It may make sense at 14 cents per kwh, that is double what we pay here.
I thought Niagara Falls generated a bunch of electricity and the cheap rates were passed down to consumers?
http://www.gexaenergy.com/UI/Handlers/DynamicRatePdf.ashx?pdfid=32366&rkey=8480|2220|1004|17116
Energy deregulation is good but honestly if you don’t really read the terms it can be 300 ways to get fucked.
Is this any good? Don’t know crap about what I should be paying per kWh.
Has anyone ever figured out what their bill would be if they used ZERO electricity for a month? I find the bills/statements to be amazingly difficult to understand. I would imagine this intentional.
You don’t get SHIT from the grid for pushing power back to the grid, the only benefit is pushing power back to get credit for winter months when the sun is low in the horizon and the panels get covered in snow. Having your usage at the end of the year near or at zero for a balance for consumption vs. credits is where you want to be given the ROI for the cost of the panels/system. If you have a ton of credits your system is too large so it’s payoff will take longer than it should, or you’re buying too much power and the system isn’t large enough to keep up with consumption.
Depending on the supplier it’s in the teens. $14-21 a month just to have wire to your house.
Last winter I was paying so much for propane I was going to fire up my generator and use my electric heaters just to see the difference. 0 electric and 0 propane but the gas for the generator probably would have been $2000. lol
You are with the utility for your supply, and you are paying 0.03565 per kwh. When you are will the utility, you pay other line items such as delivery sales tax, merchant function charge, and ESRM charge (totals $8.83 on that bill). See below:
When you are with a supplier other than the utility, you do not have to pay those. Just like @llink78
You are with a supplier (Energy Coop). So you are exempt from the fees that Mank is paying, but your kwh rate is 0.04625. It’s not bad, but the actual market is a little bit lower (see Manks bill for base rate) so there is room for improvement. Your usage is low enough that it really wouldn’t amount to much on that bill (~$2). I deal with commercial accounts that use as much as 400,000 kwh to 700,000 kwh a month, and the impact is far greater, but the principles are the same.
Long story short, you guys aren’t in terrible shape.
Thx Scott. I was hoping you would chime in.
I’ve got a vacant unit right now. This is about as close as it gets to 0
I would love to try it sometime just for shits and giggles but propane is waaaaaay cheaper this year. Of course when propane goes up so does gasoline.
My generator could run 3 houses but my neighbors are not close enough to make it happen. 
Why would anyone ask the person that is on the nyserda installer list? Just installed solar on my house and my moms house. There is a lot of misinfo in this thread i don’t even know where begin to start correcting it.
You cannot use bateries if you want any incentives or tax rebates.
The utility buys electric from you at the current market rate which means they pay you the same rate you buy from them which makes bateries a bad choice.
Tax rebates dont stack. Keep in mind i am not a tax profesional but my best understanding is the state tax credit comes out first then the federal credit cones out of the new total.
On average buffalo has more sun hours than germany which is the world leader on installed solar.
The state makes the process a massive pain in the ass to do. If you didnt use any nyserda incentives i could have a house up and running in just a few days. With the incentive it is several months at best, but while it adds a lot of expense running paperwork to satisfy nyserda the end product still saves some money.
I have 5 acres, what about wind turbines? They still get 35% from the feds.
Yep, for now it is just a toy for rich people to show to their friends. Spend $$$ to have the thing installed to save a few bucks on electricity.
Same deal with Tesla battery.
But, if you are off the grid in a cabin somewhere, makes 100 percent sense to me!
The tesla battery is a interesting concept and I think it is great for other areas where you are metered differently than we are here in western NY, but my preference still goes to what enphase is offering which to be fair is just about the same thing except it communicates with their inverters to determine the best way to manage power within your home. They are calling it enphase AC battery. When they launch I might install one in my house just for the fuck of it. They are rumored to be pretty cheap compared to other options, but I guess we will see when they launch in the US
In Texas you can buy like 300 different energy plans. All of them have different advantages and disadvantages. My last plan saved me 3 cents per KWH for using power after 8pm and before 7am, and all weekend. It might make sense to charge the tesla battery during the off peak hours, then use it when electricity is more expensive.
The plan I just signed up with pays me a 25 dollar credit for using under 1000 kwh in a month. Last year I did that 10 months out of the year.
Some other plans offer super cheap rates but only if you use over 1000kwh. They actually penalize you for using too little electricity.
With the new batery systems you dont even need to have on site power generation but the pay back is not there on any small scale. At this point batery systems do not work out for the majority
Bringing this post back from the dead. Anyone go through with getting solar on their house?
I’m getting a new roof in the next 30 days. My electric bill is around $150/mo. at just about an average 1,000 kwh/mo., since I also have to charge my car in the garage. I can fit around 29 panels up there, following the rules of spacing. It doesn’t seem like I’d have enough room to cover 100% of my bill. Would love to know more / see the numbers…
Are the Tesla panels out yet?
I’m getting closer to pulling the trigger on my solar system. In the process of getting quotes and will share when I move along further. My roof shingles are getting replaced in a month or so and the solar system paperwork/installation takes months.
I use over 1,200 kw/mo (average over a year), so I don’t actually have enough roof real estate to get a system to cover 100% of my electric bill. My only plus is that my roof is 100% south facing with minimal obstructions, so I can fit 27 panels up there.
My first quote came in with 27 305W panels = 8.235 kW system. $28,000
I’m hoping the next two quotes can put higher output panels up for around the same price. Others look to be getting 360W panels, which would give me 9.72 kW.
Starting Cost: $28,000
NYSERDA discount = $0.40/W discount immediately. 8,235W * .4 = $3,294
Total after immediate rebate = $24706
FED discount = 30% tax credit = $7,411
NY discount = 25% tax credit ($5000 max) = $5,000
Total after discounts and Tax check next year = $24,706 - $12,411 = $12,295
Laon for 20 years at 7%
Initial payment for 18 months (loan term requirement) = $130/mo.
Applying the $12,295 at 18 months drops the payment to $90/mo.
Payback at 10 years. Pay off of loan at 20 years.
Will post up more soon, when I see other quotes. Having two companies out next week…
Did CIR quote you? If no then let’s make this happen. If yes then let’s make this happen.
Drop my name: Mike Gleeson
I’m still waiting for CIR. I put in a request for a quote and got an automated email. Just waiting…