RM>> It could be worse though. The power company sort of hates these things and
  >> has backed off promoting it as strongly by paying only about 40% as much to
  >> new people getting into it these days compared to what she is getting.

MP>Well, at the very least, it sounds like they are probably getting lots of
  >complaints on them so I can see why they don't like them!  

Complaints don't go to the power company, they go to the company you buy the
solar panels from. When my sister first got them they were told the number of
panels they installed should produce around $10,000 a year in rebates from
putting it back into the grid. That would mean the $80,000 investment should
have paid itself off in 8 years. I never thought it was the deal of a lifetime
given that the life of the solar panels is often only 10 to 12 years. But no
one mentions the costs of keeping it running. Parts are guaranteed for a
specified number of years, but not labour and often, with travel time, a $50
part that you get for free comes with an installtion bill of $250.

Oh, and to add insult to injury, that $10,000 a year estimate has worked out
closer to $5000 a year for the power without taking repairs into account.

Originally the power company was paying people slightly over 80c per kwh but
after a few years they dropped that payment to something like 34c..

Both numbers sound like a lot when the highest rate is at 'only' 17c but it
looks like the power company knows the actual cost of keeping the system
running is a lot higher than one might expect..

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