Residential Solar

For the month of May my electric bill was -$210. I used 86 kwh from the grid and sent back to the grid 1029 kwh (it sound more impressive to me if I say 1 mwh - LOL).

The west side continues to be a strong producer (as I expected), with each panel outproducing any panel on the other 2 sides. Most of the panels on the south side outproduce the east side panels (which has more challenges, so expected). Of course the east side has one more panel (because the roof there is larger) so in total produced about 40 kwhs more than the south side.

 

bogieb $210.00 would be a high electric bill for me

 

Sure would be.. perhaps you missed the" - " sign.

 

You are correct, I did miss it.

 

It would have been for me also; when I was a bachelor … 3 woman in house makes me wish for 1 that low!!

 

Glad I had boys

 

Month of May for me.

 

That would be 2 months for me (unless it is wicked hot and I use the mini split a lot). Additionally, NH has the 2nd highest electric rates in the country (Hawaii is #1) so comparing $$ of usage is not very usefull.

But I must say that if my bill was $210 from using 86 kwh, I would flip out at spending $2.44 for each kwh

I assumed you had missed the negative sign (easy to do), and that confirms it.

 

That is a nice production total for the month! I find it cool to be able to look back and be able to tell how sunny (or cloudy) of a day it was.

 

Our kwh prices just went up this spring to just over 12 cents.

 

- ours are at 20 cents, then there is about 5 cents per kwh for other charges (not counting the fee to be hooked up)

 

How many here are old enough to remember when electricity was advertised as "penny cheap"? I do.

 

In August, our prices will go down to about 12.6 cents / kwh (not counting the various fees and charges). The dollar credits that I have been building up will go much further come December into February. OTH, it hits the ROI. But, since the rate changes every 6 months, depending mainly upon the NG prices, that is probably short term.

 

June seemed like a totally horrible month for producing solar. The last couple of weeks were nothing but overcast, drizzly and rainy days. seriously, I don't think I saw the sun or moon for the last 10 days. But really, once all the numbers are put together, the month of June was pretty good. Oh sure, not as good as May's 1150 kwh (1.15mhw), but as one of NH's cloudiest months, 838 kwh production is respectable. With the clouds and cooler temps, the need for AC wasn't there but for a couple of days. So all in all, I was ~600 kwh ahead that the utility is crediting me for.


And now for the interesting thing going forward. The former swamp on the south side is having a house built on it. I have the feeling that the south side's winter production is going to be affected as it looks like the roof is well above what my previous "horizon" was on that side. Only time will tell if it truly affects the sun I get in the deep of winter (which isn't much anyway).

 

Same here in south Jersey. June brought lots of cloudy days but the panels still make energy. Not as productive as May but still a net gain for me. Absolutely love not having an electric bill.

 

Well that sounds like a good idea....

 

bogieb for your sanity take photos of the water drain around perimeter … just in case

Your new neighbor might tear you like a saint

 

The ground work was laid out thoughtfully and they worked with me since it drains into the ditch on my property. They put in two huge catch basins, one on the southeast and one on the southwest of the property, so the flow is regulated during heavy rains. I showed them videos of what the previous person had done and how it wreaked havoc, and they seemed to pay attention.

It is much better than what the last guy (local) did for "drainage" when he cleared the property for the owner to sell it during a drought year. Even though the property had already been cleared and 20 dump tucks of sand dumped in there, the company that presently owns it still had to put in about 3 weeks of ground work and a lot of materials to get it to work well. That included having to remove the property drain pipe the previous guy had laid diagonally across the property - right under where the foundation had to be built (it's only 1/3 acre, so not much wiggle room for the building to stay within set back requirements).

The foundation drain pipe also goes into the drainage ditch (technically that side of that portion is on their land) and I haven't seen any water come out of it, even after 3.5" of rain at the beginning of last week. I had asked the guys if they would mind if I painted the pipe (the white really sticks out) and they said to go ahead - then yesterday I realized they have painted it. I took a peek inside the ground portion of the building, and it appears dry.

 

I produced enough energy to get a REC (Renewable Energy Certificate) payment. Got an email yesterday to go look at my statement for Q1, which I did and they are sending me $27. I believe I get paid for each MWH I produce (not export, produce). That is over and above what the power company pays me for the energy that I export to the grid. Won't get rich, but I don't have anyone else emailing me out of the blue saying they are sending me money that I wasn't counting on

 

May not be a windfall.. but better than a bill.


Would like to install a solar system here as a self-sufficiency project. Just haven't prioritized it in our list.