Community solar vs rooftop panels, my 14 month reality check

I signed up for a community solar farm back in March of last year because I could NOT put panels on my roof, the HOA rules are insane. The savings looked great on paper, about $22 a month, but the credits only show up on my bill every other month and it is a mess to track. My sister just got rooftop panels installed in Albany with a 0% loan and her average bill dropped from $140 to $18 right away. The community solar also raised my per-kWh rate on the delivery side, so my total bill barely moved. Anyone else get burned by these shared solar programs or is my utility just extra bad at billing?

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paige_harris13d ago

Did you look into whether your utility offers net metering for community solar, or are they just giving you bill credits? I almost got burned the same way, but I found out my state has a rule that forces utilities to apply the credits monthly, so I called and made them fix it. Once that got sorted, my savings lined up closer to what they promised, though it took way too many phone calls to get there.

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