Let’s keep the fun going on the solar questions and answers with Mark Swift and O.J. Scott from WWOJ 99.1 FM! Learn about what happens to your power bill when you go solar.
OJ: We’re talking solar with Mark Swift at Coronado Solar this afternoon. How are you doing Mark?
MARK: I’m doing great OJ, It’s a great day!
OJ: Lots of beautiful days in Florida. That brings me to a really important point. We have all this great sunshine, why not take advantage of it with Coronado Solar? You mentioned something that really stuck with me the first time we talked, last week is it? It’s so much better to own than to rent, right? You’re going to have an energy expense anyway. You might as well be paying you instead of paying the electric company, right?
MARK: That’s how I feel about it. I think of myself as a renter when I was a younger person and then the first time I finally pulled off that heist and I managed to get into a mortgage and own a property. I never wanted to look back. From that point forward I had something that I was investing in, and that investment has grown and followed me from home to home.
OJ: Right. And it’s the same with solar, right?
MARK: Well with solar…you know you can’t get ahead by just paying your utility payments. And solar is a unique opportunity to turn that big utility payment (here in Fl we spend an awful lot on energy just running our air conditioners and living our lives)…
OJ: Sure.
MARK: …So this is an opportunity to have your home produce the energy that it needs for that and in so doing, you’ve built in the utility payment right into the property so that now becomes an asset of yours instead of just an expense that you have to pay somebody else.
OJ: Right. Right. So let me ask you this: once i go solar, do I still get power bills? Do I still get light bills from Duke or Glades.or whatever?
MARK: (laughs) Yeah, we sure do.
OJ: Okay.
MARK: So the grid, in this day and age, the grid plays an important part in how we create and use solar energy because we’re still in the minority. And I don’t want anybody to think it’s an unusual thing. We’re literally setting up thousands of solar systems every single year just as one company and that means that there are millions of people here in the state of FL using solar, and that number’s accelerating all the time.
OJ: Sure. Uh huh.
MARK: Having said that, your connection to the grid is still a valuable thing because you are going to send some electricity back out on the lines, and you are going to power your neighbor’s homes. And when that happens, the utility has an agreement that was directed at the federal level, it’s not only their choice, but that agreement says hey if you send us your excess energy that you don’t need in the moment you’re making it, we’re going to go ahead and give you a credit for that, or recognize that you’ve sent it out, and when you pull energy in the middle of the night when the sun’s not shining, we’ll just exchange with you because your contribution to the grid is a welcome thing. And of course the day is coming when everyone is going to want to attach some form of storage to their system, batteries, so that they’re truly grid-independent.
OJ: Right.
MARK: But that’s still an emerging thing. It’s possible today and it’s going to be even more attractive in the future because of all this.
OJ: I was gonna say, yeah, yeah okay…
MARK: Your utility bill is around, with Duke Energy anyway, is around $11 a month.
OJ: Right, ok. Wow, all right! Good stuff. Mark, remind the folks how to get ahold of you. Your website and all that contact information.
MARK: Well, you can get ahold of me at 863-399-9066 and I welcome a call. Our website is www.coronadosolar.net and you can find us on Facebook at Facebook.com/coronadocustomhomes.
OJ: Outstanding! Hey, we’ll do it again tomorrow. Have a good afternoon, Mark. Thank you.
MARK: Thank you, OJ. Looking forward to it.
For more transcripts, check out our blog posts here and here. You can listen to the recorded spots here. Thanks for joining us!
Coronado Solar is one of the best solar companies in Florida. With licenses in general contracting and roofing IN ADDITION to our solar license and an A+ rating with the BBB, we pride ourselves on being one of Florida’s premier solar companies. Our solar panels are some of the best in the business for your home and we even offer commercial solar installation. For a free quote, click HERE.