(And How Our Utility API Made the Decision Easy)
As CEO of a clean energy tech company, I am unsurprisingly hyped to get solar panels for my house. I figured going solar should be straightforward.
Turns out, even in Seattle’s excellent solar ecosystem, the process requires real data to avoid costly mistakes.
The Seattle market has something special – WASEIA member contractors who actually don’t price gouge and are refreshingly honest.
WASEIA members are local companies, many family-owned, who do quality work at fair prices because their reputation matters in a tight-knit community.
The contractors I’m talking to aren’t trying to upsell me into oversized systems.
They understand Puget Sound Energy’s net metering reality: you can only sell kWh back up to your annual usage.
Anything beyond that gets forfeited to PSE every March. It’s a key constraint that shapes smart system design here.
Building for Future Electrification (Not Just Current Usage)
My current usage is 7,130 kWh/year at $0.163/kWh average rate.
A 7 kW system covers this perfectly with an expected output between 7,000-8,000 kWh a year.
This is of course the start of my electrification journey:
- Heat pumps instead of separate gas furnace and electric A/C
- Electric vehicles
- Induction cooking replacement
- Electric water heater
- Even electric fireplace upgrades
My future home will need a lot more solar input to meet the demands of those electron-hungry appliances.
The beauty of solar in our market, however, is that I can add panels later as my usage grows. No need to oversize my solar system now and forfeit production to PSE. If I start right-sized, I can expand strategically.
However, there’s a top-down problem in 2025 creating a rush on solar.
Remember that the 30% federal tax credit for residential solar ownership by homeowners expires December 31, 2025.
The result is that most quality contractors are fully booked out for the rest of the year. Sure, some are offering 15% discounts for 2026 installs, but it’s not ideal for my goals. Plus, installation timelines are stretched to 4-6 months.
The takeaway here is that if you want solar installed in 2025, you need to start now. I’m finding maybe 2-3 contractors with November capacity out of 10+ I contacted.
How I’m Making The Solar Decision With Utility Data
Here’s where our Bayou Energy Utility API comes in handy.
Instead of giving contractors generic usage estimates, I exported 12 months of precise consumption data from our platform. Then I used Claude to generate my own payback period scenario modeling out different utility rate increases.
While most solar forms ask for:
- “About how much is your electric bill?”
- “Upload a recent utility bill”
- Generic roof photos
I was able to provide the precise data relevant to my use case, including:
- Exact 7,130 kWh annual usage
- Monthly consumption patterns
- Precise $0.163/kWh average rate
- Seasonal variation analysis
The result is that the contractors I’ve spoken to immediately respect the data quality, and skip the usual sizing games.
So we’re both saving time in the process and can accurately install the system that works best (leading to less customer service inquiries for the contractor down the line).
My neighbor’s interested too (~12.5-15 kW system). Using the same data from Bayou’s utility API, we can coordinate installations for potential volume pricing.
What I’m Learning About Quality Contractors
Good contractors in this market do a few things well.
First, they answer technical questions directly. They understand what they’re selling and why it works. An important nuance for such a large purchase.
Another thing they do well is they don’t oversell capacity. With regards to the specifics around Puget Sound’s market, quality contractors understand the net metering limitations placed upon customers, and they provide realistic timelines for getting the work done. All this without high-pressure sales tactics.
The WASEIA filter works. Every member I’ve contacted has been straightforward about pricing, capacity, and timelines.
The Pacific Northwest has created something special here – a solar market that actually works for homeowners. Quality contractors, fair pricing, honest assessments.
Planning for long-term electrification starts with solar.
It creates the input that the rest of the electrification technologies rely upon, and so it’s important to get it right before I “electrify everything”.
Now if I can just find a contractor with November installation capacity…
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