In this age of tax incentives at both the local and federal level, installing solar panels for the home has gotten increasingly popular. Solar panels have gotten cheaper and more efficient, making them an appealing option for consumers rather than a quirky option for the most progressive neighbor on the block.

By choosing solar panels for your home you can reduce your carbon footprint by an average 35,180 pounds per year. That’s the equivalent of planting 88 trees each and every year. Not to mention that once you get past the upfront costs, solar panels for the home can mean big time energy savings as well as cashing in on tax incentives. The Federal Solar Investment Tax Credit is a 30 percent tax credit on residential and commercial properties that convert to solar before the end of 2016. And depending on the state you call home, more tax credits are likely available.

If you’re considering choosing solar panels for your home, here are a few tips:

• You’re probably not off the grid.

If you live in or around an urban area you’ll still be depending on your utility company for power at night. Only self contained, off the grid homes have to fill in the gaps when the sun is not out. Plus, most rebate incentives require you to still be attached to a utility company.

• Have an accurate idea of how much power you use per month.

Before you install solar panels, it’s important to have an accurate idea of the amount of power you use each month. It’s best to conserve as much energy as possible and then fill in the gaps with solar energy. If, for example, you have a child going off to college, then the amount of power that you use will likely be reduced.

• Plan for solar panel installation.

Before you have your solar panels installed, there are a few things you should know. First off, your roof does not have to be south-facing for solar panels to work effectively. And while solar panels do not add to your property taxes, you should add them to your home owner’s insurance so they are covered in the event of fire or natural disaster.

• Choose the right solar panel company.

The average upfront cost of installing solar panels is around $17,000, so do your research and make sure you choose the best provider. First look at warranties and choose a company that covers their panels for at 25 years and covers the inverter for at least 10 years. Make sure the company is based in the U.S., so if it goes out of business, your warranty will still cover you. And check with the Better Business Bureau to ensure that the company doesn’t have any complaints against them.

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This is why home solar power is creeping in and stealing market share from the utilities.

More and more families are switching to home solar power as the cost of installing solar panels continue to drop to levels people can easily afford. The cost of solar panels has dropped by 100 times since 1977 and today solar panels are half the price that they were in 2008. That’s a huge change.

Home solar power is increasingly appealing when you consider that in some households it can account for 80 percent of energy used. That’s a savings of $20,080 off a family’s net electricity costs over 20 years. This huge cost savings along with the environmental benefits of avoiding dirty coal power generation is helping residents to turn toward solar at a rate like never before. But as the use of solar power steadily increases, utility companies are starting to notice.

Utility companies are getting hit harder in states like California and Colorado where residential solar power is a real threat to their bottom line. And it presents a double whammy: it cuts into the amount of traditional power taken from the grid and additionally, the utilities have to repay residents that put additional power into the grid through the generation of solar power.

In Northern California, a part of the country that accounts for one quarter of the solar panel installation in the country, the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric wants to add a fixed monthly charge of $10 per month to offset this cost. But the solar industry contends that it’s a direct attack by an industry that for too long has depended on a monopoly to do business.

Home solar power is finally becoming a disruptive technology in the same way that cell phones were to the phone companies and it’s a problem that will continue to get worse for the big utility companies because as they lose money to solar power they’ll have to raise prices which will make solar power even more appealing.

But of course the popularity of solar varies from state to state based on the laws in place to support it. I wrote a while back that some states were doing a lot to make residential solar power appealing.

The top ten states: New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Oregon, New Jersey, Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont, and New Mexico include a slew of rebates and tax incentives for those that install solar panels on their homes which motivates residents to participate. New York governor Andrew Cuomo has made a commitment to solar energy, allowing his state to perform the best. It’s strange that some of the states with the least usable power have the best incentives.

What do you think? Is solar on your radar? Are you considering installing solar panels on your home and if so, what’s the biggest draw for you as a power consumer?

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Lobbying efforts attempt to fool public into thinking residential solar panels will cost everyone more.

Many utility companies contend that net rate hikes are necessary to even out the playing field in return for the credits that are paid out to households with residential solar panels. Many contend that it’s just a veiled attempt to turn the public against solar. So the question becomes: How much does solar energy really hurt the utility company’s bottom line?

Grist looked at this issue in Wisconsin where the state utility is trying to raise fixed rates by as much as 75 percent in some places. Wisconsin gets 62 percent of its energy from coal and only 7 percent from renewable energy, most of which is biomass, hydroelectric, and wind. With solar contributing to such a minimal piece of the energy pie, it’s hard to believe that it’s really worth jacking up prices a whopping 75 percent.

But here’s where it gets even weirder. According to Grist:

A Texas-based utility trade lobby, the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), attempted to intervene by claiming it found 2,500 Wisconsonites who support the rate hikes. CEA submitted the names to Wisconsin’s Public Service Commission during a public hearing earlier this month.

Eventually the list was tossed out because of numerous problems but it begs to question, why did CEA initially become involved?

Again, Grist:

The Alliance’s founder, DC lobbyist Michael Whatley, has been behind a number of large-scale PR campaigns designed to fight policies that would wean us off carbon-intensive fuel sources. His lobbying firm, HBW Resources, represents the interests of fossil fuel, utility, and tobacco industries.

So in a twisted turn of events, CEA wanted rates to be raised in an effort to turn the public against solar energy by making them think it’s WAY more costly than it is, but in order to succeed the rate hike would have to have support. But they would never have had the opportunity if not for the greedy utility company. Double dirty.

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