Electrical company return money to homeowner as electrical meter spins backwards

Imagine being able to reduce your power bill by 80% and contribute to the ‘go green’ initiative and preserve a cleaner planet for our children. Is it worth it to install solar panels in your own home?

We talk to Bob Thomason a man who’s wired up with solar panels in Myers Park, one of the leafiest areas in Charlotte. A look at the Mr Thomason’s solar electric meter and it is showing about 1100 watts, which is about half the total capacity and that’s because it's early in the morning and some of the solar panels are still shaded. When the sun is shining, Mr Thomason’s family uses the electricity that is produced by these solar panels. “There’re times when the panels are producing electricity like right now when there is nobody in the house and we're not using any electricity. In that case, the electricity goes back right out on the grid and Duke Energy pays us for that electricity and other people in our neighborhood get to use it so it doesn't go to waste.”

Mr Thomason gladly shows another meter that can tell how you would save when you use solar power. “For the year, this is telling us that we have saved $841 on our utility expenses.” Amazing!

These solar panels, once set up, you can almost forget about them. These solar panels are guaranteed for twenty years. There is nothing that can hurt these solar panels that wouldn't hurt your own roof. The disadvantage of installing solar panels, if there is one, is that you have to come up with a lump sum of money to buy the solar panels. It’s sort of like buying 25 years of electricity and paying for it now. By sending out electricity out to the grid, Mr Thomason’s electric meter actually spins backwards. Most people asked Mr Thomason about when will these solar panels “payback”. “I tell them it pays us back the moment we turn it on and flip the switch. When these solar panels starts producing electricity from the sun, there is no better feeling than knowing that we're doing that and we will do it for next 25 years”