Illinois has been desperately trying to get people to put in solar panels, but they really aren't worth the effort for the average home. There are also some catches people my not quite understand.

Firstly, and most importantly, the panels the state is giving tax credits for DO NOT benefit the home owner. The energy made by them is fed directly to ComEd. So, that means if the power goes out, you are STILL without power because the panels are not feeding energy to you, it is going to the power company.

Now, you can put in a 3 or 4 battery system, but no tax credits for that. And that costs about $15,000. The panels also cost about that much depending on how many you need.

In other words, you could be spending as much as $20,000 to $30,000 on a complete solar system.

Also, the tax credits they are giving you are limited. If you make more power than the tax credit each year, then you stop getting the credit until next year. That means if you put in too many panels, you are potentially erasing your tax credit.

Finally, with power bills only being between $150 and $250 a month for most homes, it'll take you 15 to 20 years to pay back the cost of the solar systems you put in with the savings you'd get from your power bill. So, if you don't intend on being in the home for 20 years or more, you will never break even on the system-to-power bills scale.

In other words, the whole thing is a scam to give free power to the electric company with little benefit directly to the homeowner.

Then there is the roofing issue. It is best to put a brand new roof on BEFORE installing solar panels. This is because you should upgrade to better roofing material that can withstand the weight of the panels you are going to install. Also, the roof you have may not even be able to handle the panels!

So, that is another $5000 and up cost.

If you replace the roof at the same time you put in the panels, you will be able to put off the new roof issue for years down the line.

Let's say you don't replace the roof first. Well, you WILL have to sooner rather than later. And when you finally do replace your roof, you have to hire a solar panel installer to remove your panels before your roofers come. Roofing companies don't handle solar panels. This, of course, will add a few thousand bucks to your roof replacement.

Lastly, solar panels go bad after about 25 years, so just as you are paying off your system, you'll have to replace it!