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Jack_in_VA
Premium Member
join:2007-11-26
North, VA

Jack_in_VA to djrobx

Premium Member

to djrobx

Re: I've gone and done it ... solar install

said by djrobx:

said by nunya:

Where they tricked you is the rate increases over 10 and 25 years. They are ridiculously overinflated "guesses".
Between 1980 and 2005, the average price per residential kWh in the US went from $.0536 to $.0945 - a whopping 4.09 cent increase over 25 years (76%).

Even using today's average rate of $.127 / kWh, that's only an increase of $.0734 / kWh in the last 31 years. Bear in mind that today's prices are artificially high due to government mandates.

They didn't trick me. I already acknowledged this if you read my post completely. In my case, there could be no increase at all, and I'd still be making money.

Did I overlook it or did you not include your system capacity and how much power you use now?

Unless you know some new math or I'm calculating wrong you won't make any money until you pay your upfront money. Either the $26,600 or since you're getting a "rebate" of 10K the $16,600. After that balance is "0" then you can make money.

djrobx
Premium Member
join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

3 edits

1 recommendation

djrobx

Premium Member

Click for full size

Usage data from Edison
said by Jack_in_VA:

said by djrobx:

said by nunya:

Where they tricked you is the rate increases over 10 and 25 years. They are ridiculously overinflated "guesses".
Between 1980 and 2005, the average price per residential kWh in the US went from $.0536 to $.0945 - a whopping 4.09 cent increase over 25 years (76%).

Even using today's average rate of $.127 / kWh, that's only an increase of $.0734 / kWh in the last 31 years. Bear in mind that today's prices are artificially high due to government mandates.

They didn't trick me. I already acknowledged this if you read my post completely. In my case, there could be no increase at all, and I'd still be making money.

Did I overlook it or did you not include your system capacity and how much power you use now?

Unless you know some new math or I'm calculating wrong you won't make any money until you pay your upfront money. Either the $26,600 or since you're getting a "rebate" of 10K the $16,600. After that balance is "0" then you can make money.

$14,600. I negotiated it down further.

Obviously I'm talking about making money over the 25 year warranted lifespan of the system, not day 1 of ownership. I shouldn't need to clarify that. I'm using 25 years because that's the panel warranty and the duration of the analysis I posted. The panels themselves could last longer. The inverter will need to be replaced sometime during this lifetime, but with any luck they'll be cheaper by the time that's needed. It looks like I can buy a new one for $2500 online now.

As I already stated, the amount of savings per year is a very complicated calculation. You need to look at Edison's tiers (which vary from 15 cents up to 32 cents when you include the distribution charges), then subtract whatever total grid usage plus what the solar generated during that month from the top tiers and work your way backwards.

I have included the 1st year estimates here for illustration, but they drastically under-estimate the actual savings because I was rarely home that year (and we already got a nice rate hike in Tier 4/5, bite me Edison!). The system generates about 10% more than what was estimated (around 900kwh in August. The total output since November 17 is 8652kwh according to the inverter. It has another month and a half to go and it's already over the yearly estimate shown), and I'm using far more electricity than they used to generate these estimates.

I've also included the usage chart form Edison. It includes the YoY comparison of Septemer 2011 and September 2012. I actually used more electricity AFTER adding the solar panels than I did the previous year! That's because I work from home now, and it's been a brutally hot summer. The Aug and Sept bills would have been absolute whoppers without the solar.