"If it's for free, then it's for me!" - but my experience has shown that I've often paid a lot for "free" things - travelling to pick them up - time and money spent to fix them, etc..

There is a similarity with a Grid Tied Solar Power system.  If you have to pay interest on the borrowed money, or lose interest on your savings, to install a Solar System, then it's not free.  Your total profit is your Hydro payment (to you) minus the interest you are paying or would have made on your investment and (possibly) minus your principle at the contract end.  And, Hydro One will include a monthly service charge of $4.55 (plus 13% tax, totalling $5.14 which equals $61.68 annually).

You can save a lot if you buy the parts and install everything yourself, but that is beyond most people's ability, and everything must be inspected and approved.

My 3.5kW Solar Array cost the previous owner about $40,000[1] installed, which came with the property.  It has its own meter and Hydro One pays me 80.2[2] cents per kWh through Ontario's MicroFIT program.

I also have a standard 200 Amp service coming into my home on another meter - all the electricity I need, when I need it, but being energy conscious my electric bill is always under $75 a month and my electric "Cheque"[4]  (from the Solar Panels) averages about $300 a month. (much more in the summer than the winter)

The Solar Array is connected to the electric grid through a Sunny Boy[3] inverter, located inside the old "Feed Shed", its light grey roof just protruding in the above right.  It takes the 24V DC current produced by the Solar Cells and converts it into 240V AC, then sends it out (through its own meter) to my 200 Amp Hydro meter box through the Breaker Switch and then out to the power lines at the street.  Because of this (Grid Tied) way that it's hooked up, my house can't access the Solar Array.  In a power outage, I am without power, like everyone else.  Well, almost - if the power goes out for more than an hour, then I will connect my 2000 watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter to my car as shown on the Power Home With Car page.

The back of the Left Array - from above photo.  I adjust the angle several times a year for optimum solar exposure.

Standard 200 Amp Hydro meter box, the smaller box on the right is the breaker switch for the Solar Array.

My Sunny Boy[3] inverter inside the Old Shed which can be seen at the bottom of the A Cupola Roof Vent page.

In an extreme situation, like a Coronal Mass Ejection where the entire grid is wiped out for many months (or more?), then I would rewire the Sunny Boy[3] into my house to power it and charge batteries when the sun is shining.  When there's no sun, I'd draw from the batteries with my 2000 watt Pure Sine Wave inverter.  There would be no gasoline available in such circumstances, and life would be meager - back to the pioneer days (or worse) - except that I would have some electricity.  With a larger Solar Array charging a few Tesla Powerwalls, or charging an Electric Vehicle with a "Car to House" connection, you wouldn't need the Hydro Grid at all.

[1] $40,000 (installed) - prices also dropping for parts - could probably install yourself now for under $15,000 with more efficient panels $200 to $300 each and a better Sunny Boy about $2,000.  - see Interesting Trivia *  below.

[2] 80.2 cents, and locked in for 20 years from contract date - but new rates have been dropping ever since, as of Jan/2015, 38.4 cents for rooftop and 28.9 cents paid for ground mounted solar systems.  In December 2017, the MicroFit program was closed for new applications.  For those wishing to install solar panels, there is Net-Metering, available across Canada.

[3] Sunny Boy - Mine is the 3000-US but some of the new models with more power and features, can also supply 2000 watts of power to a dedicated 120V standard outlet - handy in sunny daytime power failures, without the need for batteries - although it can charge batteries as well, including Electric Vehicles.

NOTE: The top picture of the Solar Array appears to have three panels missing.  To have added those panels would have gone beyond the purchaser's budget - not only because of the price of the panels, but they would have overloaded the Sunny Boy 3000's capacity at maximum solar input and the next (more capacity, more expensive) Sunny Boy model would have been required. 

The right two bluish arrays are polycrystalline (170w) while the (slightly more efficient and expensive) left greyish array is monocrystalline (175w).  Similar size panels today are rated at over 300 watts.  The new Tesla Panel is a bit larger (~82" X 41") requiring less panels per array and it puts out 420 watts.

"The problem with being interested in everything is that I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up."

D. J. Huggett

[4] Electric "Cheque" - not a physical "cheque" but a statement that shows the amount directly deposited into my bank account.

Click here to find out what Tesla Stock is worth today.   https://www.google.com/finance/quote/TSLA:NASDAQ

Then multiply it by 30,770 (shares) to get the American value now.  An easy way to convert to Canadian Dollars is to use the Currency Function built into most Calculator Apps, including Windows Calculator.

Tesla Stock (TSLA) is expected (by the most informed analysts) to increase by at least 50% per annum for the rest of the decade in the Transportation, (including Self Driving and Robo Taxies) Renewable Energy, AI*, Robotics, and even Insurance, sectors.

Therefore, Tesla is far more than just a car company, as we visionaries have known for years and the rest of the world is (very) slowly beginning to discover.

* Interesting Trivia - If the previous owner had used the $40,000 in 2010 to purchase Tesla Stock (TSLA) @$1.30 a share, he would own 30,770 shares, which is worth many millions of dollars today.

NOTE - From Dec 2010 to Sept 2011 the Canadian Dollar was about par with the American Dollar and no Currency Conversion was necessary.

* AI stands for Artificial Intelligence