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Electricity is a utility that you cannot live without—all the essential appliances in your home run on electricity.
From charging your phone to heating or cooling the home, you need electricity for various activities. It is not surprising that electricity charges form a major part of your utility bills.
While looking for ways to reduce your electricity bills, you may have come across solar power as an option. Solar power is said to be the green energy source.
However, its initial installation cost is prohibitively high and causes many to hesitate from choosing solar energy.
Is solar power really the best way to reduce your electricity bill? What are its pros and cons? Let’s find out!
Pros Of Installing Solar Panels
Solar panels have many advantages over the traditional electricity supply. Here are just a few.
Eco-Friendly
One of the biggest plus points of solar power is its eco-friendliness.
Since traditional electricity is generated from fossil fuels that are depleting fast, opting for a renewable energy source such as solar is the best thing you can do for the environment.
Ease Of Adoption
While there are other eco-friendly and green sources of electricity, solar power is easiest to adopt. Anyone with a little space to spare for installation can opt for solar power.
Other eco-friendly sources of electricity, such as hydroelectricity and wind power, can only be produced at specific locations. They must then be transported to reach the consumers.
On the other hand, you can contact a local solar power company and have solar panels installed at home the very next day.
Get Tax Credits
The government wants to encourage more users to opt for renewable sources of energy and offers tax credits to those who use solar panels.
You can get federal tax credits as well as state credits, depending on your state of residence.
Reduce Electricity Bill
The search for ways to reduce your electricity bill is what lead you to solar panels in the first place.
Apart from the initial installation, you do not need to pay any other charges for your monthly usage of the solar panels. You will observe a drop in your electricity bills when you switch to solar.
Low Maintenance Cost
Solar panels are very low maintenance devices. Solar panels are so reliable that most companies offer warranties for twenty to twenty-five years on the panels.
The installation charges might be the only charge you pay towards the solar panels for a really long time.
Steady Electricity Cost
Cons Of Installing Solar Panels
You may have noticed that the charge per unit on your electricity bill changes from time to time. New York City Electricity Rates even fluctuate depending on the time of usage.
All of this causes your electricity bill to be unpredictable. Even if you want to control your electricity usage, various factors can lead to an increase in price.
Solar power ensures that your electricity cost is steady. The installation and maintenance are fixed charges. There are no unpredictable variables that can cause fluctuation.
Solar panels have many benefits, but nothing is perfect, and neither are solar panels. Here are a few cons of this renewable energy source.
High Installation Cost
Despite the reduction in prices over the years, and the increased adoption of solar energy, the installation cost of solar panels continues to be high.
Even with the reduced electricity bills, you have to be able to pay the initial expense. Sadly, everyone does not have the luxury of affording the high price tag on solar panel installation.
Lack Of Space
Solar panels need space. The amount of electricity they generate is directly proportional to the space they cover.
Not everyone may be able to spare the space needed for installing the solar panels. If you live in an apartment, you probably won’t be able to install them on your roof.
Inability To Meet Demand
To meet the electricity demand of an average family, you require quite a lot of solar panels. Since they need space, you might not be able to install all the panels needed to completely meet your electricity needs.
As such, the majority of solar panel installations fail to meet the complete needs of the homeowner. If you choose solar, you will most likely have to supplement it with another source of power.
Weather Dependent Supply
There is an obvious flaw with solar panels. They only generate electricity when there is sunlight.
Therefore, they don’t work at night and during the winter months. But winter is also the time when you need electricity the most for heating purposes. Solar fails you when you need it the most.
Inefficient
The average solar panel is only 14% efficient. Even the best in the market is only 22% efficient. Solar panels are highly inefficient, and therefore, they are unable to convert the available sunlight into electricity with decent efficiency.
Continued Dependency On Electric Companies
As you can see, all these points lead to one conclusion. You need to continue getting at least a small portion of your electricity from your supplier.
The inefficiency of the panels, coupled with the lack of space needed for them and their weather dependence, implies that you have to depend on the electricity supplier to meet the shortfall.
Even if your panels do cover most of your requirements, you still need to pay a fixed amount monthly as a part of your Massachusetts Electricity Rates. The same applies to many other big cities in the US as well.
What Is The Alternative?
If you cannot afford solar panels or do not have the space for them, then what are your alternatives? How can you reduce your electricity bills?
You may be aware that there are multiple suppliers in the city. These suppliers keep changing their rates from time to time.
With high competition among the suppliers, you need to opt for the lowest electricity rates. Try getting an app that automatically tracks the lowest rates in your neighborhood.
This way, you end up paying much less than your regular electricity rates without any high initial investment.
