A common step after buying an EV appears to be installing solar. That's something I'd been considering doing in a year or two, so when Tesla contacted me about it I said sure come on out and give me some info so I can plan ahead. They were out at the at the start of January and did a quote for solar panels and a power wall (think giant UPS).

The 80% offset is based on current usage, the consultant said I'd see more like 90% covered because the panels will shade the house, reducing my AC requirements during the summer.

One of the things I found out was there's a federal tax credit of 30% for panels installed in 2019. That drops to 26% in 2020, then 22% in 2021 after which the credit is gone. Powerwall is also included in the credit provided it's installed when the panels are. Based on this I decided to go ahead and start the ball rolling for this year.

Once the design was done I had to wait for HOA approval, as well as approval from CenterPoint as they manage the power grid in the Houston metro. CenterPoint was expected to have a 10 week turnaround, but they approved it in just over 5 weeks.

Installation's schedule for Wednesday, March 6th, weather permitting.

As part of this I'm changing my electric provider to another with a net-metering plan. The rate for that is 11.5 cents for what I use, as well as what I produce. During this part of the year I'll overproduce, during the summer I'll underproduce. Once a year they reconcile the over/under, anything extra I used I pay for but if I produced more than I used then the balance is zeroed and I do not get paid for it. Because if this it makes no sense to install more panels.