How Solar Panels Can Help You Save On Your Electric Bill

There are many good reasons to go solar, but everyone wants to save money. 

Getting the most savings from home solar panels and the clean, cheap, renewable energy they provide takes a little planning. Palmetto’s solar experts can guide you through the long- and short-term considerations of your potential solar savings, but we’ll go over those important factors here.

How to Save on Electric Bills With Solar Panels

If you've looked into going solar, you likely know solar panel systems can be relatively expensive. So, you might wonder how investing in a solar panel system will help you save money.

Essentially, the power you get from your home solar panels replaces some or all of the power you buy from your electricity provider. When you break down the monthly cost of your solar panels and compare that to how much power they produce, the cost per kWh for electricity from your solar panels is often lower than that offered by your electric utility.

How you calculate those savings depends on whether you get your solar panels through a loan or by paying upfront. Understanding your financing options is an important step of going solar with Palmetto or any other company. 

Save on your electricity bill with a solar loan

At first glance, it might seem like you would be paying more if you invest in solar panels, because you still have an electric bill in addition to a monthly payment toward your solar panel loan.

While it’s true you will have a second bill when going solar with a loan, the amount of electricity you produce with your solar panels should offset your electricity bill significantly. The combined cost should be less than your original non-solar electricity bill on its own.

The goal is to find a balance where you have enough solar panels to produce the energy you need to power your home, but not so many that it isn't worth the extra cost. (To calculate this for yourself, check out, “How Many Solar Panels Do I Need On My Roof?”) By reducing the amount of power you get from electricity provider, you can lower your electricity bill by an amount that offsets the payments you are making on your solar panel system.

Essentially, you have to look at the payment toward your solar panel system as an electricity payment. You can then compare how much you are paying for electricity from your utility company with what you spend each month paying off your solar system.

Here is an example of how you can save money by installing a solar panel system:

• Imagine you spend $200 a month on your electricity bill from your utility company before going solar.
• Your solar panel system produces enough electricity to cover 80% of your bill.
• Because you need less power from the utility, your monthly electricity bill is now down to roughly $40 per month. (Solar production and savings vary throughout the year. An electric utility’s set fees and non-bypassable charges will affect monthly savings.)
• If your payment on the solar loan is less than $160 per month, then you’re saving money overall, even while paying for the solar power system.
• Once you pay off your system, you’ll no longer have a loan payment, even though your panels are still producing electricity, which increases your overall savings significantly.

Save on your electric bill when buying solar panels with cash

Another option is to buy your solar panel system upfront with cash. This can be beneficial because you know the system is already paid for, and you’re not paying any additional amount to finance the system over time.

Unfortunately, it can be harder to see how much you are saving when you don't have a monthly loan payment to compare your electric bill to. However, you can do some calculations ahead of time to estimate how much you are saving each month.

Let’s look at an example that can give you an idea of the savings with solar panels you can have if you buy your solar power system outright:

• Imagine you paid $25,000 upfront to buy your solar power system, and the average lifespan of a solar panel system is roughly 25 years.
• Take the $25,000 installation cost and divide it by 300 months (25 years x 12 months) to get an average cost of roughly $83 per month.
• Like in our previous example, imagine you normally spent $200 a month on your electricity bill from your utility company, and your solar energy system offsets 80% of your needs. As a result, your electricity bill is now around $40 per month.
• Add the $83 per month that you paid for your system to the $40 per month you pay for electricity, and you’re paying a combined total of around $123 per month for electricity.
• Remember, though, you paid for the system upfront, so that $83 isn't actually coming out of your pocket each month. You can think of it as getting a return on your investment of $160 each month, since you’ll be saving that much on your electricity bill. (You paid $83 per month that your system is functioning, but it saves you $160 per month in energy costs, so you’re saving around $77 per month!)

As an added bonus, your savings will typically increase over time, because the cost of electricity generally goes up over time. The amount you paid for the system is fixed, and the amount of electricity you save each month will be about the same, but the value of that saved electricity will increase over time. (And you won’t be impacted as much by rising electricity rates.)

How to Save Even More on Your Electricity Bills When Going Solar

The savings you get by installing solar panels aren't limited to what you are saving on your utility bill. There are several other ways to save money when you start using solar panels.

Use less electricity

The less electricity you use overall, the more likely it can come from your solar panels and not from your utility, which you have to pay for. To use less electricity, you can go room-by-room through your home and find ways to be more energy efficient. This could mean doing things like:

• Upgrading to energy-saving Energy Star appliances
• Running your HVAC system less often
• Replacing your old light bulbs with LED lighting
• Unplugging appliances when you aren't using them and limit vampire energy
• Running only full loads in your dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer
• Installing low-flow faucets, which can reduce your hot water usage
• Take steps with your windows, blinds, curtains, and doors to help regulate temperatures
• Keeping your fridge at least three-quarters full
• Turning down your water heater temperature to 120 °F

Home electrification

More efficient appliances, smart devices, and solar power can be part of electrifying your whole home. Home electrification is the process of replacing everything that uses natural gas, oil, propane, or another fossil fuel with electric appliances. 

On the surface, using more electricity and little or no other fuels will increase your electric bill even if you have high-efficiency appliances and take steps to save energy. But if your solar panels cover the higher electricity usage, it adds to your savings.  

Install battery storage

You can also invest in battery storage which stores any excess electricity your panels generate that isn’t immediately used by your home. Then, if your panels aren't producing enough electricity at any point, you can use electricity from your battery instead of drawing power from the utility grid.

It increases your upfront cost to get battery storage installed, but if your panels can regularly produce more power than you need, you can save money by not paying your utility for that electricity.

In places without 1-to-1 net metering, where credits are worth less than the retail rate of electricity, batteries are most valuable.

Shift usage to strong solar hours

If you want to ensure your solar panels produce enough electricity to run all your appliances and other electrical needs, it is best to use your electricity during hours with plenty of sunlight. 

Sign up for net metering 

Net metering (if available in your state or locality) allows you to take the extra electricity your solar panels generate and add it to the electric grid. You then receive a credit from your utility company for that extra electricity, which can help lower your monthly electricity payment in the future.

Optimize your time-of-use

A time-of-use electricity plan means you can get lower rates for your electricity by aligning your energy usage with peak and off-peak hours.

For instance, you can:

• Run devices that use a lot of energy, like washing machines, during non-peak hours.
• Invest in a smart thermostat that allows you to set specific times you want your HVAC system running.
• Turn off any unnecessary power when you're away to reduce peak hour usage.
• Charge your electric vehicle during off-peak hours. (Some electric vehicle chargers allow you to program your time-of-use hours so they charge when rates are lowest.)

Peak and off-peak hours will vary based on your location, the season, and your electric company. However, peak hours are usually when electricity demand is highest, and off-peak hours are when demand is the lowest.

Save on Your Electric Bill With Solar Panels

Going solar can be a great way to reduce your electricity bill from your local utility company.

When looking at investing in solar panels, it’s important to consider your long-term savings. You may start seeing some savings immediately, but your savings will often increase as the years go by.

If you choose to invest in a solar power system, you can also take additional steps to take full advantage of your potential savings. This includes being as energy efficient as possible by doing things like upgrading to Energy Star appliances when yours need to be replaced or adjusting your HVAC and water heater settings.

Investing in battery storage can let you store solar electricity to use when your panels can meet your homes energy demand. This stored electricity means you can avoid even more utility power.

You can also maximize the value you get from your panels by shifting your electricity use to daylight hours when your solar panels are making electricity.

Two other ways you can save money are net metering and time-of-use plans. Net metering allows you to send any excess energy your panels produce to the utility company for a credit on your electricity bill. Time-of-use plans give you the chance to get lower rates for shifting your energy usage to off-peak hours with cheaper rates. 

If you're ready to install solar panels to save on your electric bills with renewable energy, talk to Palmetto today. You can get started with our Free Solar Design and Savings Estimate Tool to see how much you could save by going solar.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do solar panels save money?

Home solar panels can save you money by allowing you letting you avoid buying all your electricity from your electricity provider. In areas with net metering or net billing plans, you can also earn bill credits for electricity your system sends to the grid.

What is the solar payback period?

A solar payback period is the time it takes for your savings from going solar to match your costs. Installing solar panels can cost you thousands of dollars, but can save you more over their lifespan which should be 25 or more years.

How do I calculate my solar payback period?

The simplest version of the payback period calculation is total costs divided by annual savings, which will give you the approximate time in years.

Where should I start?

Solar energy can feel complex, especially if you're researching providers, technologies, incentives, municipal requirements, permits, and more. From financing and design to installation, tracking, and maintenance, Palmetto’s dedicated customer service team is here to answer questions, address concerns, and guide you through every step of going solar.

About the AuthorAndrew GiermakWriter and Editor

Andrew joined Palmetto in Charlotte in August 2024. He’s been a writer in journalism, then in business, going back to almost the 20th century. He’s lived in Indiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia again, and now North Carolina for the last 12 years. He likes golf. Is he good at it? Not so much.