Got my first electric bill.... share yours

[EVS]

It's not as bad if you sign up for one of their "EV" Time of Use programs. I've chosen to pay the "Basic service fee" of $16 to get the lower rates as I will primarily be charging at home and avoiding public stations.

SDG&E EV Plans

I have yet to see my first bill yet though, so we shall see.

Here, you can see my normal power usage at home ... the spikes are the car charging after midnight using the included 32A Ford mobile charger hooked up to a 50A circuit in my garage. I have a ChargePoint station on back order. Once that arrives, I'll configure it for 40A and let it do it's thing.

Yes, indeed. I saw that EV rate of 9c a KWh.
Did you have to install a separate meter for this rate? PG&E wanted $2500 for a separate meter to get the EV rate. That was many years ago. So I just kept my TOU plan and charge at night mostly.

 

[c max]

I waited until I took delivery of the Mach-E and had a month's worth of increased usage. I assume my installers filled in that form you're talking about; I had to send my installer a copy of the registration and bill of sale. I actually got a call yesterday morning that the additional usage was approved, and they're coming tuesday to start the install ?

Good for you and good luck with the solar!!.....I have always been an advocate of solar, it seems like a no-brainer......I have an old 125 year old "colonial" with 3 dormers not very good for solar....when we had the roof redone the roofer said he couldn't even use 1 full sheet of plywood, every piece had to be cut.....I am jealous of all you who can invest in solar and get the benefits.......again good luck......could you mention what company is doing the installation....thanks

 

[fmtexmme]

I added a 9 kW solar system to my house in 2016. Overall I'm happy I did it because I believe it is better for the environment and I realize that as more people adopt solar the prices will come down making it feasible for even more people to adopt. I also like that having a system that provides a good chunk of my usage gives me a measure of protection against fluctuating energy prices.

Having said that, though, in my case, the truth is I won't ever get my money back in direct energy savings, unless energy prices skyrocket, although I plan on staying in the house long enough to make it close. Part of the reason is because energy prices here in Texas are actually pretty good. I'm currently only paying $0.93/kWh. The main reason, though, is I'm not producing near what the solar company estimated I would. I keep a spreadsheet tracking my solar production and, as you can see in the attached file, actual production just hasn't matched the estimates. Also, while my electric provider gave me a $2400 rebate for installing the system, the also added a $10/month charge to my bill. My homeowners insurance also went up slightly because I increased my coverage to account for the value of the panels. I won't complain about that, though, because that paid for itself when half of my panels were damaged in a hail storm three months after the system was installed and insurance covered the cost of replacement.

I don't want to discourage people from installing solar, I just want everyone to have all the information.

 

[OH2AZ2OH]

Also, do you have "energy choice" in your state? Here in NJ you can also choose your energy supplier, and there are actually quite a few that generate with renewables.

Just look really closely at the company if you do. In Ohio, we can choose our electricity generator, but the supply is still handled by the local utility. I looked at the available "renewable energy" companies, and every single one was purchasing electricity on the open market and then purchasing carbon offsets.

In general, I don't think carbon offsets are bad, but I'm not sure that this is what I want to do. It does encourage renewable energy, but I have no idea where that benefit is going. Maybe a solar farm in California? A wind farm on the East Coast? That's good, but it doesn't help my local carbon footprint. And, there's some funny numbers games people play with offsets that make the actual benefit murky -at best- in some cases.

If I install solar, I know exactly what my carbon offset is going to be. That carbon reduction is local. But, my electricity is cheap, at around $0.12. And now that Ohio is pretty firmly red, there are zero incentives for renewables (and BEVs). So, a solar installation has a payback of >10 years in my case.

So, I'm struggling a bit with my decision. Install solar? I'd get better payback investing the $. But worse payback leaving that $ in savings. Change to a "renewable" supplier that buys carbon offsets? My electricity bill will go up fractionally, but the real carbon reduction benefit is going somewhere else and is probably not entirely a true offset.

 

[timbop]

Good for you and good luck with the solar!!.....I have always been an advocate of solar, it seems like a no-brainer......I have an old 125 year old "colonial" with 3 dormers not very good for solar....when we had the roof redone the roofer said he couldn't even use 1 full sheet of plywood, every piece had to be cut.....I am jealous of all you who can invest in solar and get the benefits.......again good luck......could you mention what company is doing the installation....thanks

Solar energy world

 

[Orangefirefish]

I think your average .21-.23 cents with total cost/total KW.. Your peak is between 4-6 PM? Have a look at an overall bill and report back. I would love to know.

For two tier base plan, tier 1 (up to 315 kWH/mo) is $0.26 and tier 2 is $0.326. My average before switching to EV2 (time of use) was about $0.3/kW. I view the EV as consuming at tier 2 rates since it’s always incremental to what was already used.
For the EV2 plan the peak is 4PM-9PM, with a partial peak from 3-4PM and 9PM-12AM. The good news is charging between 12AM-3PM is very easy for my needs, so I switched over.

 

[BadgerGreg]

I have a ChargePoint home charging unit, and I love its monthly summaries for charging activity. It has a specific link to my local utility's EV rate structure, so the cost figures are accurate.

My May 2021 Level 2 home charger energy usage is $58, which reflects my first full month of EV ownership. Given that I've driven over 1,500 miles this month, that's a huge cost savings.

A comparable ICE vehicle would have cost me $200+ at current fuel prices.

 

[RyanSD]

Yes, indeed. I saw that EV rate of 9c a KWh.
Did you have to install a separate meter for this rate? PG&E wanted $2500 for a separate meter to get the EV rate. That was many years ago. So I just kept my TOU plan and charge at night mostly.

No separate meter was needed. I live in a townhome that was built in the mid 90's. There are 3 homes in my structure and so each house only has a 90A main breaker. Since my range, water heater, and dryer are all on gas I have plenty of electrical load available. I had an electricion run a new 50A circuit to the garage and just use it. I called and made the switch with SDG&E about 6 weeks ago.

 

[Mopey]

I added a 9 kW solar system to my house in 2016. Overall I'm happy I did it because I believe it is better for the environment and I realize that as more people adopt solar the prices will come down making it feasible for even more people to adopt. I also like that having a system that provides a good chunk of my usage gives me a measure of protection against fluctuating energy prices.

Having said that, though, in my case, the truth is I won't ever get my money back in direct energy savings, unless energy prices skyrocket, although I plan on staying in the house long enough to make it close....

...I don't want to discourage people from installing solar, I just want everyone to have all the information.

Excellent spreadsheet summary. Even with a much higher electricity cost here (~.24 kwh) the payoff here is quite long, as well - partly due to the long, dark winters and the lack of state and local incentives. However, you left out one important variable to cost offset - increase in home resale value. Historically, a solar power system can add ~4% to a home's resale value. For the average US home value of $269,000 that could mean approximately $10,000 increase in home resale value. Add that to the 26% federal tax credit and subtract from the cost of your solar power system and you will have a more accurate number to use when calculating your cost recoupment time.
Clearly the increase in home value is dependent on many variables - local home values, system age, size of array, length of time living in home, etc., but in most areas it will be a significant cost offset.

 

[Bram12]

This is our first full month of owning the mach e and still awaiting our first bill, but Chargepoint gives us some idea of what to expect. In total we added 1,701kms (about 1,050 miles) to our car costing us $38 (about $31 US). So some really good savings compared to a gas vehicle.

 

[bruceski88]

Good for you and good luck with the solar!!.....I have always been an advocate of solar, it seems like a no-brainer......I have an old 125 year old "colonial" with 3 dormers not very good for solar....when we had the roof redone the roofer said he couldn't even use 1 full sheet of plywood, every piece had to be cut.....I am jealous of all you who can invest in solar and get the benefits.......again good luck......could you mention what company is doing the installation....thanks

Check out www.mysolarpod.com for what might be possible on a roof with dormers. Of course you might run into fire codes that require pathways. This is my recent install

 

[Dr Obnxs]

50 cents/kwh. Yikes! Do they hand deliver it with flowers?

California had championed electricity efficiencies since the 70s. While our cost per kWh is high, total household electricity costs tend to be lower than the national average.

This might be changing as the rest of the nation comes up to speed with insulation etc codes.

 

[Basic Cable]

This is what I am getting at ~1000 miles a month

 

[malba2366]

I got my car in February, and have been intentionally driving over 1000 miles a month. We are getting solar, and our electric company typically won't let you hook up more solar capacity than you used over the prior year. They make exceptions if you add an electric car, so I wanted to make sure to up our usage so it was easier to justify the increased panel capacity to cover the car charging.

Anyway, typically the winter months our electric bill is pretty low and my wife had a fit when she opened the electric bill and it said that our electric use had gone up 40%. BUT, when I pointed out that the actual cost was $20 LESS than I would have paid for gas she calmed down.

When we finally get the solar system installed and start collecting the energy credits from NJ she will be much happier. The rate from PSE&G is around $0.18 per kwh, but with the energy credits and cost of panels combined we'll be paying $0.10 per kwh. She'll be much happier then

Be careful over sizing your solar system. If you generate more energy that you use it sits in the account for one year, after that the utility gets to buy out those unused credits at the wholesale rate. The wholesale rate is very low and there is no ROI on that excess capacity.

 

[timbop]

Be careful over sizing your solar system. If you generate more energy that you use it sits in the account for one year, after that the utility gets to buy out those unused credits at the wholesale rate. The wholesale rate is very low and there is no ROI on that excess capacity.

Using the estimated output and best-guesstimates for my Mach E usage post-pandemic, I'm probably still going to buy about 600 kwh a year from PSE&G if everything else stays the same. Without adding the extra 4500kwh cushion for the Mach E I'd end up buying about 5000kwh from them.

Even if my solar produces more than I use, I'd like to switch my hot water heater from gas to electric and augment my gas furnace with electric spaceheaters in the winter.

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