattage of the system is 8460.  Total cost was right around $24k.  I had to hire a contractor to plant eight 4 inch posts in the ground for the mount.  That took 2 foot diameter holes 5 feet deep and filled with concrete.  I also paid an electrician to hook up the AC as that was the easiest way to get the county inspector to pass it.  The federal tax credit was ~$7200 and the state of Maryland gave me $1000 as well, bringing the total to ~$15,800 after subsidies.  Maryland's SREC market still has the SRECs selling for $130-140 and I've made 22 so far.  Barring any repair costs, I'm on schedule to pay it off in another 4-5 years. 

The system has been running for two years now.  I've run a surplus since the first month but I still pay $8.34 per month to Delmarva Power, but for the past two years I've returned enough surplus to cover that.  They net meter and settle out the difference every April.  They send me a check with the difference.  It's around $.08/kWH whereas if I'm buying electric I'm paying closer to $.11. 

I formerly heated my hot water with oil, but with this system, I installed an electric water heater that allows me to turn off the burner.  I used to use about 100 gallons of oil from March to September just to heat water.  At around $4.00 per gallon, it's nice not bothering with that.  This summer has been mild enough that I'm still running a big surplus.  I don't expect that in the future if we get hot in May and June as the air conditioning draws power. 

My maximum production day was actually in January of this year as we had a cold spell where the temperature never made it above 10 deg F.  It was a beautiful and cloudless and despite being a short day, I still generated 62kWH! 

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