www.solardave.com SolarDave: Please tell me about your solar panel system and how you saved some money? Adam Stevenson: The total of the system and materials was $22K. I ended up spending about another $1800 in permit fees and a structural engineer and $400 for an electrician, several hundred dollars for a guy to come help me out for the two afternoons he spent with me. Xcel (Energy) gave me $16538 rebate. Fix cost based on the number of kilowatts you are installing and has nothing to do with how much you pay the permit office or the electrician. My final cost after rebate was $7237. (SolarDave note: that is cheap!) I started my research in solar probably about a year before I actually installed it went and got a couple of bids from some of the local solar people both from contractors that my friends have used as well as just searching the internet and while talking to one of the guys I find of developed a good feeling from him, and I asked the question “Would it be possible to do some of the work myself” and kind of learn along the way he said “Sure I absolutely support the do-it-yourself-er (DIY) so I said why don’t you throw me bids, what it would cost just come home and have solar one day and what it would cost to have it done where I do some or all the work myself. And throw them both to me and I said let’s try the second one. The guys name is Steve Cross from Sun Spot Solar. I gave him my electric bills and said this is how much I think I need to generate and he …