Solar Panels: Your First Year

What happens in the first year of solar?

Your first year with solar: Month 1: System generating, monitoring set up, first reduced bill arrives. Month 2-3: Learning daily patterns — sunny days vs cloudy, morning ramp-up, afternoon decline. Shifting appliance usage to solar hours. Month 3: MCS certificate arrives — register for SEG immediately. Month 6: Summer peak — you may generate more than you use on sunny days. Bills near zero. Month 9: Autumn transition — output drops, battery value increases. Month 12: First full year complete — compare total generation vs installer estimate. Should be within 10%. Plan: continue saving for next 24 years.