Tom – Oberlin, Ohio

Our neighbors were pleased they’d gone solar years before, and that convinced us!

Tom – Oberlin, Ohio
Went solar with the Lorain County Solar Co-op in 2016
System size: 4.32 kW

I always thought that there wouldn’t be enough sunlight in our area to justify solar panels, but the technology has come a long way and we are already very happy with our new solar system. It is rated at about 4 kWh and we hope it will cover about 65% of our electrical needs over the course of a year. Our roof is almost ideal for solar, it’s at a good angle, facing south, and there is almost nothing blocking the sun. The main limiting factor for us was the size of our roof, we managed to fit 15 panels. On several sunny days this winter we have seen the electrical meter running backward! I am convinced the investment will pay off quickly and the benefit to our planet is worth every penny.
We decided to install solar to help curb carbon emissions. We are also interested in saving money on our electrical bills, but that was a secondary reason for us. Going with a co-op really made sense to us because the co-op was able to secure cheaper pricing. Since the installers could count on a large number of jobs, they could cut their prices and pass the savings on to us.

If you are thinking of going with solar, contact Solar United Neighbors and find someone near you who already has solar so you can look at their system and listen to their story in person. For us, the main convincing factor was talking with others in our community who were so pleased they had gone with solar years before.

We just had our system installed so we don’t have much data yet on savings, but our first electric bill was a nice surprise!