Perfect Power Solar - Phoenix, AZ

Tom Kravitz and Melissa Welch

This 30 something couple have wanted to install a solar PV system ever since they met at the University of Arizona in an environmental class they took together. Tom is an architect for an architectural firm in Tempe. Melissa handles marketing for a national health food chain. They own a home together in Ahwatukee, AZ. They are planning to get married, start a family within a few years and stay in their home at least until the children graduate from high school. As a young couple, cash was scarce, so their goal with a PV system was to reduce their electric bill as much as possible and finance the purchase with a monthly payment no higher than their first year’s monthly savings.

They currently use about 15,800 kWh per year. PerfectPower was able to help them find financing from a bank in Utah that specializes in residential renewable energy system financing. The bank qualified them for a $15,000 loan at 6% interest for 15 years. PerfectPower designed a 5.8 kW High Performance PV system for them that would cost them about $12,000 after all incentives were deducted. However, they would be out of pocket about $18,500 until they realized their Tax Credits of $6,500. They were able to handle this and they then paid down their loan to $12,000 6 months later when they received their tax refunds from the IRS and the State of Arizona.

They estimated a savings of $100 per month during their first year. Their monthly loan payment is $101.26 per month, fixed for 15 years. They are anticipating energy rate increases that will put them ahead of the financing costs in just one year. They also feel they will more than pay for their system within 10 years and enjoy free electricity for many years to come. They are also excited about the lessons they will be teaching their children as they grow up.

Tom and Melissa were the first in their neighborhood to install a PV system. Since they did so, several neighbors have inquired about it and three have already had their own systems installed. This is another environmental benefit they did not even think about when they decided on a solar PV system for themselves.

Mr. and Mrs. Bingham

They were retiring in 6 months, after 38 years in the travel business and lived in a new home in Sun City Festival in Buckeye, AZ for about a year before realizing that there was never going to be a better time to buy a solar PV system because of all the incentives available from the Federal and State governments as well as Arizona Public Service.

With retirement in mind, the Bingham’s desired to reduce or fix living costs for the rest of their lives. They sold their large home in Virginia and paid cash for their new home in the retirement community of Sun City Festival. They have two cars, one 12 year old gas powered Lexus sedan and one Toyota Prius Hybrid. They have no debt. They see rising energy costs as one of their largest monthly expenses and wish to reduce, eliminate or put a cap on as much as they can. They plan to replace the Lexus with an electric car within a couple of years.

They estimated that they were using about 20,200 kWh per year, 8,070 during peak, expensive times and 12,130 during off-peak, inexpensive times. They still had a son living at home, but he will be finished with Police training and out on his own within a year. Once he is gone, they estimated that they would reduce their electric energy usage by about 20%. Once retired, they also planned to travel about 2 to 3 months per year, reducing their energy usage by another 20%. Future electric energy usage was estimated to be about 12,900 kWh per year.

PerfectPower designed a 5.8 kW High Performance PV system that will produce about 11,000 kWh per year, 7,600 of which is during peak electric usage times. This will eliminate nearly all of their current peak, expensive electricity cost, and some of their off-peak costs, saving about 65% off their current electric bill. In the future, as they reduce their usage, this system is estimated to reduce their electric bill by about 85 to 90%. The system was also designed and installed with room to add three more panels on both the roof and the inverter in case they decided to do so in the future.

Since they both hope to live for about 30 more years, they are happy that their PV system was designed for a 40 year life. They estimate that it will pay for itself in about 5 to 6 years and they will enjoy receiving most, if not all, of their electricity for free.

Mr. and Mrs. Gregorian

Mr. Gregorian is a retired electronics engineer and Mrs. Gregorian is a school teacher, still teaching. They live in Cave Creek, AZ. Mr. Gregorian retired early, at the age of 46, after a string of successful inventions in the wireless telecom field for Qualcomm. He has lots of time at home, is still developing various inventions and wanted to treat his solar PV system as a test bed for whatever he may think of in the future. Mrs. Gregorian wanted to bring her 8th grade science class students to their home once in a while and let them log into their monitoring system whenever they want as learning experiences. They both wanted to eliminate their electric bill forever. At least two electric cars are planned for the future.

They have been using about 28,600 kWh per year, 10,200 during peak usage times and 18,400 during off-peak times. PerfectPower designed and installed a 16.1 kW High Performance PV system for them. Since this system is estimated to produce approximately 30,600 kWh per year, it was to be more than enough to eliminate their current electric bill and provide some power to charge their electric cars in the future. Mr. Gregorian paid close attention to the maintenance suggestions from PerfectPower. He washes his panels at least once per month. He is on top of PerfectPower’s annual maintenance visits and learns all that he can when they are at his home. He tracks the monitoring data from their system daily and even gives Mrs. Gregorian’s students a few lessons and challenges to think about. Because he exceeds the maintenance expectations, their PV system actually produces 33,800 kWh per year. This past January, they received a refund (credit on their bill) from APS of $286 for the excess energy generated, enough to pay the basic monthly service charges from APS for all of this year.

They paid cash for their system and figure that it will pay for itself after about 6 or 7 years. They will probably add to their system after they buy their electric cars and find out how much energy they need to charge the batteries.