3 years ago I put solar panels on my roof and now I think some of the rebate programs are a trap

Last week I got my electric bill and realized my solar panels still haven't paid for themselves. I live outside Portland and paid $18,000 after the federal rebate 3 years ago. The state rebate here pushed me toward a specific installer who used cheaper panels that are already losing efficiency. Anyone else feel like the rebate programs just make us buy stuff faster without looking at the long term?

2 comments

2 Comments

carter.julia3d agoRising Star

I mean you said yourself you went with a "specific installer" for the state rebate, so maybe the trap isn't the rebate but picking the cheapest option upfront instead of doing your own research on panel quality.

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calebrivera2d ago

Yeah you actually make a good point there. Used to be all about just grabbing the cheapest bid and calling it a day, figured a solar panel is a solar panel right? But after watching a buddy's system tank hard after two years because he went with those cheap no-name panels, I started digging into the specs more. The rebate lock-in made me actually research the hardware instead of just the price tag, and that's when the light bulb clicked for me. Some of those bargain panels have degradation rates that'll leave you with half the output way before the loan is paid off. So yeah, my old way of thinking was wrong, and the "trap" was really just me being lazy about the details.