In The Beginning.......

It was said, “Let there be light”.   And there was light and it was beautiful.  A couple of thousand years later (give or take a few hundred) Thomas Edison said, “Let there be bulb”.  And there was light bulb and it was also beautiful.  Then a couple of weeks after that (give or take a few decades) Bud Wiser said “Let there be ‘Bud’”.  Do you know what’s coming next? 

Actually I’m rewriting this blog from scratch for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, there is a boat load of information here and I wanted to put everything in a more understandable concise order.  Secondly, I accidentally pushed the wrong button and erased the first one.  There you have it.

Done Deal

Friday, February 28, 2014 I inked a deal for solar panels to be installed on our home.  What you are about to read is a synopsis of the 3 years of study and research leading up to the signed deal.

I’ve decided the first part of this should be terminology.  That way you will have an understanding of solar panel 101 before you jump into the ocean of information.

ROI – Return on Investment.  You’re going to sink big money into this and you definitely want some sort of financial return.  That is unless you are a millionaire or a ‘Greener’ and don’t give a damn about money.

SI - String Inverter – Converts direct current (DC) panel power to usable alternating current (AC).  When a string inverter is used, 1 inverter does the job for the entire panel array.  It sounds good; however, this is old school technology.  If a panel goes out your entire system goes down.  It’s much like those very old strings of Christmas lights.  When 1 bulb went out the entire string went out.  This is expensive.  A string inverter can cost THOUSANDS of bucks to replace and life expectancy is 7 to 10 years because of the high energy load.

MI or MI’s – Micro inverter(s) – 1 Inverter connects to each panel.  New School Technology.  Its life expectancy is way longer than the SI because it only carries the load of a single panel.  These are less expensive to replace, however, since they are located on the back of each panel they are slightly more difficult to replace.  MI’s have an edge because if 1 goes down the rest of your panels continue to work.  In addition, MI’s give your system an edge by being able to monitor the output of each panel in real time.  This type of system comes with a computer program that allows you to see each panel, if it’s generating, and if so, how much.

kW – a unit of power = to 1000 watts.

kWh – a unit of energy = to 1000 watt-hours.  For constant power, energy in watt-hours is the product of power in watts and time in hours.

FETC – Federal Energy Tax Credit – It’s a 30% tax credit on the cost of your solar panel system.  This tax incentive expires at the end of 2016.

LEC – Levelized Energy Cost – This is a hypothetical number and SHOULD NOT be used in calculation of ROI.  This anticipates a rate of inflation in the kWh price of electricity.  Should the cost of a kWh increase your ROI is positively affected and you get a bigger ROI. 

PV – Photovoltaic (Solar Panels) – The conversion of light into electric.

PEC – Portfolio Energy Credit – READ THIS CAREFULLY – This is an offspring of the Al Gore Carbon Credit scheme (and I do mean scheme).  Be careful when using this number in calculating ROI.  NVEnergy was giving a very healthy incentive to people installing PV’s, HOWEVER, if you took the cash incentive you signed over the PEC’s from your system to NVEnergy.  This meant you got your money upfront, but over the life of the system NVEnergy was likely to make more.  The PEC’s on the system we’re getting are worth $1,000 per year.   A system life of 25 years, without factoring in an increase in PEC value will = $25k.  At one time NVEnergy was giving about $10,500 upfront to get those PEC’s.  There had limited funds for PEC’s so they held a yearly lottery.  After careful consideration, I decided I was better off keeping the PEC’s.  I can ‘sell’ my PEC’s to NVEnergy or any other NV electric company needing them.  In short, I can sell them to the highest Nevada utility bidder.  Some states allow those with PEC’s to sell across state lines.  The federal government along with state governments are mandating utility companies generate more of their power from renewable sources over a period of years.  Since PEC’s are one way the goals can be met, this requirement forces the utility company purchase PEC’s.  At one time Delaware was paying $255 per PEC.  The increased requirements SHOULD put upward pressure on PEC prices, but that is speculative.  Energy companies can buy and/or sell PEC’s as needed and while some states prohibit individuals from selling PEC’s across state lines that rule does not apply to the utility companies.  See www.desireusa.org for more information on PECs. 

Entry, Entry Panel or Entrance – This is your circuit breaker box where electricity comes into your home.  This is usually located next to your electric meter.  If you are going to install solar panels your entry must be a minimum of 150 Amps.  I’ll have more about this later.

Let’s get to it

Let me state at the onset of this I AM NOT A GREENER.  Frankly, I don’t give a rats a$$ about the environment.  I recycle because it’s convenient.  I’m going solar as strictly an investment with a good payback because I shopped around.  If the overall environment is in some way helped by desire to get a decent ROI, good for it.  At an economic time when finding a decent rate of return is difficult, this makes sense.  For me, that’s the long and short of it.

Please don’t get me wrong.  I’m not ‘Greener Bashing’.  If you are into trying to save the world by pseudo fixing the environment – good for you and good luck with that.  You need to know that it’s an inherently flawed idea that produces dream chasing circles.  I don’t know why but for some people it seems to make them feel good.  If you are one of those that want to feel good by helping the environment, I’ll be more than happy to let you contribute to my “PROJECT SUNLAND”.  In return for your $25.00 non-tax deductible contribution I’ll send you a certificate suitable for framing or wrapping fish, that will tell the world what a wonderful environmental steward you are.  Just drop me an email at nevadawx@yahoo.com for more details.  I won’t hold my breath waiting for those emails.

 

My Mama Told Me, “You’d Better Shop Around.”

If you don’t like dealing with a car dealership when you get a new car, you most certainly will not like going solar.  Just like the car dealership, you’re going to make a whole bunch of new friends.  They will razzle dazzle you with numbers, incentives, PECs, and the list goes on.  You’ll be told you’re doing wonders for the environment, that electric rates are going to go through the roof, going solar just makes sense, blah, blah, blah.  Know going in there are plenty of PV dealers and few individual PV buyers, which means these guys have to apply that ever friendly, but often annoying car dealership mentality. 

I’m going to lay my 3 years of investigation and PV shopping to the bare bones for you. 

Do your homework.  Check Angie’s List on solar dealers.  Ask any dealer you talk with for references, but keep in the back of your mind the reference you get may be the owner’s uncle that got his system for cost.  Check with the Better Business Bureau for complaints.  Check the Internet for complaints and compliments.  If you don’t understand something, ASK QUESTIONS.  This is a big financial outlay with a decent potential return, IF YOU DO IT RIGHT.  

HARD NUMBERS, SOFT NUMBERS, AND MIXOLOGY

 

Shameless plug time – I encourage you to visit my website at www.weather89014.com. I’ll encourage you to do it again later.  After you visit the website you’ll understand why most of my life has dealt with numbers.  When talking with those people wanting your business you’re going to see plenty of numbers, charts, and graphs.  You need to know when they are showing you hard numbers and soft numbers.  I’ve found all BUT one bid on my solar system used soft numbers to arrive at my ROI.  Soft numbers are those derived from hypothetical means.  Your current electric bill is a hard number.  It’s real.  It’s what you owe.  If I told you next year your electric bill would be $10 more, that is a soft number.  It’s not real.  You don’t owe it yet and I may be wrong.  It may be actually less is you use less electric and there is no price increase.

Don’t let any dealer use soft numbers to arrive at an ROI.  Every dealer will tell you the value of your home will increase and some will throw some amazing numbers at you.  The most expensive bid I got actually used the perceived home increased value to arrive at my ROI.  Realistically you can only do that if I were to sell the house.  That is a super soft number he used to give the appearance the bid was in line with other bids. 

What if I were to tell you I know what your house is worth, sight unseen?  I do know and I know it to the $.  I don’t need to know where it is located.  I don’t need to know how many bedrooms or baths.  Yet I can tell you exactly what your house is worth.  Here goes.  Regardless of what anybody tells you, your home is only worth the maximum amount a person will pay you for it.  You can have a $1,000,000 home but if the best price you are offered is ½ that, too bad, so sad, but that’s all it is worth.  The reverse is also true.  You can have a $500,000 home but if you can pull 2 X that amount, good for you.  That’s what it is worth. 

Another soft number often used is the projected increase in the price of electricity.  Again, this is a soft number.  Keep it out of the equation.  

The reality is there are not a lot of numbers needed for an accurate calculation.  You need to know the cost of the system.  Subtract from that the FETC.  Now you have net system cost.  Divide that by the life of the system (probably 25 years) and you have the annual system cost.  From the annual system cost subtract the price you paid for electric during the 12 months prior to going solar and subtract the known value of your PECs.  If you end up with a negative number that will equal your annual savings.  Project your savings number out yearly until it =’s the cost and that will be the number of years it takes to break even.  The rest of those years are profit makers for you.  Notice I did not take into account financing.  Financing a solar system may make it very difficult to get a worthwhile ROI.  I have yet to have anybody show me otherwise.  They can juggle soft numbers to make it look like it but if you deal in reality and hard numbers, sorry, it just isn’t so.

I’ve dealt with ½ dozen companies offering solar and I won’t name names, but I will go over the numbers.  I will give you the name of the one that got my business and why, but please don’t think this is a commercial or in any way an endorsement.  It’s simply a statement of facts.

There are three major things you need to be concerned with:

1)  The price you pay.

     I’ve pretty much discussed the price you pay above because it has to do with that ever so
     important ROI.

2)  The quality of the materials.

     Panels are made everywhere but most are either USA or China.  One of the first bids I got 3 years
     ago had SunTech panels made in China.  At the time I turned it down, SunTech was the biggest
     solar panel manufacturer in China.  They went belly-up.  That same company came back with
     another bid late last year using Lightway panels.  Again, Chinese made.  Yeah, I don’t think so.  

3)  Dealer reputation.

     It’s worth a few months of paying for Angie’s List when you shell out big bucks for project like
     this.  Do Internet research too.  

If you find the perfect marriage of 1, 2, and 3 you’ll most likely do okay.

The magic number to remember is $1.50

 

It costs about that amount of natural gas to generate a kW of electricity.  Armed with that knowledge you’ll want to get your price per kW(AC) as close to that as possible in order to get the absolute highest ROI.

Now let’s examine the bids.

Bid A:  Used a property value increase of nearly 30K.  They then tried to use that number to inflate the savings number to 72K over 25 years.  I was not off of the grid and would still get a monthly electric bill.  This was a 21 panel SunTech System.  The net cost was going to be around 20K.  The bidder projected a 7 year ROI.  After I backed out all of the soft numbers the ROI fell in at 11 years.  The number here was $4.22 per kW(AC).

Bid B:  Used a property value increase of nearly 35K.  This helped inflate the savings number over bid A.  I was off the grid.  This was a 25 panel SunTech System.  The net cost here was around 25K with a bidder projected 7 year ROI.  After I backed out all of the soft number the ROI fell at 11 years.  The number was $5.02 per kW(AC).  Even though the cost per kW(AC) was higher than bid A I was totally off the grid which left the ROI the same.  

Bid C:  Showed a whopping $54,000 property value increase (Yeah, right).  I was not off the grid with this 21 panel American made SolarWorld system.  The bidder projected a 7.5 year ROI with the whole thing costing 20K and some change.  My calculations showed 11 years with the kW(AC) number of $5.25

Bid D:  If you thought C had a high property value this one climbed to 57K.  Off the grid with this 27 panel SolarWorld System, I was looking at what they said was a 7.2 ROI.  The entire system cost $25,000 with the exact $5.25 kW(AC) number as Bid C.  Again I showed an 11 year ROI. 

Bid E:  Paralleled Bid C.

AND THE WINNER IS - -

 

www.robcoelectriclv.com    

They estimated a property value increase of $50,000 but DID NOT use this soft number in any ROI estimates.  In addition to being the best bid, this was totally a NO PRESSURE sale.  I’ll be off the grid with this 27 panel SolarWorld system with a net cost of $16,500.  My ROI is slightly more than 6-1/2 years and this is the closest I got to the magic number.  At $2.66 per kW(AC), that ain’t to shabby.  Oh, after the initial ROI my overall system life cash return is nearly 11%.  I also found nothing negative about this company.  That totally works.      

Earlier I mentioned the entry had to be a minimum of 150 Amps.  Robco Electric was the ONLY bidder that checked our entry during the bidding process.  Our current entry is 125 Amps and must be upgraded to install solar.  Robco is upgrading our entry to 200 Amps, giving us additional headroom in the box for possible future upgrades.  This was included in our contract.  Boilerplate contracts for this type of work usually have a clause that states the contract spells out all that is included by the contractor.  In the event something needs to be done that is not included in the contract it will be added at the owners additional expense.  If your contractor fails to add this it could pump up your cost between $700 and $1500.  This then must be calculated as an expense against your ROI.

BIRD LAND

Bids C, D, E, and Robco all included pigeon grating.  If you live in an area with those little flying gray white washers you'll need it.  Nothing cuts into solar panel generation quite like bird poop.

NOW FOR THE FUN PART

I’m going to keep you posted as this project progresses, warts and all.  In case you forgot my shameless plug at the beginning.  I’m going to remind you about www.weather89014.com

When these panels are up and running, which should be before the beginning of May, I’m going to connect the panel data to the website so YOU can see them in action.  You’ll be able to see them wake up, harvest electric, compare solar data from my weather center with power generated, and watch ‘em shut down nightly.  Of course, if all you do every day is watch my solar panels you really need to get a life.  Seriously, get a life. 

UPDATE  - - March 4, 2014 (Tuesday)

The paperwork for the approval of the HOA was submitted to Nicklin Property Management.  My experience with our HOA has not been bad, however, I’ve heard the horror stories.  Experience tells me the HOA is about 50% Rules and Regulations and 50% politics.  I was told the approval can take up to 30 days but usually is faster.  We’ll see.

UPDATE  - - March 18, 2014 (Tuesday)

I just got off of the phone with the HOA.  Our solar panel project has been approved.  I’m impressed that it only took 11 working days.  Robco Electric has been notified. 

UPDATE  - - March 21, 2014 (Friday)

We got our approval letter from the HOA today and I faxed a copy to Robco Electric per their request.  Bruce at Robco told me Jeremey White would be in touch with us and tell us about the next part of the process and set-up the install.

UPDATE - - March 24, 2014 (Monday)

Jeremy White called today and the solar panels will be installed tomorrow and Wednesday.  Jeremy told us after the install NVEnergy will cut power to our home for 8 hours so the Entry can be upgraded to handle the additional returned electricity.  After that NVEnergy must come and inspect the solar installation before it can be cranked up.  We’re looking at perhaps a couple of weeks but it is totally on the shoulders of NVEnergy at that point.  Jeremy also has the necessary permits from the City Of Henderson for tomorrow’s installation.

This seems like a good time to show you 3 before pictures.

 House before any panels are installed.  Photo date 3-24-14

Existing Smart Meter to be replaced with an even smarter meter that will run backwards.  Photo date 3-24-14

Existing 125 Amp Entrance will be upgraded to 200 Amp

Tomorrow and Wednesday I’ll be taking pictures of the install in progress and add them to this blog. 

UPDATE - - March 25, 2014 (Tuesday)

It only seems fitting that the Robco Electric crew got here shortly after sunrise to install solar panels.  Actually it was a few minutes before 7 AM when the first truck arrived with Ed and Kelsey.  Soon after a second truck pulled up with ladders, mounts, tracks, ground wire, conduit, a meter for the solar panels, etc.  Let the show begin.

 

Parts Inventory 3-25-14

 Mounts and Tracks

Add 1 Solar Meter

Let's Get Started

Installing the Uprights

Uprights installed

Solar Panels - Oh, yes, some things are still made in the U.S.A.

Setting up the horizontal track

Working on the horizontal track

Finishing the horizontal track

Each solar panel has a micro inverter which converts DC to AC

27 Micro Inverters (MI's) installed

UPDATE - - March 26, 2014  (Wednesday)

Robco Electric started at 7 AM and today is panel install day.  I'll let the pictures speak for now.

1st Panel installed

5 down - 22 more to go

Just a little more than 2 hours and all 27 are locked down

Next up - install pigeon guard to keep the birds out

At the same time, the electrical connection work is taking place

High wind this afternoon brought the installation of some of the pigeon guard to a halt.  Nobody wants to get hit by metal flashing blowing in the wind.  The electrical boxes you see in the above picture were painted by Robco to match the house.  Major cool.  If this works as well as it looks I'm going to be super pleased.  This install team pays close attention to detail and as Martha Stewart would say, "That's a good thing."

UPDATE - - March 27, 2014  (Thursday)

Just about an hours worth of work today and the remaining pigeon guard was installed.  Now the burden totally falls to NVEngery to shut off our power so the Entry upgrade can happen.  After that there will be a system test, a final inspection and 'BANG' we're good to go.

UPDATE - - April 3, 2014  (Thursday)

I got word late this afternoon NVEnergy will cut the power to our house on April 16th for the 200 Amp Entry upgrade.  This process will take the better part of the day.  On Thursday and/or Friday (April 17 & 18) any necessary stucco repair and painting will be completed.  After that comes a final NVEnergy inspection and our solar panel project will go live.  Stay tuned.

UPDATE - - April 17, 2014 (Thursday)

I’ve got quite a bit to share with you so I’ll get right to it.

Yesterday was quite a busy day.  The Entrance upgrade to 200 AMP was completed and right around 5:06 PM (PDT) I threw the switch that started our solar panels.  Keep in mind this is fairly late in the afternoon and the sun was just starting to get lower in the western sky.  The panels were generating electricity, albeit slowly.

Today was a new day and the first full day of solar generation.  Shortly after sunrise the process was slowly beginning.  By 8:42 AM (PDT) we were electricity neutral.  By that I mean we were generating the same amount of electricity as we were using.  About 3 minutes later we were generating more than our usage and that will continue until around 4:45 PM.  

This project is not quite complete.  There are some repairs and painting needed to the stucco around the new larger electric panel.  The City of Henderson must do a final inspection and NVEnergy has to install the ‘smarter’ meter that will credit us for excess power generation during the daylight hours.

CLARIFICATIONS / CORRECTIONS     IMPORTANT STUFF HERE

 Earlier I stated it would be around 6.6 years to break even with the costs of this.  I forgot to add something to the initial cost that now has set me a 7 year breakeven point.  I had to increase my Homeowners Insurance Policy to cover replacement of the panels in the event of a fire.  That added about $50 per year to my policy thus increasing my time to hit cost/savings equalization.    

I also said my goal was to be ‘off the grid’, which in reality does not happen with most home solar panel systems, including ours. 

I thought long and hard about how to explain this and I think the best way is to tell it in story form. 

GATHER ‘ROUND CHILDREN – IT’S STORY TIME

This story has five main characters/elements.  There is the squirrel (me), The Tree in the land of OZ (NVEnergy), A factory next to the Tree in the land of OZ (This factory is owned by NVEnergy), NUTS (This is the electricity made at the factory next to the Tree in the land of OZ, and our final player is The Government (In this case The Nevada Public Utilities Commission, which is added to do what government always does best – screw things up).

About the Tree and factory in the land of OZ:  Just like in that rainbow movie thing, OZ is a mythical place filled with strange items like flying monkeys, a dude made out of tin that manages to live without a heart, a goofy straw thing that was so stupid he couldn’t wipe his butt with his own straw, a chicken crap lion, and in our story, a prostitute tree with female hands. 

Our story starts any time before the last 24 hours.  All the time before that  our squirrel (me) had to get my nuts (electricity) from the factory owned by the prostitute tree (NVEnergy).  In the desert summertime NVEnergy would squeeze my nuts - - really hard.  It made my nuts hurt.  In the winter NVEnergy held a tight grip on my nuts.  It still hurt but certainly hurt less and because it was less painful I was willing to be forgiving, much like the rest of the squirrels. 

As time progressed the squirrel (me, again) realized I could buy an item and grow my own nuts in a very natural way, with the help of the sun.  The problem was I could only grow and gather my nuts in the sun.  That meant I needed to harvest my nuts and store them somewhere for the dark times of night and winter. 

Along came the government with a typical government solution.  The government told the Tree it could charge the squirrel $10.50 per month to hold the squirrel’s nuts.  The government told the Tree it had to hold the nuts gently like a good prostitute, and it could not squeeze them.  The government told the Tree when the squirrel wants to play with his nuts, you must give them back. 

Then the government adopted an idea from the Al Gore School of Stupid.  Now you know it must be a good idea for two reasons:  1) The government thought of using it and 2) It’s got to be good because everyone knows Al Gore invented the Internet.

The government told the Tree it had to grow natural nuts, like the squirrel (me) and mix it in with the factory nuts.  In addition, every year it had to use more natural nuts and less factory nuts.  The government knew it would be hard for the Tree to make that happen, so the government told the Tree it could buy air from around the squirrel’s nuts and call that air natural nuts so the Tree could make its natural nut quota.  This air is known as ‘Portfolio Energy Credits’ that I told you about earlier. 

Now if you are totally confused by this, don’t feel too bad because most people are. 

The moral of this story is – even after going solar I will pay the NVEnergy prostitute tree $10.50 per month to gently hold my nuts.  In return each year a Nevada Energy Company gets to come to the squirrel (me) and buy my PEC’s, which are currently worth about 1K per year.

I calculated the cost of the prostitute nut holder into my ROI.

UPDATE - - April 30, 2014 (Wednesday)

Yesterday at 10:41 AM NV Energy swapped out the meter for the proper one to operate solar panels.  This means we are now 'SOLAR'.  Today marks our first full day of solar operation.

This is the upgraded 200 AMP Entry with new meters and solar panel disconnect in the center.

Close-up of Solar Meter

My absolute favorite picture.  The arrow pointing to the left in the center shows my solar panels are making more juice than I am currently using.  This means I can pull it back into my system during the night.  You can zoom in (Control button and mouse scroll) on the above picture to enlarge it and read the fine print.

Remember that website I shamelessly plugged earlier?  You know www.weather89014.com.  I currently have a link there where you can click and see the energy generated from my panels on both a daily and hourly basis.  Over the next week or so I'll be improving this to show you current solar radiation expressed in

Watts/sq. meter (W/m2) and you will be able to view a time lapse video of any cloud movement which will help explain any anomalies in my solar power generation.

  

UPDATE - - June 19, 2014 (Thursday)

TWEEK TIME or BEWARE of the TIME OF USE PROGRAM

If you decide to go ‘SOLAR’, after everything is up and running, pay close attention to your electric bills and the rate schedules of your utility company.

Another note - - most solar selling companies will tell you, “You’ll even save more if you use the ‘Time of Use’ program."  My solar installer, Robco Electric did not tell me that.  They advised me to watch my bill carefully to see if TOU (Time of Use) was really beneficial.  Every case will be different and I’ll explain what happened with me.

As I mentioned earlier, it appears NVEnergy really doesn’t want its ‘bread and butter’ customers, which are residential, to go solar.  I believe it even more now than I did before.

As I write this the standard single home residential rate is $.1258 per kWh.  There is also a $10 per month basic rate charge + 5% tax on that 10 spot.   On TOU there are 3 rates with 2 different optional programs.  Plan A Winter rate goes from Oct. 1^st thru May 31^st.  The price per kWh during these months is $.05498 24/7.  That is a significant savings, but here comes the rub.  Summer rates in the remaining months are split.  From 1 pm to 7 pm you pay a whooping rate of $.33410 per kWh and during the other summer hours it’s $.0745.  The basic rate charge is $11.30 + 5%.  Rate B has slightly different hours and slightly different rates.  Rate A is considered the most beneficial and has the better rates for consumers.  

The object is to encourage TOU customers to use less energy during the peak summer hours with the reward being a lower rate during off hours and winter months.  This, on the surface, is a good idea, however, if you go solar beware of this trap.

Let’s assume you are on TOU and go solar.  You are generating the bulk of your electric between noon and 4 pm.  Three of those hours are on peak TOU Rate and the excess electric your panels generate can only be used during that time period.  Instead of encouraging you to save energy you are now encouraged to burn off those extra kWh during peak time.  From sunset to sunrise during the summer months you generate zero so you are pulling from the grid.  Sure you’re not pulling in a lot, in my case the first bill was $4.81 in non-peak hours, however if I could have applied my extra peak hours into my non-peak hours it would have been $1 and some change.  In addition, during the winter hours you can only use winter accrued credit.  Oh, then there’s that pesky little extra $1.30 you pay for TOU billing.  

So, in my case, going back to the standard rate is making more sense.  Electric credits I generate are usable 24/7/365 on standard rate.  So if I come up short on home-made electric, I get billed at that 12-1/2 cent rate but my shortage will be less than the TOU A rate plan and I’ll save money.  

If you’re wondering why a solar dealer would tell you  more savings exist on TOU is because it artificially inflates your savings numbers and makes solar more attractive.  

I should point out individual savings circumstances will vary on location, utility rates and plans.  You, the end user, must decide which is right for you.  In my case, now that I’m solar, going back to the standard rate is better than TOU.

My first full electric bill was this month and it went like this - -

Basic Service TOU $11.30 + 5% tax $.95 + Off peak consumption $4.81 + assorted little nuisance fees of $3.18 = a total of $20.24.  This bill came in a month when I normally would have been between $130 and $150. 

Today I cancelled my TOU plan and went back to the standard rate. 

UPDATE - - July 16, 2014  (Wednesday)

The BIG WART on the Prostitute Tree

I promised earlier to keep you updated on this project, warts and all.  The title of this update kind of tells you what’s coming.

I got our second power bill after going solar and, well, let me just say “brace yourself.”

Before I explain this, I’ll let you have a look at the bill.  If you thought your power bill was difficult to understand before wait ‘till you see this gem.   Also keep in your mind that I previously mentioned NVEnergy is really not solar friendly to the little guy.  Now check out this bill.

                                    THIS BILL IS DUE AND PAYABLE UPON RECEIPT. PLEASE SEE REVERSE SIDE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

ACCOUNT NUMBER:

Page 1 of 2

Service	TERRY L. KNIESS	Customer
Address:		Premises

PREVIOUS BALANCE	PAYMENTS	ADJUSTMENTS	BALANCE FORWARD	CURRENT CHARGES
$20.56	$20.24 CR	$.32 CR	$.00	$143.53

Call (702) or (800) for assistance 7 days a week, 24 hours a day excluding holidays. Your final utility bill is now due. Please subtract any portion of this amount that has been paid.

ELECTRIC - RES SERVICE-OPT A NET
Remember, from June 1 through September 30, Time-of-Use customers can achieve maximum savings when they use as little electricity as possible between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. For tips on how you may conserve energy please visit our website at nvenergy.com/conserve.
	Service	Service Period		Bill	Meter Readings		Meter	Billing
Meter Number	Category	From	To	Days	Previous	Current	Multiplier	Usage
TO474003592	WTOD	Jun 4	Jul 1	27	716	716	1	0
	WTOR	Jun 4	Jul 1	27	755	755	1	0
	WTOA	Jun 4	Jul 1	27	39	0	1	99,961
	SUMD	Jun 4	Jul 1	27	6	433	1	427
	SUMR	Jun 4	Jul 1	27	54	205	1	151
	SOTE	Jun 4	Jul 1	27	0	228	1	228
	SUMA	Jun 4	Jul 1	27	48	0	1	99,952
	SUFD	Jun 4	Jul 1	27	92	1393	1	1,301
	SUFR	Jun 4	Jul 1	27	29	755	1	726
	SFTE	Jun 4	Jul 1	27	63	575	1	512
	SUFA	Jun 4	Jul 1	27	0	0	1	0

Call (702) 402-5555 or (800) 331-3103 for assistance 7 days a week, 24 hours a day excluding holidays. After hours emergencies call: (702) 402-2900    Mail payment to: PO BOX 30086 Reno, Nevada 89520-3086

PLEASE RETURN THIS PORTION WITH PAYMENT                                                                                                                       MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO NV ENERGY

ACCOUNT NUMBER		BALANCE FORWARD .00 CURRENT CHARGES 143.53 TOTAL AMOUNT DUE $143.53
FINAL BILL

Service Address:     

HENDERSON,NV 89014

TERRY L. KNIESS

Current Charges due by   Jul 31, 2014

Please enter amount paid below $

B 1629                      THIS BILL IS DUE AND PAYABLE UPON RECEIPT. PLEASE SEE REVERSE SIDE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

ACCOUNT NUMBER:  redacted

Page 2 of 2

Service	TERRY L. KNIESS	Customer	redacted
Address:	redacted	Premises	redacted

ELECTRIC - RES SERVICE-OPT A NET - Continued
ON PEAK CONSUMPTION (PRIOR RATE)	219.556	KWH	x .33410	73.35
ON PEAK CONSUMPTION (NEW RATE)	8.444	KWH	x .33467	2.83
DEFERRED ENERGY ADJUSTMENT (PRIOR RATE)	219.556	KWH	x .00376	.83
DEFERRED ENERGY ADJUSTMENT (NEW RATE)	8.444	KWH	x .00343	.03
TEMP. GREEN POWER FINANCING (TRED)	427.000	KWH	x .00083	.35
RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAM (REPR) (PRIOR RATE)	411.185	KWH	x .00132	.54
RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAM (REPR) (NEW RATE)	15.815	KWH	x .00044	.01
ENERGY EFFICIENCY (EE) CHARGE (PRIOR RATE)	411.185	KWH	x .00343	1.41
ENERGY EFFICIENCY (EE) CHARGE (NEW RATE)	15.815	KWH	x .00289	.05
ENERGY EFFICIENCY AMORTIZATION	427.000	KWH	x .00219 CR	.94 CR
UNIVERSAL ENERGY CHARGE	427.000	KWH	x .00039	.17
UNIVERSAL ENERGY CHARGE	228.000	KWH	x .00039	.09
UNIVERSAL ENERGY CHARGE	427.000	KWH	x .00039	.17
OFF PEAK CONSUMPTION (PRIOR RATE)	493.037	KWH	x .07635	37.64
OFF PEAK CONSUMPTION (NEW RATE)	18.963	KWH	x .07692	1.46
DEFERRED ENERGY ADJUSTMENT (PRIOR RATE)	493.037	KWH	x .00376	1.85
DEFERRED ENERGY ADJUSTMENT (NEW RATE)	18.963	KWH	x .00343	.07
TEMP. GREEN POWER FINANCING (TRED)	1,301.000	KWH	x .00083	1.08
RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAM (REPR) (PRIOR RATE)	1,252.815	KWH	x .00132	1.65
RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAM (REPR) (NEW RATE)	48.185	KWH	x .00044	.02
ENERGY EFFICIENCY (EE) CHARGE (PRIOR RATE)	1,252.815	KWH	x .00343	4.30
ENERGY EFFICIENCY (EE) CHARGE (NEW RATE)	48.185	KWH	x .00289	.14
ENERGY EFFICIENCY AMORTIZATION	1,301.000	KWH	x .00219 CR	2.85 CR
UNIVERSAL ENERGY CHARGE	512.000	KWH	x .00039	.20
UNIVERSAL ENERGY CHARGE	1,301.000	KWH	x .00039	.51
UNIVERSAL ENERGY CHARGE	1,301.000	KWH	x .00039	.51
BASIC SERVICE CHARGE				11.30
LOCAL GOVERNMENT FEE			5%	6.76
TOTAL ELECTRIC SERVICE AMOUNT				$143.53

ADJUSTMENTS

MONETARY ADJUSTMENT                                                                                                                                     .32 CR

TOTAL ADJUSTMENTS                                                                                                                                          $.32 CR

It took me less than 30 seconds to realize there were some serious miscalculations on this.  I called NVEnergy’s billing office and got a very nice person that, for lack of a better definition, was clueless when it came to solar billing.  However, he was determined, in a very nice way, to convince me that my bill was correct.  I pointed out that the graph on the bottom of the page indicated the bill was for the entire month of July and we were only 15 days into the month.  That didn’t seem to matter to him.

I advised him that 91.4 KWH for the month was at least 40 KWH more than I have ever used in my NVEnergy history.  That didn’t matter either.  He didn’t seem to believe that 99,961 WTOA or 99,952 SUMA billing usage could have been wrong.   I could go on about several other things I told him but he wasn’t getting my point.  

I told him I would pay the bill under protest and take the matter up with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission and at that point he gave me a number to call which took me further up the food chain.  I called that number and got connected with Mary, who recognized my name from changing over from the Time of Use ‘A’ rate schedule back to the Standard Rate Schedule.  Mary, smart gal that she is, realized there was a problem immediately.  In fact, Mary told me I should not even have gotten this bill.  That’s not to say I didn’t owe anything but, as I pointed out in an earlier update, TOU works against you if you go solar and now I have the proof.  

Long story short, my calculations show I should have owed about $45.00 on this month’s bill.  If I had been on the Standard Schedule my total bill would have been less than $30.00.  As of July 1^st I am now back to the Standard Rate Schedule and TOU is history for me.  

 

This leads me to my next point.  In Southern Nevada the best month and day to go online with solar is March 1st.  March thru most of June the amount of sunlight in a day is getting longer and there is very little cloud cover.  This will help you build up extra KWH credit for use in July, August, and September when it’s hot and we have more cloud cover which reduces the amount of electricity you produce.  

I now know that on our July thru September bills we will be paying NVEnergy for electricity because of the change over from TOU and our summer thunderstorm cloudiness.   October and beyond we should be back to the basics of a very small NVEnergy bill.

UPDATE  9/2/14 (Tuesday)..MONTHY POWER BILL sans TOU

Becoming less grid dependent is starting to get easier and next month’s bill should prove even more so. 

If you’ve been following this adventure, being on Time Of Use (TOU) turned out to be a total disaster for my bill, which NVEnergy still has not corrected.  Later today I’ll be filling a complaint with the NV PUC.  I’ll keep you posted on that too.

Let’s analyze July on the regular residential rate.  The power bill is far more simplistic and extremely unlikely for error.  

July is typically a rain and cloud month for Southern Nevada and July of 2014 fell heavy on the cloud side but light on rain.  The month had about 40% cloud cover and that sucks when you go solar.  Having said that and checked the meter often.  The bill was spot on where I expected it to be.  NVEnergy delivered 1119 Kwh.  We returned 449 Kwh.  We also got credit for 39 Kwh accrued, leaving us a net of 631.  The $ and cents version is $94.25 in a month where our pre-solar bill would have been around $225.  The 40% cloud cover amounts to about 180 Kwh of lost production which would have lowered the bill by another $23.  

 

Here’s how August is shaping up.  We had a few cloudy days but generated 102% of the estimated power from the panels.  August was also a few degrees cooler than average but only a few.  The meter gets read tomorrow for August and that bill will be lower than July.  I’m guessing by around $25.

I’m under the belief that October will be the month where we begin generating more electric than we use and will start storing nuts (accumulating credits) for next summer.  

UPDATE  9/15/14 (Monday)….. 2^nd MONTHY POWER BILL minus TOU

At the end of the previous update I guessed the August bill would be about 25 beans lower.  I was very close.  The actual drop was just shy of $23.  I really wasn’t very surprised by this because the month had ample sunshine and the panels generated a little more than 100% of the estimated power.  

Summing up the month, we used 976 Kwh.  We generated 520 Kwh for a net usage of 456.  We went from an average daily use of 54.7 Kwh to 13.8 and that is quite a drop. This month also had an extra day on the billing cycle.  My electrical savings are now really starting to show.

Here is what I believe will happen for September.  I should shave yet another $25 bucks off of the bill because of cooler temperatures.  I still maintain that October will be the time we begin making more than we use and start accruing credits for next summer.  I’m starting to feel the love, not from NVEnergy but from my solar panels.    

The last update I mentioned I filed a complaint with the NV PUC over the June bill.  I’ve got nothing further to report on that yet from either NVEnergy or the PUC.  

Check back around this date in October and see if I’ve got this right.

UPDATE 10/6/14(Monday)……..BIG NEWS UPDATE

Before I give you the BIG STUFF, let me give you the data on the September Electric Bill and Usage. 

Let me start by stating I missed it by $7 and some change.  I guessed a 25 bean drop and it was actually $17.35 leaving me to pay $54.08 this time around.  I made that prognostication around 9/15 and used the previous year’s numbers to arrive at my conclusion.  

Unfortunately for me (and my wallet) this September was not typical.  In 2013 the highest temperature we had in September was 106.5 and the lowest was 53.9 with a daily average of 81.2.  This year we topped out at 111.1 and on the low end 61.5 with an average of 86.6.  That’s 5.4 degrees warmer on a daily cycle or somewhat the equivalent of adding a day with a high of 116.2.  That higher than normal daily average pumped the bill up by the 7 bananas and change.  So I came up short.

Normally between 9/12 and 9/21 we have a front move though which gives a good shot of wind and then the temperatures drop from that point forward.  No major wind with the front this year and it didn’t hit until the last 3 or 4 days of the month.  

Monthly numbers for September – Used 807 kWh – Made 483 kWh so we got billed the difference of 324 kWh – equaling the $54.08 I mentioned earlier.

NOW FOR THE BIG STUFF

I predicted we would pass the zero net line this month and we already have.  I read the meter at 13:09 today and here’s where we are – Used 78 kWh – Made 84 kWh giving us 6 kWh CREDIT hours.  When I extrapolate the #’s to the end of the month I see at least 27 kWh CREDIT hours or more by November 1. 

Remember the squirrel story I told you earlier, well, I am now storing nuts for use next summer, and my monthly bill should fall to around $13.00 for the rest of this year and into early 2015.  

Update - - 11/7/2014  (Friday)

Mucho to discusso, INCLUDING THE COMPLAINT I FILED WITH THE PUC……

Let’s get started with the October electric bill.

I miscalculated how many EXTRA (accrued) kWh I would generate last month.  I figured a 21 kWh credit and it ended up a whopping 51 kWh.  By the numbers it looks like this:  We used 490 kWh and generated 541 for a credit of 51 kWh which can be used at a later time.  Now, if you have not been following this and think that we did not get any bill, no way Jose.  We still must pay a meter fee, applicable taxes and a couple of those damn nuisance fees (Universal Energy charge and those sort of B.S. charges) leaving me a bill of $11.75.  BUT WAIT….remember in a previous post I mentioned of filing a complaint with the NV PUC regarding my June bill.  Here’s the latest regarding that.  Around October 28^th I got a call from a representative at the NV PUC acknowledging my problem.  After the PUC contacted NV Energy they admitted there was a problem with the bill and issued a $35.00 credit on our account.  After subtracting the $11.75 from the 35 banana credit we’re now going into November with a 21 kWh credit + a credit of $23.25 remaining from the $35.00.

Here’s why my projection for October was low.  The temperature cooled rather dramatically by mid-month and we didn’t run the A.C. very much from that point forward.  We also trimmed another hour from the pool pump because the water is cooler and it is now mostly in the shade.  That extra electricity we did not use turned out to be significant.  

So here’s the prognostication for November’s electrical usage and solar power generation.  Assuming cloud cover = to October and our run of cool temps continue, and it should, I’m looking at about a 100 kWh surplus, giving us an end of the month total surplus of 151 kWh.  

Now let’s get into more detail regarding the complaint.  I told the NV PUC rep that a $35.00 credit was not enough.  I explained why in detail on the phone and she asked me to put it in writing and submit it for further review.  I did.  I’m adding a copy of my letter as a second post on this blog so you can follow along.  BE SURE TO SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE AND CLICK OLDER POSTS IN THE LOWER RIGHT HAND CORNER TO SEE THE ACTUAL LETTER.

If you are considering solar you need to consider this - You need to follow every little detail to get the maximum ROI.  For example, if you live in an area where the power company, like NV Energy, restricts the number of panels of = to or < 10% overage of your prior years power usage, you better have = to or > 85% sunny days to get as close to 100% yearly return.  

Now is a good time to go to the second page post for this blog and read my letter to the NV PUC.

One final item to mention – I’ll be making an additional money saving post on Tuesday 11/11/14.  This is something many NV Energy users may benefit from along with some of you in other Southwestern areas.  Again, that’s for Tuesday and I’ll remind you on Facebook.

SPECIAL UPDATE - - November 9, 2014 (Sunday)     CAUTION ALERT  

I came across an ad for solar that had the following 4 lines in it:

YOU CAN SAVE UP TO 80% OFF YOUR MONTHLY POWER BILL BY GOING SOLAR

PAY FOR YOUR SOLAR JUST LIKE YOU PAY YOUR UTILITY BILL…..WITH ONE LOW MONTHLY FEE

INSTALLATION IS EASY AND YOU CAN QUALIFY FOR NO UP FRONT COSTS

PURCHASE YOUR SYSTEM AND SELL POWER BACK TO THE GRID

Honestly, I get nervous for other potential solar buyers when I see an ad like this.  Why?  Because 3 of the 4 statements are TRUE – HOWEVER there are mitigating facts that are skillfully not mentioned.  Let me break this down for you one line at a time.

Firstly (By the way, this used to be first but somewhere, someone changed it to firstly)

YOU CAN SAVE UP TO 80% OFF YOUR MONTHLY POWER BILL BY GOING SOLAR

TRUE - HOWEVER……The key words here are ‘UP TO’.  Anything greater than 0% is on the way UP TO 80%.  By the way, this statement does not jive with the last one about selling power back to the grid.

Secondly (There’s that damn ‘ly’ thing again)

PAY FOR YOUR SOLAR JUST LIKE YOU PAY YOUR UTILITY BILL…..WITH ONE LOW MONTHLY FEE

TRUE - HOWEVER……If you finance your solar conversion it extends the time to get your money back.  If you’re doing it for the Return On Investment – Don’t finance it – PAY CASH.   You’ll find it difficult, if not impossible, to get a respectable ROI by paying interest on financing.  

Thirdly (Yet another damn ‘ly’)

INSTALLATION IS EASY AND YOU CAN QUALIFY FOR NO UP FRONT COSTS

TRUE - HOWEVER……If you finance your solar conversion it extends the time to get your money back.  If you’re doing it for the Return On Investment – Don’t finance it – PAY CASH.   You’ll find it difficult, if not impossible, to get a respectable ROI by paying interest on financing.  If it feels like I’m repeating myself, repeating myself, repeating myself, it’s because I am.  Financing solar is a bad deal for you and a good deal for the dealer, PERIOD.

Lastly (This is the last 'ly'....or should it be 'this is the lastly ly')

PURCHASE YOUR SYSTEM AND SELL POWER BACK TO THE GRID

MAY NOT BE CLOSE TO TRUE….. This all depends on the power company AND it is in direct conflict with the first statement.  If you are only generating 80% of your power bill you have nothing extra to sell.  NV Energy will not buy excess power from your panels.  NV Energy lets you accrue excess power as credits which can be used during the off generation hours (a.k.a. after sunset and on cloudy days)

CONCLUSION - - My gut tells me if you see an ad like this and you make the call, you’re about to get the “Charlie Hustle” approach to going solar.  NO THANKS.

More to come…………with a general energy saving find on TUESDAY, 11/11/14.

Update 11/11/2014 (Tuesday) - - A FREE Energy Saving Device for Select NV Energy Customers

 

You don’t need to be solar for this one.   Like always there are a few requirements to be met before you can get this.

        1)      You MUST NOT be heating with a heat pump.  Forced air electric or forced air natural gas are
               fine but NO heat pumps.

        2)      You CANNOT be part of the NV Energy Cool Share Program and/or you CANNOT be using a 

               NEST programmable smart thermostat. 

In my case I have a programmable thermostat, but it’s not a smart one and I have forced air natural gas which meets the current qualifications.   As of this writing it is okay to have solar panels but I have a sneaky feeling after NV Energy sees this that will change.  

Here’s the deal – Meet the above requirements and NV Energy will have a Western Cooling Control (WCC) installed on your air conditioner for FREE.  This is an $80 value that is estimated to save you 15% per month on A.C.  That estimate is based on the monthly cooling bills of a 2,500 sq. ft. home.   That number would translate into around $37.50 per mo. X 4 or a $150 savings annually.  That’s money in your pocket that cost you nothing to get.  SWEET!

Our home is considerably smaller than the 2,500 sq. used in the guesstimate savings.  My calculations show me that we will save around $80 per year.  Those 80 beans are the equivalent of about 508 kWh.  Those 508 kWh will offset some of the solar generation lost to cloud cover and being limited to a 10% over annual usage install.

 

To sum this up with solar and the WCC, we should reach the zero mark of electric usage. 

Here’s how the WCC operates, and this is so simple I’m surprised somebody didn’t do this years ago.  When your heater or furnace runs in the winter air is heated and then a fan kicks on to circulate the heated air.  After the burner kicks off the fan continues to run until the ‘firebox’ cools to a preset temperature, thus extracting much of the heat.

In the summer when the A.C. runs the compressor cools the coils, evaporates water, and a fan blows the cool air into the house.  When the compressor shuts down so does the fan, which wastes the extra cool air surrounding the cools.  The WCC tricks the A.C. to run like the furnace, leaving the fan run until the coils warm to a preset temperature.  This means more cool air for the price of running the fan, which is way cheaper to operate than the compressor.  

Of special note – it’s called a Western Cooling Control because it saves energy in very warm to hot western weather climates.  The hotter the climate, the bigger the savings.   AZ, NV, and CA, are the big benefactors with this technology.  Maybe even some of the south central and southeastern states too.  

Maybe it’s just me but free money sure makes my mouth water.

Oh, if you are outside of NV Engery's grid, check with your local power company for availability and price.  Again, this is an item that works well in hot weather climates. 

Hope to see you again with my December update.

UPDATE - - 12/4/2014 (Thursday)

 

Before I get into the specifics of our November electric consumption and generation, I want to share a couple of things with you.

I’m sure you are familiar with Murphy’s Law, so today I will share with you Terry’s Solar Panel Observation (totally unscientific) which states – “Cloud cover in an area will increase in direct proportion to the increase of homeowners installing solar panels.”  

On a more serious note, I have just witnessed possibly the worst home solar install I’ve seen to this date.  I am not all that familiar with the company that did the work, but I have heard a few cautionary tales from people that have ‘checked them out’ and were less than thrilled by their tactics.   The solar panels are facing nearly due East and are somewhat surrounded by items that will give the panels considerable shadow issues.  Not good.  If this large expensive home solar array generates more than 70% of its potential, I’ll be surprised.  Bottom line here – If you are spending big money for a decent ROI and you don’t plan for success, by default you will end up with an expensive failure.  At the risk of being redundant, SHOP AROUND and DO YOUR HOMEWORK.  Don’t let a slick sales person lead you down an expensive dead end road.  Enough said.

My numbers for November were way more impressive than I guesstimated.  We generated 664 kWh and used only 441 kWh.  This left us a November surplus of 223 kWh + the 51 kWh from October for an accrued balance of 274 kWh.  That is 123 kWh MORE than I calculated and that’s a great thing.  November gave us an abundance of sunny days and mild temperatures so we didn’t need much heat or air conditioning.  This month was our big winner to date but I expect bigger months ahead.  On the down side, December will not be one of those big months.  Here’s why – the shortest daylight day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere hits this month.  That means less sunshine hours.  Colder temperatures will force us to run the furnace.  December is also one of our cloudier months of the year.  I still expect a kWh surplus but it will be on the weak side.  From where I sit, any extra is a good thing and I’m sure we’ll be on the plus end to the tune of around 80 kWh.  

Come back next year and see how I did.  Hey, next year is only a month away.

SPECIAL UPDATE - - 12/11/14  (Thursday)

This blog has presented facts based on research and personal experience.  In most cases this information has been less than flattering to both electric companies and state Public Utility Commissions.  Get ready for a big flip-flop.  What you are about to read is praise for the two above mentioned entities and a giant thumbs down for some solar companies data.

Many, not all, but many solar companies skew data or use short term data to make the numbers look better if you go solar.  Going solar is a unique buying experience.  Real estate and car salespeople have a physical product that they can attempt to get you, the buyer, to fall in love with.  They try and create an emotional attachment.  It’s very difficult to do that with solar panels.  This leaves only two avenues for solar sales people.  Avenue #1 is hope you are an environmentalist to the point you will spend big bucks on solar and not care about the money you may lose doing it.  Avenue #2 is to convince you that you will make BIG MONEY by going solar.  A simpler way of saying this is ‘appeal to your money lust’.  A kinder way of saying it is ‘finding a good Return on Investment’.   With me, either one of the last two sentences are true.

Solar panel sales companies most often use short term and isolated area data to show you how electricity prices have increased.  Any person that works with statistics will tell you the bigger the data pool the more accurate the outcome for a long term prediction.  A 1 to 5 year data pool in a known area where there are price increases is, putting this nicely, nothing short of deceiving.

Having set the stage let me share with you 20 years of price increase data from the U.S. Dept. of Labor, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Dept. of Energy, and the Energy Information Administration.  

20 year increase of Healthcare          185%

20 year increase of Housing               82%

20 year Consumer Price Index        + 82%

20 year food is up                              81%

Transportation climbed                       63%

Electricity - - get ready for this        ^ 27%   (around 1.3% per year)

Clothing                                          14%

So anyone telling you they know for a fact the price of electricity will take a dramatic leap is pretty much pi$$ing in the wind.

The price of electricity has been held in check due to technologically better electric consuming products, (I hate to say this  but…..) well managed utility companies, and State Public Utility Commissions.  

Having piled heaps of praise on Utility Companies and P.U.C.s., let me share with you and give a very unflattering review of an advertisement I got in yesterday’s mail from SOLAR CITY.

One of the first things I noticed was this quote “*  This is not a utility bill.”

No person with a scintilla of intelligence would ever confuse this with a utility bill.

The letter starts with:

“Terry,

Our research shows that you could be overpaying hundreds of dollars a year for electricity.”

If they had done any research they would have known I already have solar panels.

On the right side of this ad are statistics about our home.  The Home Owner Name was correct.  The address was right on.  Apx. Home Square Footage was 30% larger than our home.  The estimated Electric Bill of $110 per month was surprisingly very close.  Even after going solar it shows I would get an Estimated New Electric Bill of $30 a month and in BIG BOLD PRINT WAS MY ESTIMATED MONTHLY SAVING OF $80.

The devil in this ad is in the small print, and when considering solar - ALWAYS READ AND UNDERSTAND THE SMALL PRINT.

Some of the small print reads:

“A solar power system is customized for your home, so pricing and savings vary based on location, system size, government rebates and local utility rates.  Savings on your total electricity costs in not guaranteed.  Financing terms vary by location and are not available in all areas.  A 3kW system starts at $25 - $100 per month with an annual increase of 0-2.9% each year for 20-30 years, on approved credit.”

The above are the important parts of the small print.  Let me break this down for you.  This is a financed solar panel system.  We have a 6.75 kW system that we paid for with cash.  I repeatedly said time and again that financing a solar system is a bad idea.  Factoring in the 30% Federal Tax Credit let’s assume you could get a 5 kW system for $80 per month for 25 years and you still pay an average of $30 to the electric company monthly.  Now factor in a 2% annual increase on financing.  If the price of electricity, based on long term stats, hangs at 1.3% and you get hit with a 2% increase – as the late great Chico Marx once said, “Hey, I’ll betta I’ma gonna lose ona the deal. “  Yea, Chico, to the tune of .70% yearly during the life of the system.  

If a sales person tells you I don’t know what I’m talking about.  Ask if he or she has solar panels on their home.  Then ask to see the paperwork for the purchase.  Then ask to see the last year of electric bills.  

Moral of the story – Financing a solar panel system will make it difficult if not impossible to get a reasonable return on investment.  

Oh, that 3 kW system in the fine print that Solar City was basing these projections on would have left me with around a $60 a month bill and not $30.

To continue to PART 2 click HERE

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As I do all of these things I'll be posting notices on my Facebook page so please follow me there for updates.  My FB page is Terry Kniess

More to follow- - - -and Thank You.

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