Solar panels... good or bad idea?

What is the case of the high power bills?

Solar panels are a poor return on investment if you’re trying to trim power bills. You are better served to use the money to weatherproof/insulate your house. Do you have old aluminum frame windows? Get rid of those, stat. Companies will do an energy audit of your house, helping you to figure out the deficiencies.

Go around and unplug all of the chargers in wall sockets. Some of them draw power 24/7, even if nothing is being charge.

Swap all bulbs for LED bulbs. They sip energy and don’t generate heat.

If heating your house is what’s costing $$$, then wear socks & slippers, and buy some fleece PJs and flannel sheets. The Brits get by just fine with houses kept far colder than we do.

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The Brits get by just fine with houses kept far colder than we do.

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If I wanted to be as cold as “The Brits” then I’d move to fricking Britain

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1900 sq ft insulated house. Power bills are consistently $340 to $400

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That's crazy. My house is twice that size, 2 stories with 2 big A/C units (don't know the tons), a pool, and 3 full-size fridges running all the time and our bill is never that high even in the hottest part of the summer.

I think you're getting screwed.

Granted I don't have a pool or hot tub but I have a 3100 sq ft house and only 1 unit with zone controls for HVAC and my combined electricity, water, sewer, trash only hits 300 near the peak of summer. I live in N. Alabama.

They can be a good idea but lowering your power usage would be the cheapest and most effective first step.

Buy a kill-a-watt or similar device off of amazon. Start figuring out where your power is going before considering anything like solar panels.