My Energi raises my Electricity Rates

[jsamp]

So a month and a half after getting my Energi, I finally got a power bill with a full month of charging my car 5 nights a week.  Lo and behold not only did my usage go up by over 100kWh, but it also put me over the "Tier 1" usage, meaning I used more than 300kWh.  Along with that comes a 35% price increase for any amount I use over the Tier 1. 

 

So now I'm paying $.27 per kWh to charge my car! (Yes, CA is expensive).  That quickly reduces the economic advantage of an Energi.

 

I could go to an EV power plan, where my nighttime power would be $.10 per kWh, but the daytime would go up to $.42 !!!!!!!!  With a stay-at-home spouse, that isn't going to save me anything.

 

So I'm looking into solar now.  I need a new roof anyway, so now's a good time.

[murphy]

I have 10kW of PV solar on the roof of my house.  It is not the type where the roof is rented to some company for 20 years and they give a slightly lower rate.  I own the system outright and got a 30% tax credit against the cost.  My electric bill last month was $3.03.  There are no tiered rates here.  It's about 16 cents per kWh 24/7/365.

 

Here is my system.

 

https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/pv/public_systems/r5Ns249308/overview

 

Since September 2013 I have generated 48,672 kWh.

 

It's the best investment I ever made.

 

Avoid the trap of trying to calculate the payback period.  It's an improvement to the house.  You get the cost back when you sell the house.

[Russael]

I have 10kW of PV solar on the roof of my house.  It is not the type where the roof is rented to some company for 20 years and they give a slightly lower rate.  I own the system outright and got a 30% tax credit against the cost.  My electric bill last month was $3.03.  There are no tiered rates here.  It's about 16 cents per kWh 24/7/365.

 

Here is my system.

 

https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/pv/public_systems/r5Ns249308/overview

 

Since September 2013 I have generated 48,672 kWh.

 

It's the best investment I ever made.

 

Avoid the trap of trying to calculate the payback period.  It's an improvement to the house.  You get the cost back when you sell the house.

 

Did you have to get your roof reinforced when you had your PV system installed?  I've read somewhere that around 75% of existing homes cannot support the added weight.

 

In maybe 5 years, I'm going to be looking for a new, larger home, and if things go well, I'd like to be able to build and I wholly intend on putting in a huge solar array, around 22kw.  Maybe add a couple Tesla Wall packs so I can run off of batteries during the night and not draw anything from the grid (it will still be grid-tied though).

[murphy]

I did not have to get my roof reinforced.  My house was built in 1957.  Part of the construction permit was certifying the roof and the mechanical inspector was specifically looking for screws that did not go into the roof beams.  He didn't find any.  One thing I required the installer to do was put chicken wire around the outside of the area below the panels to keep the squirrels from getting under there and chewing on the wires. 

 

Mixing grid tie with batteries is going to require a special design that your power company will have to approve.  There must not be any way that power from the panels can get out on the power company lines when the power company is down.  The microinverters, that are under the panels, automatically shut down if the power company feed stops.

[Russael]

I think they can do it with some kind of automatic switch.  When power goes out, it'll just disconnect the mains and the batteries will power the house.  I may lose power for a few seconds, but that's OK.  Actually, I think the inverter does it automatically.  Sounds like your system is a bit different.  I was going to have 2 really big inverters but it sounds like your panels have built in units.

 

What appliances do you have that run on electricity vs gas?  IE, is your stove gas or electric?  Hot water tank?  Furnace?  Clothes dryer, etc?

[murphy]

There s a micro-inverter under each panel.  Their outputs are all paralleled at a circuit breaker panel and then feed the production meter.  I also have a 20 kW propane fired generator to cover power outages and enough propane on site to run for at least a week.  There is no natural gas available on my street.  My hot water comes from an on demand propane fired hot water heater.  The clothes dryer is also propane fired.  Everything else, except for the furnace, is electric.  The oven is connected to a load shed module of the generator so it can be shed if necessary.  The furnace is hot water baseboard heat fired with fuel oil.

[Russael]

Gaaaaaah propane.  At my current home, I have natural gas and I've really been on the fence about propane for a home (especially if I locate land where that service is not available).  The only two appliances that I plan on being fueled by something other than electricity is my stove and furnace (some kind of gas for both).

 

The solar array I'm thinking of does not have onboard inverters to the panels but has a very large, or two medium sized, inverters that the panels feed in to.  Service comes in one side, solar comes in another, batteries a third, and output the fourth.  May wind up being a touch more expensive, but I'll investigate it more once I'm ready for buying/building.

 

Gotta ask - how long does your propane supply last, especially considering you have a lot of appliances that consume it?  And how expensive is it to refill?

[murphy]

I use 2% of a tank per week.  I have three 120 gallon tanks that can only be filled to 80%.  My last delivery was at $3.0455 per gallon.  I fill the tanks when they drop to 40%.  Typically every 9 or 10 months.  Today's price is $3.009 per gallon.  I could get a $0.05 per gallon discount if I let the tanks go low enough to order 250 gallons but I don't like to let them get that low.

[Russael]

So a roundabout 438 bucks for 10 months worth of usage.  44/mo, give or take.  That's actually not as bad as I thought.  My natural gas is mildly expensive.  Worst bill I never had was 200+ bucks for one month (first year of ownership before I realized how unbelievably drafty the house was), but average wintertime gas bill floats around 70/mo.  I now put plastic in my windows to stop drafts, usually have the temp about 72F.  I put a bunch of extra insulation in the attic to help.  During the summer months, it floats around 20 - 25 bucks a month.  My electric bill goes way up in the winter too.

 

Anyway, thanks for that information.  Since I won't have anywhere near as many appliances running on any form of gas, the supply should last considerably longer.