Well, good job, Good leap.
@kaylachan (74421)
Daytona Beach, Florida
February 1, 2025 12:00pm CST
Good cloudy and somewhat sunny afternoon. George has had his meds and is now relaxing on the couch. I really do need to try and do the bedtime routine before he falls asleep on the couch.
I bet you're wondering why I said what I did about Good Leap. Good Leap is the loan company that's helping us to finance our solar system, because like a lot of people we didn't have 50k to drop up front. We'd been paying the bills faitfully for the entireity of the loan up until the end of last year where I ran into trouble. When George was hospitalized, we encoured more debt in the way of transportation costs and adding subscriptions for things like Walmart. It put a stresser on things, and I'm working on paying the bills.
A few months ago, I contacted them, explained the situation and paid the back balance. They defered my payment for a month, and I assumed they set up auto-pay on my checking account. However, the only thing they're good at, is being pushy. They don't know how to do their jobs. My checking account was never charged, and they obviously didn't get their money. So, now they're asking for the past due balance. Oh, and they supposedly turned off the solar pannals so we have to pay FPL for all our usage.
They can't even do that right. All they did was disconnect the system from the grid and turn of their celluar relay. Because I have the house set to whole home backup, the system worked independantly without the grid, because it thinks the power is out from the main power grid. So, I guess you could say we're off-grid. And we have enough sun today that the battery is charging like it should.
Thanks Good Leap, for making the system better.
8 people like this
8 responses
@porwest (95461)
• United States
2 Feb
Sometimes things work out in mysterious ways. I do rather question whether or not the cost is actually worth it. I mean, okay, so you pay $50k for the solar panels. On top of that you pay interest on the loan. Let's say the interest is around 6%. You'll wind up paying them off at around $70k or more. How much is the annual cost savings from being on the grid actually worth, how much do you recoup from the power company that buys surplus power, and how many years would it take to recover the $70k?
Let's say your average monthly utility cost is $200. That's $2400 a year if the solar panels reduced your bill to zero. It would take you 30 years to save $70k. In other words, you don't actually save any money until year 31. And by that time, the solar panels PROBABLY have to be replaced.
2 people like this
@kaylachan (74421)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
2 Feb
Yes, you're right about that, in terms of the math. For the most part. But, at the end of the day, when George and I decided on solar pannals, we were looking at more then finical benifit. Until their mistake, I was still paying the power company for the time that the sun wasn't powering the house. But, due to both George and my complex health needs at times, when we'd go for a week or better with power loss after a storm, And, at the end of the day, that's what we were more looking at. That's why we did our research. To ensure we went with a company that would provide back up power during an outage. Which is more important especially now that George isn't driving. Because we could easily spend that 2k in a week, if we were to motel hop and take lyft or uber to the places we needed to go.
On top of that, I have to keep George's cartons at a certian temp, too. So a week of power loss would cost I don't know how much in food loss that's not easily replaced.
So, if we were looking just at the finical benifit of going solar, we wouldn't have done it.
2 people like this
@kaylachan (74421)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
5 Feb
@porwest Don't think we didn't think about that. We just chose solar, instead. I think it was because we didn't want to make our house a target with a generator. when we had squaters living next door, someone tried taking the air conditioning unit and broke the eletric meter.
@porwest (95461)
• United States
5 Feb
@kaylachan Hell, you could have bought a generator for between $5k and $10k hard wired to the house that would kick on in a power outage. lol
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (170766)
• Boise, Idaho
2 Feb
I hope things continue along okay. I get so nervous when something happens and my bills or finances are affected.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (170766)
• Boise, Idaho
4 Feb
@kaylachan .......That's true. Just a part of life. But it sure doesn't help my stress level any.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (74421)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
4 Feb
@celticeagle Sometimes there's not a lot you can do about stress. Except deal with it the best you can.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (74421)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
2 Feb
So do I, but it can't always be helped.
1 person likes this
@luisadannointed (7173)
• Philippines
3 Feb
Just like I said everything happens for a reason. I think God is really working in mysterious ways. Have a great week!
2 people like this
@RasmaSandra (82219)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
1 Feb
Good for you, Glad that the sun is getting so warm, I hope you both had a good day and will have a relaxing evening,
2 people like this
@kaylachan (74421)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
1 Feb
I'm actually glad they can't do their job right.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (74421)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
2 Feb
@kareng I'll take it at least. I'm happy to not have to deal with FPL right now.
1 person likes this
@kaylachan (74421)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
2 Feb
I know at the end of the day, I'll have to pay the debt, but I'm just going to do it on my time, not there's. Now is a good time of year not to rely on the grid, because the risk of grid failure is low and the heat doesn't need to run. And the batteries on the solar pannals with the bare minium it takes to run the house are going below 50 percent at sunrise.
1 person likes this
