When we bought the new house, the seller told us that he only pays the customer fee for about seven or eight months out of the year. Everything he had told us was true and we never asked to see his electric bills.
When Vince went to the electric company there to sign the solar contract, he was surprised to learn that we would be paying 13 cents per kwh for power but they were only paying us back .03 or what we sent back. We were a little disappointed with that but nothing we could do about it.
We got our first electric bill from there yesterday and were pleasantly surprised. They calculate it differently from how it’s done in Texas and we did, in fact, only owe the customer charge.
We’ll normally keep the air on about 72 during the day and 70 at night when we’re there and we leave it on 76 when we’re gone. We leave it that low because of the humidity there. We forgot to turn the water heater to vacation before we left. Two fridges were running.
During the 2-1/2 weeks we were there, we used 599 kwh. I can see us easily using 900 to 1,000 when we’re there full time so I doubt we have much of an electric bill ever.
The solar panel setup there is a good bit bigger than the one we have in Texas. The house is bigger but with the basement, it’s easier to cool and heat, though it is all electric.
Granted, we were only there 2-1/2 weeks during the billing period but I did a lot of clothes washing because I had taken probably 10 quilts from Texas and I washed all those just in case there was an evil spider or scorpion hiding.
It’s funny because in MO, the winter months are when we will be paying a higher bill. In Texas, it’s winter months when we pay nothing. The inverters (I think that’s the part) kinda shuts down when it gets much over 100 and we have months in the summer when the temp on the metal roof where the panels are attached is over 115. In Texas, we heat with gas, cook with gas, heat our water with gas and dry clothes with gas where the MO house is all electric except for a couple of gas fireplaces.
We’re pretty happy with the electric bill there.
Nelle Coursey says
Great news!!
Susan Nixon says
I’ve had all electric for years, and I’m not unhappy with the electric bill even without the solar. I’m not so happy with the water/sewer bill, though.
Judy Laquidara says
For those who have more reasonable rates, that’s great but for those of us with high rates, the solar has been great. By the end of the year, we will about be to where we’ve made our investment back but they add value to the house so it was a good deal for us.