Your home uses energy in three ways. Sol Country helps you own all three.
Most solar platforms show you one number — how much your panel saves. Sol Country shows you the complete picture: what your panel generates, what your heating and cooling costs, what your battery stores, and what your EV needs to charge.
The customers who combine all four paths save 40–70% on their total energy costs. This page explains how each piece works and how to stack them.
Heat pumps — the upgrade most Americans don't know they need
A heat pump does what your gas furnace and central air conditioner do — but uses 60–70% less energy than both combined. Instead of generating heat by burning gas, it moves heat from outside air into your home in winter, and reverses the process in summer. The physics of moving heat rather than creating it makes heat pumps 2–4x more efficient than any combustion system.
In Colorado, replacing a gas furnace with a heat pump typically saves $600–$1,200 per year on heating costs. Stack that on top of your solar panel savings and the combined annual benefit makes both investments pay off faster.
Your heat pump savings — based on your bill
Pick your fuel, state, and what you currently spend. We use EIA pricing to estimate how much a heat pump would save you each year.
Assumes 80% AFUE current furnace, COP 2.5 heat pump (cold-climate ASHP avg). Pricing: EIA residential averages. Add HEEHRA rebate (up to $8,000) on top.
Estimates based on your address data. Actual savings may vary.
Heat pump vs what you have now
Source: EIA residential pricing + RECS 2020 consumption · 1,500 sqft baseline · COP 2.5 · $0.16/kWh assumed
A battery turns your solar panel into a power plant.
Without a battery, your solar panel sends excess electricity to the grid during the day and draws from the grid at night. With a battery, excess daytime solar charges your battery and powers your home after dark — at effectively $0/kWh.
The economics improved significantly when utility Virtual Power Plant programs started paying homeowners to enroll. Your battery earns income while it sits — $75 to $850 per year depending on your utility — just for being available to the grid during peak demand events.
Battery storage also changes your relationship with time-of-use rates. Utilities charge 2–4x more during peak hours (typically 4–9pm). A battery charges during cheap off-peak hours and discharges during expensive peak hours, turning the rate difference into pure savings.
In Colorado, stacking a battery with a Sol Country solar kit could save an additional $400–$800 per year in TOU optimization alone — before counting VPP income or backup power value.
Your EV and your solar panel are better together.
Charging an EV at home is already 2–3x cheaper than gasoline. Adding solar reduces that cost further — a 395W panel generates enough electricity to cover approximately 450–600 miles of EV driving per year at no cost beyond the panel's initial price.
The combination that saves the most: a solar panel, a home battery, a Level 2 charger, and your utility's EV TOU rate plan. Charge the battery from solar during the day. Charge the car from the battery at night. Never pay peak-rate electricity for EV charging again.
What the complete stack looks like for a typical Colorado home
Estimates based on Colorado average utility rates, typical home size, and 12,000 miles/year EV driving. Individual results vary. Sol Country does not provide tax or financial advice.