What the Business Pros Know

Top Reasons Why People Buy or Don’t Buy Solar

March 1, 2024

Vaughn Prost

I recently came across a poll which asked people why they bought solar electric systems. The results matched what we have found being in this business over the past 16 years. The number one reason was to save money. The number two reason was to do their part for the environment. Let’s delve deeper into these reasons.

Save Money: It’s pretty much a fact of life that utility costs have been going up and will continue to go up year after year. It may even happen that these increases in your electric rates will climb at a steeper rate because utility companies are needing to spend large sums of money on infrastructure upgrades and building huge solar farms. These costs get passed on to the consumers. When you invest in your own solar electricity system, you will lower your electric bill substantially and not be as affected by rate increases. The more energy your own power plant produces for you, the less you will use of the utility’s power and the more money you will save.

I want to make a point here that the utility companies are not the enemy. They are providing exactly what we need and trying their best to keep our rates down. In fact, Columbia Water and Light is the only utility company in Missouri that is still giving its customers rebates on solar electric systems trying to make it easier for you to go solar.

Help the Environment: Recycling, riding a bike, using public transportation, and conserving energy wherever possible is a big help. Owning your own solar system can help as well. In fact, every bit helps and individual action may have the most powerful impact of all.

Some have argued that solar panels will eventually cause a problem in our landfills when they are no longer producing. Well, most solar panels are guaranteed to perform at 83 percent of their original production for 25 years. In reality, they may last longer. They won’t perform as well as when installed, but they are still able to crank out the power much longer than we may think. As is typical of our innovative society, new methods are being developed all the time to deal with the eventual waste when your panels can’t be used anymore.

The combination of these top two reasons to buy solar is the epitome of a win-win situation. You save money, help the environment, and even lessen the burden on utility companies to keep meeting increasing demand for power.

What have we found is the main reason people don’t buy solar? The most common reason is that people think they can’t afford solar. Maybe they can’t. We aren’t suggesting that everyone is going to be able to pay for their own solar power plant. Prices have come down on equipment, the federal government is giving a 30 percent tax rebate, and Columbia Water and Light has a solar rebate program. Additionally, for businesses in rural Missouri, the USDA has a 50 percent grant that can cover half of your solar system’s cost. There are also loan programs with decent interest rates (hopefully these will come down again in the near future). Depending on your electric bill, you may be able to swap your utility bill for a loan payment and come close to your typical monthly expenditure.

Another way to make solar affordable is to start small and add to your system as you can. We can help you anticipate your future needs and plan a system that can grow with you. You can start with fewer panels and add to them as you can. If you plan to buy an electric vehicle in the future, we’ll make sure to account for the additional electricity that will be required by a car charger. You don’t have to go all out in the beginning. Start slow and expand as you can.

One of my employees bought a solar system with off-grid battery back-up capabilities. It is connected to the grid and when it doesn’t produce enough, it pulls from the grid. When it produces more than needed, it feeds it into the grid and “banks” it for later usage via net metering. People are often surprised to see how much more conscious they become of energy consumption once they get a solar system installed.

Electricity is such a normal part of life that it is easy to take it for granted. What would happen if we all became more conscious and made it a game to consume less and save more? Food for thought.

Vaughn Prost is the owner and president of Prost Builders lnc., a design/build and construction services firm located in Columbia. Vaughn has over forty years of domestic and international design and construction experience as a cost and scheduling engineer, structural engineer, owner’s construction representative, and general contractor.