What does it take to go solar and is it worth the investment?
MIAMI - So, with higher electric bills, does it make sense to go solar? One South Florida homeowner is betting on it for the long run.
"I'm all about saving energy," said Rosetta Hernandez, who does several loads of laundry a week. A year ago she made a substantial change to her house and her life, she installed 24 solar panels.
Now, everything in the house is running on solar panels. "I typically do at least four loads of laundry a week, sometimes five."
She said laundry and hot water would spike up her bill (before solar). Now, she rellies on her app to keep up on the use of energy and savings with solar.
"We're paying less for the month," says Hernandez, who still pays an FPL bill, even though she once thought that would not be the case. "The highest it's ever been (in the last year) it's like $78. She used to pay $175 a month, before solar.
Hernandez is still paying for her solar panels. Basically, the program she purchased adds a portion of the amount owed to her yearly taxes.
"It added about 6,500 to the taxes," said Hernandez. She is paying $28,000 for solar and $45,000 for a new roof. When she decided to add solar, her roof was over 20 years old.
One of the requisites to add solar when having a house older than two decades is to change the roof.
The investment cost her $45,000, plus interest.
CBS4 reached out to Goldin Solar inquiring about the length of time it would take a homeowner to get back his investment. "Typically, seven years is kind of the average that we're seeing in our market. You buy solar systems, you are going to get 30% tax credit," said Daren Goldin.
As far as Hernandez, she believes in the long run she will see it was beneficial to install the panels, "because we really don't have plans to move."
