The Olivas

I'm very glad I got solar panels on my house.  My bill dropped to the then minimum monthly bill of $10.05 per month, every month, all year, until the Florida legislature allowed the Public "Service" Commission (PSC) to allow FPL to triple the minimum monthly bill to $30.17 per month.  That's what I pay every month, all year.  From time to time, I get calls from some company that wants to help me lower my electric bill (by getting solar panels, which I already have), and they start out asking if I pay at least $150 per month to FPL.  Boy, are bills like that in the rearview mirror.

I don't remember why I was talking to Mike and Melanie Oliva about my thought to get solar panels, but they already have them.  They live on the corner of 6th Avenue and 119th St, and Mike suggested the contractor who had installed their panels.  Apparently, that contractor did a good job.  So I reached out to Goldin Solar, and that's how I got my panels.  It was in 2019.  They did a great job, and have been very responsive when I have had questions, or once when I had a problem.  Which they fixed under warranty.  I highly recommend them.  And the minimum monthly bill is still low enough that I'm going to pay myself back for the panels sooner than I thought I would.  Also, the presence of those panels increases the value of my house much more than the cost of the panels.  Goldin Solar sells battery walls, too, to store the excess electricity I create every day, but those batteries are Tesla.  I won't do business with them again, and they're a certain kind of battery that you can't use every day.  Doing that deteriorates them.  I'm still going to get the minimum monthly bill from FPL/the PSC/the Florida legislature (which is paid off by FPL to allow a minimum monthly bill, which then triples) anyway, but it would be nice if I didn't get a minimum bill, and if I could store the excess electricity my solar panels make every day, so I could use it every night.  After I got solar panels, my daughter and son-in-law, who live in Massachusetts, got them, too.  Massachusetts doesn't allow a minimum monthly bill, and my daughter and son-in-law often get a monthly bill of $0, and sometimes a small check by Eversource, the electric company up there.

So I very much appreciate the referral Mike Oliva gave me.  I'm friendly with the Olivas, and I had dinner there one night.  In addition to anything else, Mike is an excellent cook.  Mike and Melanie restrict to a vegan diet, as I do, so there was an added pleasure of joining them for dinner.

Melanie paints.  She does gorgeous oil paintings.  My daughter liked the one I had bought from Melanie -- it was a mostly red painting, and it featured a bee -- so I gave that one to my daughter, and I bought a different one from Melanie.  I don't know where Melanie sells her art, other than occasionally to people like me, but she has a wonderful talent, and I wouldn't be surprised if she made a living as a painter/artist.

The Olivas are relatively quiet and unassuming neighbors.  It's possible you don't know them.  But they're wonderful neighbors to have, and they're a sort of classic asset to the Village.