[quote=sdduuuude]Only experience I have is an analysis done by a friend of mine, who is a world-class decision modeler.

He concluded that, because energy is priced in tiers, buying enough panels to completely remove you from the grid is not money well spent.

Spend enough to drop your usage down to the lowest tier and that’s enough.[/quote]
I’ve reached the same conclusion.
Plus to go off grid you need an additional investment in inverters, batteries, etc.

The advantage of going off grid is that if someone trips over a wire in El Centro and knocks the entire So Cal into darkness – you’ll still have power. If you have panels, but are still tied to the grid, you lose power along with everyone else.

Our 5 year plan includes getting solar – but scaling it enough to charge our plug in car that’s also on our 5 year plan. And still be in the bottom tier.