My electric generally runs 200 ish on cooler seasons, 300 ish hot. I had a 26 panel system quoted out to me for 44k, with 35k in rebates, credits, and returns (which they take, and they finance me at 5% over 10 years for the left over balance with no prepay penalty).
Anyone have any experience with these things, do they really live up to the hype? I only know one person who has them, and in his case, he gets a couple credits a month, and he still runs his moderate AC usage, I think he was telling me his old bills used to be about 150 ish average. Everyone else is either hearsay or propaganda be it positive or negative. Here the "credits" are like an account, you can let them build up for other months you use more than you put in, there is some talk about opening things up so people (or businesses) buying these credits from you. Right now once it get to a certain amount, the power company automatically sends you a check to bring down the credits to a certain level again. (though they buy them back at 50 bucks a credit).
So in my friends case, he doesn't pay a $150 electric bill, and has been building credits for almost a year now. SO he is getting close to his limit on how many credits he can have. His payment on his finance was 50 bucks a month, so he spends less with the system than without, even after you include the loan to get it and ignore the money he will get from the credits program. What I don't know, is if this is typical or the exception.
Update: Just had city inspector turn on the new smart Meter and panels. I guess these are more accurate as to what is being used, and the home office is running full tilt (two servers and two workstations), AC and fans, as well as some minor lighting (four 44w flourescent bulbs in two ballasts), and the meter is crawling forward, so slow at first I thought it wasn't moving at all. Normally it flies around, now the panels seem to be producing about what I use; and without just the AC running, it credits me.
So far it seems to be holding up to what they claimed. I imagine since I live in So Cal, come winter time, when the AC isn't on, I will really be "putting" back into the grid.
Anyone have any experience with these things, do they really live up to the hype? I only know one person who has them, and in his case, he gets a couple credits a month, and he still runs his moderate AC usage, I think he was telling me his old bills used to be about 150 ish average. Everyone else is either hearsay or propaganda be it positive or negative. Here the "credits" are like an account, you can let them build up for other months you use more than you put in, there is some talk about opening things up so people (or businesses) buying these credits from you. Right now once it get to a certain amount, the power company automatically sends you a check to bring down the credits to a certain level again. (though they buy them back at 50 bucks a credit).
So in my friends case, he doesn't pay a $150 electric bill, and has been building credits for almost a year now. SO he is getting close to his limit on how many credits he can have. His payment on his finance was 50 bucks a month, so he spends less with the system than without, even after you include the loan to get it and ignore the money he will get from the credits program. What I don't know, is if this is typical or the exception.
Update: Just had city inspector turn on the new smart Meter and panels. I guess these are more accurate as to what is being used, and the home office is running full tilt (two servers and two workstations), AC and fans, as well as some minor lighting (four 44w flourescent bulbs in two ballasts), and the meter is crawling forward, so slow at first I thought it wasn't moving at all. Normally it flies around, now the panels seem to be producing about what I use; and without just the AC running, it credits me.
So far it seems to be holding up to what they claimed. I imagine since I live in So Cal, come winter time, when the AC isn't on, I will really be "putting" back into the grid.
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