Questions about new system under production

[Markinphoenix]

Both my wife and I hate LED lights. I am one of the 25% of the population of the planet that cannot process that style or type of light. My opthamologist says it's a growing concern and it's getting worse everyday. Granted it's very cheap but the brilliance of the light cannot be processed by a quarter of the population. But that's a whole nother topic, and my ribs are looking really good on the barbecue! If anybody wants a picture I'll be happy to post one. Haha

[Logan005]

don't hold back, please post pictures.

[Markinphoenix]

https://m.aps.com/_layouts/apscom/mobile/MyAccount/MobileAccountUsageSummaryPage.aspx

Will this work? My latest bill.

[Markinphoenix]

Someone please let me know if you can see my bill, I can but I'm signed in with APS right now so it may be only me. (I know, I'm old and it's 6am at Dennys)

[sensij]

No, that doesn't work. You'll need to save it to a pdf, or take a screen shot. In Windows 7 or newer, use the "snip" tool.

[Markinphoenix]

Ok, I thought it might fail, thanks

[Markinphoenix]

And for Logan, my ribs! Had 2 more just now for lunch, yummmmm

[Logan005]

That's what I'm talkin about.

[Markinphoenix]

Ok, here we go!! LOL I'm finally on my PC and got into my Another Pathetic Service web site and here are the pages so far.

I will start though with this, right from Sunpowers web site, a new wizz bang down and dirty "how many panels do I need" figure it out formula.
First off my panels advertised as 345 watt super duper giddy up go panels.

There site says take the TOTAL KW used, divide by 365 days, then that answer divided by advertised panel output and that will give you the number of panels needed.

My APS reported usage for 2015 was 16,223.
That number divided by 365 equals 44.45 per DAY
( my lease states "guaranteed output of 27kw per day) WTH!!! If I NEED 45, whey did they sell me a system that is only "guaranteed" to put out 27? I"m told by some on here that my panels may hit 50 in May, June and July. Cool! but I'll be needing between 75-90 per day?

Soooo. my figures come up as needing either 129 panels or 12.9 (13) panels????

So at 18 panels, i'm good to go right? But if so, why am I still PAYING APS for a small amount of electricity during the winter? What am I missing?

So I"m lost and cornfused and have a meeting with Harmon next week. CRAP!!!!

[Markinphoenix]

Ok, here are the pages I have so far. Bear with me, i only got screen capture .jpg images, don't do .pdf! LOL

[Markinphoenix]

I'll try to get a couple of actual mumbo jumbo bills scanned and up tomorrow morning. It's near 10pm and i'm still going since 2 am! CRAP!@!!

[Markinphoenix]

Ok, one bill, then im done! LOL

[FFE]

So if I am reading what you posted correctly, you had the following happen:

First off, great job reducing your power usage!

Do you have a heat pump or natural gas? If it is a heat pump, then the new AC unit may explain the reduction.

So in November, you produced more than you used. (Bill date 12/07/2015)
In December you used more than you produced. That seems normal for a system your size in December. (Bill date 01/07/15)
In January you produced more than you used and now have a 38 kWh credit. APS must use some convoluted method to credit you since 486 minus 402 does not equal 38.
I tried to read about APS rates and it appears they credit you at a lower rate than they charge you. That might explain the lower kWh credit.
It will be impossible to estimate your usage this summer since you updated your AC. But the combination of the panels shading part of your roof and new AC may reduce your usage quite a bit.

Hopefully an APS user can explain how the rates work.

[sunnyguy]

1. Don't worry about daily output, worry about yearly output. You will get around 1.9kwh per year for each watt of solar. So around 11,800kwh.
2. With APS off peak prices are pretty cheap its still a good deal to buy from them. So don't worry about paying APS for off peak. Just make sure solar will cover on-peak. That extra 4200kwh not covered off-peak is only worth $250 per year. If you added panels to cover the extra 4200kwh your lease payments would have gone up by more than $250/year.
3. You'll probably never get your APS bill below around $30/month. There are fees just to be connected to the grid.
4. You got a lease with premium equipment so you probably left some money on the table but could be worse.

From your perspective you get 11,800kwh per year from solar at around 10cents/kWh. You buy the remaining 4200 you need at 6.1cents/kWh from APS. Including fees that's about 11cents/kwh average. So you might not be saving a ton of money but at least you can say you've gone green.

[Markinphoenix]

Thanks for the input! First off, I have a new A/C pre solar. Heat is gas. So. Over the whole year, I might save a couple bucks? We were sold/told a savings est. Of $28,000 over 20 years. Now SunPower is saying $6000? (Sigh) As far as "going green", I've worked very hard to make my giant carbon footprint! I have 2 carb'd trucks, a fireplace, 2 BBQ's and 2 smokers. My "green" was geared at saving green. (Bigger sigh) But it is pretty anyway. And I ran a soft water line so I can wash my panels once a month with my 20 foot window washer pole and cotton scrubber thingy. Oh well. Thanks again. And my 40 year old. 640,000 mile, 320 crank HP roller 355 getting 5mpg downhill baby, setting up for a fun time old guy car show 2 weeks ago.