First electric bill with solar!

[HX_Guy]

$24.41 vs last year $202.74.

System produced a total of 1905kWh during this billing period...the house used 1125kWH for the whole month so 780kWh rolls over to next month as "credits".

The bill is a little confusing in the way it's laid out...it doesn't show the total production (I know it was 1905kWh by looking at the solar meter on the side of the house)...but basically the house used 600kWh from the grid (at night for example) but overproduced 1380kWh during the day.

I should bank enough credits going into June that the summer months will then eat up those credits and still be at net 0. I might have some credits left over at the end of the year which the electric company will then send me a check (at a measly 2.9¢/kWh).

System actually over produced by a bit (my estimates ranged from 1,770 kWh to 1,882 kWh and it did 1905 kWh) but what really helped is that we used substantially less than last year as well...425 kWh less actually. Half of that came from adjusting the way the pool pump runs and the other half not sure...it was actually warmer this March vs last March...maybe the panels shading the roof has a real effect on how hot the inside gets?



Planted the equivalent of 123.11 trees what!



Panel-by-panel production from the whole month. The east facing panels produce right about 17% less than south facing panels.

[solar pete]

$24.41 vs last year $202.74.

System produced a total of 1905kWh during this billing period...the house used 1125kWH for the whole month so 780kWh rolls over to next month as "credits".

The bill is a little confusing in the way it's laid out...it doesn't show the total production (I know it was 1905kWh by looking at the solar meter on the side of the house)...but basically the house used 600kWh from the grid (at night for example) but overproduced 1380kWh during the day.

I should bank enough credits going into June that the summer months will then eat up those credits and still be at net 0. I might have some credits left over at the end of the year which the electric company will then send me a check (at a measly 2.9¢/kWh).

System actually over produced by a bit (my estimates ranged from 1,770 kWh to 1,882 kWh and it did 1905 kWh) but what really helped is that we used substantially less than last year as well...425 kWh less actually. Half of that came from adjusting the way the pool pump runs and the other half not sure...it was actually warmer this March vs last March...maybe the panels shading the roof has a real effect on how hot the inside gets?



Planted the equivalent of 123.11 trees what!



Panel-by-panel production from the whole month. The east facing panels produce right about 17% less than south facing panels.

Howdy HX Guy

Thanks for keeping us up to date, sounds like good result to me, cheers

[Mdm99]

Thanks for the update !

My Feb bill was $35, I am hoping next month is the beginning of my $0 bills (well, we do have a $10 line charge).

[oilerlord]

That's great! Must have been a nice feeling flipping the switch and watching the meter run backwards. My system gets installed in May. Can't wait!

[HX_Guy]

Thanks for the update !

My Feb bill was $35, I am hoping next month is the beginning of my $0 bills (well, we do have a $10 line charge).

That's a nice low fee. $24 is going to be as low as I'll ever get.

[gregvet]

That's a nice low fee. $24 is going to be as low as I'll ever get.

$27.00/month is as low as I'll ever get as the basic connection rate never is credited against what I produce. I figure paying 0.90/day to get about 50 kWh production/day for the POCO to bank my excess until the end of the fiscal year is money well spent.

[dusty144]

To wipe out that excess the utility will swipe at the end of the year you need increase your load on electric. I had to go on Electric dryer + electric water heater + (2) Electric cars before my excess got mopped up. It is an interesting problem to have....

In 10 years, when 400 watt panels are more common place I'm not sure how folks will be able to deal with the excess.

[gregvet]

To wipe out that excess the utility will swipe at the end of the year you need increase your load on electric. I had to go on Electric dryer + electric water heater + (2) Electric cars before my excess got mopped up. It is an interesting problem to have....

In 10 years, when 400 watt panels are more common place I'm not sure how folks will be able to deal with the excess.

Since my POCO fiscal year ends December 31(end of year), it works well for me as I'll use up my excess with heating the all electric house so that I will have a very small/no bill in December.

[J.P.M.]

To wipe out that excess the utility will swipe at the end of the year you need increase your load on electric. I had to go on Electric dryer + electric water heater + (2) Electric cars before my excess got mopped up. It is an interesting problem to have....

In 10 years, when 400 watt panels are more common place I'm not sure how folks will be able to deal with the excess.

- Is it possible that not incurring the insult of the POCO swiping stuff could have been accomplished with a bit less oversizing in the first place ?

- If, in 10 years, I'm getting another array, I bet I'll buy fewer 400 Watt panels than, say, 300 Watt panels for whatever system size I choose.

[dusty144]

I debated this endlessly before getting in…

But in the interest of reducing the $/watt costs it is best to put as many panels as your can on the system. The marginal cost is low as long as you are going to be up there and installing racking, panels, inverter, etc. Esp. as I had to upgrade my service. Also I knew I’d be getting electric vehicles so I sucked up the loss to the utility early on. At least my utility does the 1 year cycle. There are a couple of utilities that do the month to month cycle or pay whole sale rates, etc. In my case there is space for 8 more panels on my roof, and maybe as much as 16 more in a pinch, but I probably won’t bother due to the items discussed…

I think it will be an interesting side effect of the Utility net metering policy. People might find themselves unable to maximize their potential. Even a battery system with power management may not help. After all that is what the grid is, one giant battery. We will have to see how it plays out….

[J.P.M.]

I debated this endlessly before getting in…

But in the interest of reducing the $/watt costs it is best to put as many panels as your can on the system. The marginal cost is low as long as you are going to be up there and installing racking, panels, inverter, etc. Esp. as I had to upgrade my service. Also I knew I’d be getting electric vehicles so I sucked up the loss to the utility early on. At least my utility does the 1 year cycle. There are a couple of utilities that do the month to month cycle or pay whole sale rates, etc. In my case there is space for 8 more panels on my roof, and maybe as much as 16 more in a pinch, but I probably won’t bother due to the items discussed…

I think it will be an interesting side effect of the Utility net metering policy. People might find themselves unable to maximize their potential. Even a battery system with power management may not help. After all that is what the grid is, one giant battery. We will have to see how it plays out….

On marginal cost, assuming a solar electric system of some size is cost effective, and one is not adding size to an existing system, one way (of many possible ways) to optimize system size in the economic sense is to increase the system size until the marginal cost of the last Watt of system size added just equals the LCOE of the last kWh of electricity that last Watt of size produces.