Solar and Solartime USA is a must! I just had panels installed in Jan and haven't had a bill since Feb. I have kept my house during the day at 72 and at night 69-70 degrees. Solartime USA has some great customer service, is like a family and were the only ones when I initially called (several companies) for an estimate that were aware of the Allen restrictions!My electric company charges $24.44 a month for net metering, taxes and fees. I will have a reduced Aug bill but next year, I won't have any more bills since I will have fall-Spring to build up credits!The big thing is to verify with your current electric company (or search for a new one) they will apply 1 for 1 credits on buy back. I peeked (before this summer) about 1200 kWh credits. As I still produce electricity but use more during the summer because of the AC unit, the electric company uses my credits. For my July to Aug bill, I will still have about 350-400 kWh credits which will still offset my Aug-sept bill. As previously stated, next year I will be completely covered since I will be able to build credits during Fall-Spring moving forward.
You want to be somewhat close to zero every year (unless you anticipate using a lot more power in the future). This way you panels are producing enough to sustain you throughout the entire year (bang for your buck: produces enough power but building crazy amounts of credits year after year).
Here's a photo of my panels (Since Allen HAD an ordinance of no street facing panels and I was on the corner of the street, I had Solartime USA also build a pergola on the west side yard to get a few panels there. (you will see it on the top left of the pic).