Websites for solar installers.

In most of southern Ontario a well-placed roof produces around 1,100 to 1,200 kilowatt-hours a year for every kilowatt installed. Payback depends on your rate plan, how much of the power you use yourself and what rebates are running at the time; a typical house lands in the ten to twelve year range against panels warrantied for twenty-five. We give you a production estimate and a payback number in writing before you sign anything, and we tell you plainly if your roof is a poor candidate.

Your utility swaps in a bidirectional meter. Power you use straight from your own panels never shows on the bill, power you export is credited at the same rate you pay, and the credits carry forward for up to twelve months under Ontario's net metering regulation, so a sunny July offsets a dark January. You still pay the fixed delivery charges and you cannot be paid cash for a surplus, so we size the system to what you use, not to the biggest thing that fits.

Panels sit at the roof pitch, and snow slides off smooth glass faster than off shingles once the sun hits it. Production in December and January is a fraction of June, and the annual estimate we give you already accounts for that. Please do not go up and clear them; the risk is not worth a few dollars of electricity.

South, southeast or southwest facing with limited shade is ideal, though east-west roofs still do well. The roof should have at least ten to fifteen years of life left; if it does not, reroof first, and we coordinate with your roofer and install once the new shingles are on. Every mount is flashed and bolted into a rafter, and the building permit covers the structural check.

Not for net metering, where the grid is effectively your battery. A battery makes sense if you want backup through outages, if you are on time-of-use or ultra-low overnight rates and want to shift usage, or if you are rural and outages last. A Powerwall 3 or Enphase IQ Battery costs roughly as much as the array itself, so we run the numbers both ways and let you decide.

Programs come and go. Ontario's Home Renovation Savings Program has offered rebates on rooftop solar and battery storage, and the federal Greener Homes Loan has offered interest-free financing. Nearly all of them require a licensed contractor, a permit and specific documentation. Ask us before booking; we install to the program requirements and help with the submission.