Alex had mentioned that as a general guideline, energy prices are assumed to rise on average 5% per year, even though they’ve risen 7% per year in recent years. I actually find it hard to believe this would be the case over a 25 year period. This would mean energy costs would be over 3x more expensive than they are today (without factoring in inflation) by 2031.

As energy prices rise, the viability of various technologies to make energy generation more efficient rises. But if we do assume this number is correct that just removes the interest portion from our calculation and results in a monthly cost for solar panels of $83.39, which is still more expensive than simply buying the power from Bullfrog.

This advantage might disappear if there were financial incentives offered for providing solar power to the grid, but so far I’ve been unsuccessful at finding any. I had heard that the price paid for adding power to the grid was significant, but have also heard from someone else that those incentives are no longer available.

In addition, when those subsidies were offered, there was no commitment as to their term. An incentive that can be withdrawn at any moment is not much of an incentive at all. I’ll have to investigate further.