Who Has the Power?

When we rent an asset we realize that we are giving money to a company for the right to use that asset with nothing more expected in return.

Consider this scenario: you fly to San Diego for a beach trip to go ride bikes on the beautiful boardwalk. You (smartly) decide trying to cram your beach cruisers into the overhead bins would be crazy, so you accept that when you get to the beach you will have to pay the bicycle shop on the pier to use their bike for your planned cruise down the boardwalk. No problemo. Let's go!

When you get to the pier there is only one bike shop. You don’t have a choice, and they only have beat up cruisers from the 1980s with "Reagan for President" stickers on the chainguards. Most the tires are flat, some chains are rusty, and half of them don’t have handlebars. Oh, but since it’s a “peak usage” time of the day they decided to raise their price 37%. Sounds crazy, right?

This is the current state of power across the United States. It’s time for change.

The power companies:

• Control your rate and can change it at any time
• Own the power they force you to buy
• Limit much needed improvements to maximize profits
• Decide to punish you for using power during “peak” hours
• Have no repercussions for blackouts or failing to provide energy service

No Responsibility

Most of the energy in the US is produced by burning thousands of pounds of fossil fuels and transported over hundreds of miles of power lines, referred to as the power grid, before it reaches your home. The average age of an electric transmission base is over 40 years old, which means they were installed when Ronald Regan was the President of the United States and those bikes in the earlier example were purchased!

We are burning fossil fuels to create power and then transporting that power hundreds of miles (billions of dollars of power is lost along the way) through a system that was built in the 1980s, and nobody is held accountable when your heat turns off in the middle of winter.

In February of 2021, the state of Texas experienced the most severe winter storms in Texas history. More than 4.5 million homes and businesses went without power for days at a time resulting in at least 200 deaths and hundreds of billions of dollars in damages.

Power companies in Texas? They were fine. While their customers were cold they found a way to rake in an additional $16B in profits. Sixteen Billion.

That feels like a pretty big reward for failing to do your job.

The Cost of Doing Nothing

This is an easy question to answer using examples.

Example 1: You are currently paying $120 per month for your power. Assuming nothing in the world changes and your power company doesn’t jack up your rates (which they probably will) and completely ignoring the cost of inflation you will pay around $36,000 for your power over the next 25 years. At the end of the 25 years you will still have a power bill, and you will have nothing to show for it.

Example 2: You switch to solar. Your payment to cover your electricity needs would be around $90 per month. Once you make your last solar loan payment of $90 and your solar panels are paid off, your energy cost drops nearly to zero. You have solar on your roof to cover your energy needs during the day, and minimal use during the evening being covered by your utility company (or a backup battery). You’re winning.

Become Your Own Personal Power Plant

With the affordability of rooftop solar you finally have the power to choose something better. You can save upwards of 30% on your energy costs, lock in a fixed-rate that will never change even if inflation goes sky high, and own your own energy forever. For-ev-er.

Installing rooftop solar with Lumio helps you:

• Know what you’ll pay for power years in advance
• Generate clean, renewable energy that never takes a day off
• Rest easy knowing it is backed by a 25 year warranty
• Cut ties with the Power Landlords
• Increase the resale value of your home
• Create your own personal power

It’s Time To Stop Borrowing Dirty Power

Switching to solar with Lumio is simple. It’s time to make power personal. That’s what we do. Let’s have a chat and see if solar is a good fit for you.