What Actually Happens at Your Solar Consultation

A solar consultation isn't really about picking out panels, it's about someone actually looking at your roof, your electrical panel, and your last year of Georgia Power bills before anyone talks numbers. Skip that step and you're just guessing. Here's what a real consultation looks like, what we're checking for, and why some of the math behind it has changed for 2026 homeowners in a way that's worth understanding before your quote comes back.

Why We Don't Quote Prices Over the Phone

Every homeowner wants a ballpark number the second they call, and that's fair. But a solar quote based on your street address and a guess at your roof size is close to a coin flip. The size of the system that actually makes sense for your home depends on your roof's orientation and pitch, how much of it gets clear sun through the day, what your main electrical panel can handle, and what your household actually uses in a typical month according to your Georgia Power bill. A consultation is where all of that gets measured instead of assumed.

The Roof and Electrical Panel Checklist We Actually Use

When we walk a property, we check roof age, material, and condition first, since installing a system over a roof that needs replacing in five years just means paying to remove and reinstall panels later. From there we look at orientation and pitch, map out shading from trees or neighboring structures at different times of day, and measure the usable roof planes against your rafters or trusses. Inside, we open your main electrical panel to confirm its rated capacity, check available breaker space, and review grounding, bonding, and the interconnection path, since panel upgrades are one of the most common surprises homeowners run into after they've already mentally committed to a price. None of this is unusual, it's the groundwork any legitimate installer should do before handing you a number.

How Georgia Power's Solar Buy Back Program Affects Sizing

Georgia doesn't have traditional net metering the way some states do. Georgia Power runs what it calls the Solar Buy Back Program, which credits any extra electricity your system sends back to the grid at the state's annual Solar Avoided Cost Rate, set at 3.2188¢ per kWh for 2026. Compare that to the roughly 12 to 16 cents per kWh you're paying to buy power back, and it's clear why oversizing a system to "sell" excess power doesn't pencil out the way it might in a state with full retail net metering. Residential systems under this program are also generally capped at 10 kW AC. A good consultation sizes your system to offset what your household actually consumes rather than maximize export, which is a different design goal than some out-of-town sales teams use, and it's worth understanding before comparing quotes that may be sized very differently from each other.

What Changed With the Federal Tax Credit in 2026

If you've been putting off a solar decision for a year or two, this is the part you need to know. The federal Residential Clean Energy Credit under Section 25D, the 30% credit that's driven a lot of the "solar pays for itself" math for over a decade, is no longer available for systems where installation is completed after December 31, 2025. That's per IRS guidance issued after the One, Big, Beautiful Bill was signed into law in July 2025. If you purchase a system outright now, that federal credit isn't part of your payback math anymore. Leased systems and power purchase agreements are a different story, since the company that owns the equipment can still claim a separate commercial credit through 2027, which is one of several reasons purchase-versus-lease is worth an honest conversation during your consultation rather than an afterthought.

Questions Worth Asking Before You Sign Anything

• What's the age and remaining life of my roof, and does it need work before installation?
• Does my electrical panel need an upgrade, and is that cost included in my quote?
• How is my system sized, around my usage or around my available roof space?
• What happens with Georgia Power's interconnection paperwork and Solar Buy Back enrollment after installation?
• Am I buying, financing, or leasing, and how does that change which incentives actually apply to me?

None of these questions should feel like a gotcha. A consultation that can't answer them clearly, in plain language, probably isn't one worth booking a second visit for. Curious what an actual site visit would turn up on your Augusta roof?