The trigger for this post is the my solar vendor, SGE, offered me a $25 Amazon gift carfdto post a review to their Facebook page. So this is a sponsored post, so take everything with a grain of salt!
We've had our PV system for more than 5 years now and it's been great. Not a single problem with the system itself.
As for our electric bill, it's been an ever-growing negative balance. And that even adding all the driving that I do in my Nissan LEAF (all electric). Whether this continues is an open question as we've added two new electric consumers to the load: some mini-split AC/heating units in three rooms, and a new Chrysler Pacifica plug-in hybrid mini-van. These should combine to eat up a good deal of the excess generation, if not all of it.
I should mention that all-electric cars are a joy to drive: very fast and very quiet. And much less maintenance than gas-o-mobiles. I've been very amused a couple of times recently to get third-party solicitations to extend the warranty on my LEAF. They list a hypothetical invoice for repairs that include things like water and oil pumps for thousands of dollars. Well, folks, the LEAF don't have those, so your marketing is just funny, not convincing.
Beyond the electric bill, we've been receiving quarterly bonus checks from the SRECs generated by the system. These have added up to over $13K over the life of the system to date. Not too shabby, and it always feels like found money.
So color me a big supporter of personal solar PV. If we were doing it today, I think the price of the system would be significantly lower, as panels have come down in price. Even though the government support is waning, the economics still make sense, and the good feeling of zero-CO2 energy is very rewarding.
