[familyop]

"Solar panels are being installed on the roofs of homes and businesses all across America at a record pace...Guess what? Taxpayers are paying for it — and through the metaphorical roof."

Not all. I paid in full for my little system and installed it myself. Many others have done the same without getting the tax credits of the establishment. Stephen & Joel should limit their accusations to their own kind and learn the use of quantifiers. So much class, so little literacy and honesty.

[jazusamo]

Good for you but this article addresses solar subsidies through scamming companies and I believe they’re correct.

[palmer]

Location? Selling to the grid? Getting full retail? If you’re in Florida or the SW part of the country or some sunny intermountain locations, then you are probably a net asset to the rest of us. Elsewhere, we are probably overpaying for your electricity. For example if you are here in Virginia where net metering is the law, we pay you full retail price for your power instead of wholesale. Why should we pay full retail for power that is unreliable instead of wholesale price for reliable power. My power company exec said that very thing himself. He is trying to get a good deal for us, his customers, but his hands are tied by the net metering law.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Counting all the residential solar panels put up in the past few years, what percentage of the owners applied and were awarded these tax credits ?

Would 90 percent be close to accurate ?

[driftdiver]

I spoke with one of those companies. They wanted 80 grand for a small system. They also said the rebates were almost guaranteed.

[Mamzelle]

I don't understand the gripe in this article. Frankly, I do not regard a tax credit opportunity as a "subsidy"--particularly for individuals. Just because a neighbor gets a break on *his* taxes does not mean you pay *more* taxes--

There is a lot to be said for solar panels, depending on how you look at it. You get your electricity from your own system…and do not need to earn the money to buy electricity, which means every dollar you generate in power is really a dollar plus thirty cents in taxes you do not have to pay.

And, what would you spend that 20-30K on? Exxon stock, so you can get dividends on which you have to pay regular income tax?

There are a lot of tax breaks that people do not consider about solar power, which have little to do with tax credits.

There is also a movement out there on the part of utility companies which do not like having solar powered individuals on the grid…and they try to gin up resentment among the regular customers against those who have solar panels.

[Taxman]

Please describe your system for us. I’m interested, if it is affordable and if it really works.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Well we are just going to have ours installed but I don’t care about the tax subsidy anyway. We just don’t want to be in the dark when the grid goes down and you just know its going to at some point. I think its great that you know how to install it yourself.