Understanding your energy
An introduction to solar
We talk to people all the time who are interested in learning more about solar, but want to be more self-educated before talking to a local solar company. If that’s you, or you’re just interested in learning about solar, this page is for you.
We’ll start with some general electricity 101, go into how the grid operates and how it is reflected on your monthly electric bill, and then cover how solar solves a serious problem most homeowners across the country are facing. We’ll even end it with a solar estimate calculator so you have a ballpark idea on how much solar would cost for your home.
What is electricity, and how is it created?
Electricity is the flow of tiny, invisible particles called electrons moving through wires, acting like energy messengers to power lights and devices. Think of it as a super-fast, flowing river of energy, or a conga line of tiny particles, that travels through circuits to turn on TVs and toaster ovens. It is most often created by spinning a large magnet inside coils of copper wire, a process called electromagnetic induction. This movement can be driven by a steam-powered turbine (from burning coal/gas or nuclear reactions), moving water (hydro), or wind turbines. Solar panels work differently, using a process called photovoltaics to turn sunlight directly into electricity without moving parts.
The most common measurement for electricity is Watts (W) and Watt-hours (Wh). Watts measure the instantaneous rate of power and Watt-hours measure the total energy used over time. Think of Watts like a speedometer, measuring how fast you’re going at a specific moment, and Watt-hours as an odometer, measuring the total miles traveled over a period of time. Let’s use a lightbulb for example; if you have 100W lightbulb, that lightbulb’s Watts, or instantaneous rate of power is 100W. If that lightbulb is turned on for 1 hour, you will have used 100Wh. If used for 2.5 hours you will have used 250Wh.
Understanding your electric bill
Your utility company has an electric meter installed on your property that tracks the total amount of energy you use during a billing cycle, and then they send you a bill for that usage. On your electric bill, you’ll see your energy usage notated in kiloWatt-hours (kWh) which just means 1,000Wh. In other words, 1 kWh is equal to that 100W lightbulb running for 10 hours. Your monthly charge is typically broken up into two main components with energy generation (oftentimes called supply) and energy delivery. Some utilities will take your bill a step further and separate delivery into transmission and distribution.
Here’s an example of a homeowners annual kWh usage broken down into monthly increments on a bill.
Here’s an example of a homeowners monthly utility cost broken down into supply and delivery charges.
Understanding how the grid works
The electric grid is a vast network of infrastructure that transports electricity from power plants to end users like you and me. There are three primary sectors of the grid: generation, transmission, and distribution.
Generation
Generation refers to the energy itself. These sources include natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind and solar power. Historically natural gas, coal, end nuclear power plants have been tucked away and out of sight from day-to-day travel. Today we see it more regularly with solar fields, and wind turbines.
Transmission
Transmission refers to the large power lines that transport high-voltage energy from the generation site to local substations. You’ll typically see transmission lines running along highways. They end at substations that take the high voltage, and reduce the voltage for local power lines.
Distribution
Distribution refers to the local telephone pole and underground lines that carry the reduced voltage power to individual homes and businesses.
How will these sectors show up on your bill?
Here’s an example of transmission and distribution broken down into individual charges on an AEP Ohio electric bill.
A little more on utility grids
We’ve grown up in a world where you plug your phone charger into the wall outlet and expect power. The reality of how that energy gets to your phone is much more complex. Before getting into solar, I thought the U.S. just operated on one giant shared grid. In reality, it’s broken down into Independent System Operators (ISO’s) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTO’s), which are regional entities that manage the high-voltage power grid (think transmission from above) and wholesale electricity markets.
Which ISO/RTO are you on?
Here is a map showing all of the ISO/RTO’s across the country, see if you can locate which you grid you are a part of.
The problem with today’s grid
What’s wrong with the current picture?
Depending on where you live, the grid infrastructure may be 50-70 years old and was only built to last a half-century. The post World War II boom of economic activity led to the “golden age” of utility expansion, and there has not been a significant expansion since. This means many parts of our grid are in need of a complete overhaul, which will cost an exorbitant amount of money- money that will inevitably be passed down to rate payers like you and me”.
You might be wondering why the grid has been neglected for so long? The short answer is that our public utilities are investor-owned, for-profit entities and it is simply more profitable to invest in generation infrastructure than it is to invest in upgrading and maintaining delivery infrastructure. You can read a more in depth breakdown of how we got here by reading this blog. And not to point any fingers… but our local public utility company has a CEO that was estimated to have a total compensation package in 2025 exceeding $35 million!
To add fuel to this fire, we are adding energy-gobbling data centers at an alarming rate. This added demand to the grid is pushing our generation capacity beyond its limits and straining an already outdated grid. A data center is a massive, secure warehouse filled with thousands of computers (servers) that act as the brain for the internet, storing your photos, videos, apps, and more.
They are the “physical home” of the cloud, allowing you to access information instantly on phones, tablets, or computers from anywhere in the world. They are also the physical machine that powers A.I. which is growing rapidly, causing the expansion we’re all seeing with new data centers in our backyard. The problem with data centers is that they require immense power, often equivalent to small cities to operate thousands of high-performance servers, specialized AI chips, and intensive cooling systems 24/7.
Remember the map above showing the ISO/RTO’s across the USA? Well, if you’re reading this, there’s a good chance your home is connected to the PJM grid… and unfortunately our grid is notoriously in poor condition. More importantly, it is being flooded with data centers at a rate higher than any other ISO/RTO!
Most of you reading this are likely familiar with the #2 region, Columbus, Ohio which is the location of our headquarters. And yes, you are reading that correctly. As of 2025 Columbus, Ohio was the second largest region IN THE WORLD for data centers. That is certainly a problem for electricity rate payers in not only Columbus, but all of Ohio as you’re now competing with Amazon, Meta and the likes for energy.
The bigger problem
But what you might not be familiar with is Ashburn, Virginia, AKA Date Center Alley. This is the #1 region for data center capacity in the world by a long shot. You can see where I’m going with this… The #1 and #2 regions in the world for data center capacity are both on the PJM grid… yes, the same outdated, failing grid mentioned above. Could you imagine if London and Tokyo were on the same outdated grid? It’s hard to fathom but this is worse than that.
What does all of this mean?
In short: higher electricity prices and a less reliable grid. From the 1950’s to 2020, electricity rates on average increased by 2-3% per year. From 2016-2021, that number was 2.8% in Central Ohio. Since 2021, using real data from our headquarters location’s primary utility AEP Ohio, electricity rates have risen by roughly 11.6% per year.
The combination of an outdated grid and a massive imbalance of supply and demand is causing these historic electricity rate hikes. And neither of these problems have quick solutions. It can take 10+ years for an infrastructure overhaul, and a similar amount of time for building new natural gas or nuclear generation facilities to meet the growing demand. Because of that, all expectations are that electricity rates will rise faster over the next 10 years (and potentially beyond) than they have over the past 5 years.
So how does this impact you?
Let’s find out. Plug in your average electric bill to see what your bills for the same usage were 5-10 years ago, and more importantly what they will look like in another 5-10 years.
Why solar makes sense
Zooming out
At the end of the day, we need MORE electrons on the grid as quickly as possible. How can you do that? Well, at this point you probably know you’re on a solar website, and yes the solution is going solar, or at least generating power yourself so you’re less reliant on your utility company. In most parts of the world, the most economically feasible small-scale power source is solar energy, so that’s what we specialize in.
How does solar work?
First, photovoltaic cells in your solar panels capture sunlight and convert it into direct current (DC) electricity. Second, an inverter converts that DC electricity into alternating current (AC), which is the type of power your home uses every day to run everything from your TVs to your toaster oven. Third, your home uses the solar energy it produces before drawing any electricity from the utility, reducing the number of kilowatt-hours (kWh) you purchase from the grid and significantly lowering, sometimes even eliminating your electric bill. Fourth, any excess electricity you don't use is either sent back to the utility grid through your meter in exchange for energy credits or stored in a backup battery, if your system includes one. Finally, most solar systems remain connected to the utility grid, allowing your home to seamlessly draw electricity whenever your panels aren't producing enough power, such as during cloudy weather or when they're covered with snow.
Depending on your utility incentives, and how often you lose power, a battery may or may not be a good fit for your home. Either way, we always design our systems to have the ability to add batteries, more solar, and EV chargers in the future.
Still have questions about how solar works?
Our in-house Solar Guides can help you figure out what your utility policies are and which design is most optimal for your home and project goals.
What happens after going solar?
That’s when the fun starts! One of our favorite recurring pieces of feedback from our homeowners is they’re consistently excited to see their next electric bill, or lack thereof. We will make sure you have access to a monitoring app that will allow you to see how much solar energy you’re producing, and in most cases how much energy your home is consuming. Also, we will set you up with the ability to monitor each individual solar panel so future operations and maintenance is simplified and in most cases minimal over the 25 year product warranty period - Yes, 25 years!
Every project is different based on the available roof space, energy consumption and utility company, but in all cases we are able to help homeowners significantly reduce their electric bill and oftentimes we can help eliminate the bill entirely. With many of the utilities we work with, when you produce more power than you need on a monthly basis, the excess solar credits you get from your utility can lower or even completely wipe out your fixed monthly charges leaving you with a $0 or even negative electric bill. And don’t forget about the added value solar will bring to your home - read our blog on how solar increases home value.
Want to learn how to get a $0 electric bill like this one?
Reach out to one of our Solar Guides who will show you how low your electric bill can get each month!
Getting started
How can I pay for solar?
The beauty of going solar is it doesn’t require you to spend “new money” - using our loan options from the best solar lending partners in the country, our homeowners can simply take the hard-earned money they’ve been giving away to their utility company every month and channel that into a fixed payment with an end date. Imagine if your county told you that you could lock in your rate for property taxes and in 20 years never have to pay property taxes again? No brainer, right?
And if you’re not interested in using our lending partners, no worries. Whether it’s using a HELOC or internal finance option you have, to paying cash, we can make it work. No matter how you pay for solar, you’ll be saving money and protecting yourself from inflating electricity costs for decades to come!Learn more about our loan options by clicking the link below and connecting with one of our in-house Solar Guides.
Need more info on how you can pay for solar?
Learn more about our loan options by clicking the button below and connecting with one of our in-house Solar Guides.
Oftentimes at this point in the journey you’re likely really interested in getting a free estimate, but you don’t want to start some aggressive sales process when you’re just looking for information. We get it. Our industry, and really the home improvement industry as a whole, is littered with high pressure sales tactics, mediocre follow through and lacking workmanship. In fact, according to Consumer Reports, the 3 most common complaints in our industry are misleading sales tactics, poor communication and inexperienced install crews.
The typical solar model starts with deceiving marketing and/or high pressure sales tactics that eventually lead to unsatisfied homeowners. Because the homeowners are unsatisfied, they’re not willing to leave positive reviews or send referrals. This approach requires the sales person to start back at square one no matter how many sales they may have.
How other companies operate.
The Standard Approach utilized by solar companies where high pressure sales and speedy installation go poorly, ending with unsatisfied customers and bad reviews.
Our entire business model is built around being a referral-based company, both internally and externally with employees and homeowners referring their friends and family members to work with us, and sometimes even for us. We can only accomplish that by making sure those top 3 complaints don’t happen here - Your incentives are directly aligned with ours! We need your installation to go well so you’ll feel comfortable referring your friends and family to us. Unlike most solar companies, our sales reps are Solar Guides. They’re not just responsible for designing the solar project and helping you onboard, they’re your single point of contact responsible for keeping you updated throughout the process and completing 3 Quality Assurance touchpoints after installation to ensure your expectations were met if not exceeded.
How we operate.
The Gold Path Community Approach that we utilize where we provide a customer centric method of service along the entire process, leaving customers happy to refer us to their friends and family.
This unusual accountability aligns our internal incentives with homeowners incentives, making sure there is one clear means of communication instead of a 1-800 number or AI robot that you have to rely on. Our operations team sets the bar for quality work. Our project managers will get your permits and utility interconnection approved in a timely fashion, our experienced crews will install our tier-1 products professionally and aesthetically, and our in-house NABCEP licensed inspector will make sure the installation is set up for long-term success.
Relying on providing our homeowners with great experiences allows us to create a community of advocates who consistently send referrals our way. Not only does this create an environment of trust and confidence, it also reduces our marketing budget and allows us to offer you the most competitive price. One of the many great things about working with Gold Path Solar is you don’t have to take our word for it! Check out our 250+ 5-star Google reviews, our EnergySage 2025 and 2026 Installer of the Year awards, and our YouTube page where you can find 50+ authentic video testimonials.
Ready to see if your home is a good fit for solar?
Within minutes, one of our Solar Guides will determine the if you would benefit from going solar, and how much you can save.
Not ready yet?
Alright so at this point you know you’re facing a serious problem; electricity prices are eating into your hard-earned income and a failing grid could impact your quality of life via increased power outages. And you also know the good news; there is a solution, solar, which in most cases saves homeowners tens of thousands of dollars over its warranty period and due to ideal financing products, you don’t have to spend more money than you are now to take control of your energy future. On top of that, you know that Gold Path Solar is the most trusted local company committed to providing you with a great experience so you feel confident referring your friends and family to us.
Solar is NOT for everyone, but everyone should get a quote. We strongly believe that, and because of that ethos we’ve done our best to come up with an online solar estimator that gives you a ballpark quote with only a few basic inputs:
Need a personalized quote for your home?
Click the button below to get in touch with one of our in-house Solar Guides who will put an official solar layout together for your home.