Eliminating the Electric Bill:
How Solar Power Has Become a Moneymaker for One Lube and Carwash

By Tammy Neal
NOLN Staff Writer

Terry Celentano, operator of Xpress Lube in Benson, Arizona, built his two-bay lube center from the ground up in a small town of 10,000 people as an additional revenue source after he acquired Super Suds Carwash on the same property. Fast-forward nearly 20 years, and there’s another new development for the lube and carwash — a virtually non-existent electric bill. How did Celentano manage this? Solar power.

“About two years ago we started looking into solar power,” Celentano said. “They talk about energy costs possibly doubling in the next 10 years, and it got me thinking. If my electric bill (at the carwash alone) is $800 now, that’s $1,600 in the future. And that’s going to be, more or less, coming out of my retirement.”

Funding the Project
Celentano decided to start researching what it would take to install a solar power system at the carwash, since that part of the business mostly contributed to skyrocketing electric bills. When Celentano started researching solar power, he found there were several grants, loans and rebates that could help fulfill the possibility of alternative energy. At the time, the federal government was offering a 30 percent tax credit, the state of Arizona had a 15 percent tax credit, and Celentano’s electric company was offering a 50 percent rebate of the solar-power system and a $2,000 loan for every kilowatt of electricity put on line, which also featured a stellar interest rate of 3 percent.

“I thought, if I’m going to do this, I could realistically have very little money out of pocket,” Celentano said. “But the kicker was the 30 percent tax credit. If you don’t pay a lot in taxes, you really don’t get a whole lot of benefit.”

On a $133,000 solar power system, the tax credit would be about $40,000, and Celentano said he owed nowhere near that much in taxes each year, so he still wasn’t sold on it. But he soon got some news that changed his mind.

“In July 2009, President Obama signed a bill stating if you are a corporation you could get a 30 percent federal grant for installing solar power, and that’s basically free money,” Celentano said.

Celentano said that the government sending him a $39,000 check was the magic key, because after that check, he would have to pay virtually nothing out of pocket for the system. “I came out actually making a little money on this deal because if you add up all the incentives and what I borrowed, it comes out to about 110 percent of the cost of the system,” Celentano said. “I have no money out and I have a system that eliminates an $800 electric bill every month, so how could I go wrong with this deal?”

Of course, Celentano inked his name on the contract and got the deal started in September of 2009. By November of 2009 there was a solar power system up and running at the carwash. This basically eliminated Celentano’s electric bill save for a few taxes and fees.

Fast forward a couple months when Celentano’s accountant started preparing the company’s taxes, and this is when he received even more good news.

“My accountant said the solar system was considered a capital investment,” Celentano said. “If you invest into your business, as long as it’s more than a certain amount, that capital investment is deducted dollar for dollar against your taxes owed. The cost of my system for the carwash was $133,000 and I didn’t owe that much in taxes, thus I basically owed no taxes. When that happened, we asked if we could install solar power at the lube and get the same benefit, and the accountant said yes.”

But there’s more good news.

“Whatever extra you have left carries over to your following years’ taxes,” Celentano said. “So the accountant told us, depending on how much money we make, we would have no taxes the next three to five years. I didn’t put anything into the solar power system, and now I don’t owe anything on taxes for a few years — this is the greatest thing I’ve ever done! So at that point, my accountant recommended we get the lube solar done in 2010.”

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