Posted on 09/01/2022 8:13:36 AM PDT by Jacquerie
Homeowners adding solar panels study energy savings and break-even costs, but they should also call their insurer: Some increase premiums and some cancel policies.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – As electric bills surge and the federal government offers generous tax incentives for renewable energy investments, more and more Florida homeowners are seriously considering rooftop solar systems.
But in calculating system costs vs. electric bill savings, many would-be solar owners are neglecting to consider how a solar system will affect their home insurance bill – or how difficult it might be to find a company that will insure them at all.
And with insurance premiums skyrocketing for all Florida homeowners, solar customers who can obtain coverage might also find that the price increase will wipe out any energy-cost savings they expected from going solar.
“It’s a big deal and a lot of folks don’t realize that many carriers don’t accept solar panels,” says Dulce Suarez-Resnick, vice president at the Miami-based agency Acentria Insurance.
Oakland Park homeowner Holy Strawbridge learned this the hard way. She installed a modest 8,000 kilowatt system atop her home about two years ago and recently signed up for coverage with Edison Insurance Company. After the insurer sent an inspector to her home, she received a letter canceling her entire policy.
“I was shocked,” Strawbridge said. “I’ve never filed an insurance claim and I’ve lived in this house since 2001.”
The reasons cited in the cancellation letter sent by Edison: Her solar panels are ineligible for coverage due to the age of her roof (11 years) and because she has a tile roof.
Those aren’t the only reasons insurers won’t cover rooftop solar systems. Insurers who do business in Florida offer a wide variety of reasons for refusing to insure homes with them.
(Excerpt) Read more at floridarealtors.org ...
When buying or building in FL, always check and be aware of possible insurance issues. In many areas you will carry three policies: home, wind, flood
Hail is devastating to solar panels.
Destroy your Roof , install solar panels
Interesting. I’ve heard that the structure of some houses, are not strong enough to support solar panels. So while some people want solar, their houses may not be able to accomodate.
“Her solar panels are ineligible for coverage due to the age of her roof (11 years) and because she has a tile roof.”
Ok, it’s reasonable they would not insure the solar panels. But what’s this with a tile roof?
There are homes in our area that were built at the turn of the 20th century and have the original tile roof. In much of the world (Europe, Latin America) a tile roof is standard.
They literally last centuries unless you live in a place prone to hail.
The durability of asphalt roofs is pathetic in comparison. Has anyone seen a 100 year old asphalt shingled roof?
Solar salesmen will say it doesn’t cause a roof to leak to poke holes in it to attach the panels; and it doesn’t hurt the roof to have people walking around on your shingles.
I don’t believe it.
In California solar panels are required on new construction
It is hard to believe this is just a Florida issue.
Most of the concerns the insurers list would apply just about everywhere.
They also make fighting a house fire MUCH more difficult. The firefighters have to de-energize the panels first. Then they struggle to cut holes in the roof to ventilate the attic and house. I suspect that increased fire risk may be the root cause of the insurance premium hikes or outright cancellations.
So you have higher roof leak potential, hail damage possibility, and increased fire risk. What’s not to like?
Wind getting under the panels and lifting your roof off ? LOL
Drilling through old, brittle tiles and waterproofing those penetrations is very hard to do.
I prefer to have minimal penetrations on my roof — a few plumbing vent stacks and a couple of ventilator fan outlets — that’s it.
I just put on a roof with a 50yr warrantee. NO WAY IN HELL will I punch holes in it to go Solar.
Who willingly punches holes in their boat, seals them with Flex-Seal and then “Hopes” it will hold?? SAME Idea !!
I don’t care how much solar panel manufacturers try to persuade homeowners that blanketing your roof with an extra layer of hole-mounted structures to a roof makes good sense, the real factor is long-lasting, water-tight installation, proper maintenance AND the cost of replacing whatever roof covering underneath is, not to mention any damage from hail, etc.
If you don’t have the real estate to install that stuff away from your home proper, then bypass it, IMO.
I’ve always wondered how solar panels were going to save people money when put on roofs.
High winds is not good for panels either.
Insurance companies know something that the public doesn’t know. There is a valid reason for them to do what they do.
I fully expect the politicians to order insurance companies to cover houses with solar panels, thus raising the price of insurance to everybody, including people who don’t have solar panels.
Don’t worry - government will FORCE insurers to insure roof-top solar, and socialize the costs among all users.
Remember Obamacare?
For later.
L
#1 reason: HURRICANES...........................
... a regulation which -- by definition -- makes it a bad idea.
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