Tool: worksheet
Installer quote comparison worksheet
Enter the quotes you actually obtained. The worksheet lines them up side by side and computes price per watt and price per first-year kilowatt-hour from your own numbers. Nothing is sent anywhere: the arithmetic happens in your browser, and this page invents no figures of its own.
- Price per watt = total price divided by (system size in kW x 1,000)
- Client-side only, nothing leaves the browser
- Benchmark line: DOE $2.95 per watt DC (Q1 2025, 2024 dollars)
Short answer
This worksheet compares installer quotes you already have, side by side, using only your own numbers. Enter each quote below and it computes price per watt and price per first-year kilowatt-hour in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, and the page adds no figures of its own.
Want production estimated for you instead of reading it off each quote? The quote comparison tool estimates it from the recorded planning range for your state, ranks the quotes by price per watt, and adds simple payback.
No quotes yet? Start with the state incentives directory to see what to check in your state, then the national installers directory to see which companies to ask.
1. Enter your quotes
Use the total price before incentives, exactly as written on each quote, so the three quotes are compared on the same basis. If a quote subtracts an incentive you have not confirmed, note it and check it against your state checklist.
2. Side-by-side comparison, computed from your numbers
| Characteristic | Quote 1 | Quote 2 | Quote 3 |
|---|
How to read it: price per watt is the cleanest like-for-like line. A lower price per watt on a much smaller system is not automatically better value; check production per kW and both warranties on the same rows. Price per first-year kilowatt-hour divides the full price by one year of estimated production, so it rewards honest production estimates over optimistic ones.
Worked example, so you can check the arithmetic
The Load a worked example button fills Quote 1 with an 8 kW system at $23,600 (the $2.95 per watt benchmark line), estimated production 10,400 kWh, a 25-year panel warranty and a 10-year workmanship warranty. Expected results: price per watt $2.95 (23,600 divided by 8,000 watts), production per kW 1,300 kWh (10,400 divided by 8), and price per first-year kilowatt-hour $2.27 (23,600 divided by 10,400). If the table shows those three numbers, the worksheet arithmetic is working.