Our electricity went out yesterday at 1:19 pm and came back on about 2:11 pm. Have you been without electricity recently?

We rent a two-bedroom house R. The landlord lives in Arizona. No way would he pop for that. No way. So you have solar? Don't you have to pay for it up front? How long before the cost is amortized and you get "free" electricity? Do you eventually OWN the panels outright? Can you take them with you should you move? Inquiring minds wanna know these things. I know you know HOT. This Saturday and Sunday we're projected to be 112 each day. Today is projected to be only 101. Should the electricity go out for any length of time we'll be up a crick (creek) without a paddle! AARRGGHH! Thank you for your reply! :)

You do have to pay, either up front or by instalments - I didn't know you are renting. Since the instalment is a fixture, you can't take them with you if you move - so you're probably stuck, landlords tend to take a dim view of tenants leaving gaping holes in the roof.
As for "free" electricity, the saving on power bills generally pays for itself in 5 years or so. They don't work at night, so unless you're prepared to spring for a battery, you do have to rely on the grid. Batteries at the current level of price and technology are rarely a cost-effective option, but they're getting better and cheaper as more players enter the market - Elon doesn't have a monopoly any more.
I do have solar, the panels were on the roof already. A small system, there's not a lot of north-facing roof. That would be reversed up there, the sun travels across the southern sky.

Thank you for the extremely informative reply R. I appreciate it. So you are happy then with solar panels? Of course if they were on the roof already you have nothing with which to compare it costwise. You said "a small system". How many panels is that m'dear? Did you have solar before in the places you lived before? The same size home or quite different? Anyway living in Australia I'm sure solar panels are well worth it. :) I know you guys get very hot down under.

I kinda do have comparisons, it's my job. I'm in the energy industry, I sell them.

So you are the "horse's mouth" so to speak? The expert? That is stupendous! Is it a booming business in Australia? I should think it would be. Oh. Something I've wondered about. Arizona is very hot in the south but at higher elevations in the northern part of the state not so much. Are there mountainous areas in Australia where the living is much cooler? Thank you for your reply ! :) This post was edited by RosieG at September 12, 2020 8:01 AM MDT

Nothing of the scale of the Rockies, but it snowed outside the hospital my daughter was born in, the day after she was born. A light dusting.
Australia is quite diverse, from tropical in the northern reaches to quite definitely temperate in the south, particularly Tasmania. And at altitude, but none of our hills are much more than 5000 ft (except Mawson Peak on Heard Island, and a couple of big ones in the Australian Antarctic Territory, but that isn't universally recognised).
Solar is the reason we never went nuclear. Cheaper and its modular nature (you can put it just about anywhere) puts less strain on a "stringy", aging grid.

I LOVE that R! A light dusting of snow to herald/cerebrate her birth! How nifty is that?
How long has Australia been "solarized"? Probably way ahead of the US and other countires. Solar doesn't have the potential to meltdown and cause death. Thank you for your reply R! :)

With you having extremely high electricity costs, I can understand your use of solar. Electricity is very cheap here in Ohio, so recouping the cost with solar panels would take at least  the life of the system. We also would have to have battery backup as we have little bright sunlight half of the year,

:):):)

Thank you for your reply NE and Happy Saturday to thee and thine! :)

A few seconds? Hmm. Well we had a something happen a few weeks ago where all the power went out and then a coupla seconds later everything started coming back on. It was very weird. Like a hiccup or something! Thank you for your reply E! :)