[Evans, Marv]

I just got authorization from the local power company to turn on my (new) roof mounted solar system, & turned it on fifteen minutes ago. It's no longer an expensive ornament. That makes this a good day. We've been in this house we designed and I built now for seven years. I had always intended to install a solar electric system, and the house is all electric. My decision to go with solar now was inspired by the perceived increase in electric rates. During past winters, we kept the heating system on during the nights. I thought my wife would complain about it getting cool in the house. The month of highest power usage caused a bill of around $425. This winter we decided to turn off the heating at night and turn it on in the mornings to warm the house up, and our highest bill was in the range of $525. That was the deciding factor in not waiting for the technology to improve more and costs to reduce more. We're also lucky to have gotten in on the net metering program where we'll bank excess power. Whooopee!