Curious what everyone’s annual consumption (and production if you have solar) numbers are… And what your blended kWh rate is in your area.
While I am on a TOU rate, my blended rate for PG&E is about $0.24/kWh.
My annual consumption is around 5,000kWh, but that is only a recent number because we’ve turned empty nesters recently… I need a few more years of data to say whether it’s actually a good/predictable number. Prior to the kids leaving, my consumption was anywhere from 6,000kWh to 9,000kWh.
My solar is in it’s first year of use…so I don’t have any real numbers, but my 3.3kW system is forecast to produce 5,500kWh/year. It’ll be interesting to see how close that comes to reality. It’s a “guaranteed” production, so I know it’s a conservative number, and I will probably product a bit more than the 5,500kWh promised…
I have a 4.2kW solar system in PG&E territory, so my blended rate is probably similar to you. But I’ve had my system since 2013, so I have a pretty good history of production. 2020 is a particularly lean solar year for two reasons - we’re still not through the year yet, and smoke from wildfires really killed production in Sept. 2013 was also a short year, since my system wasn’t provisioned until nearly the end of Jan. Mine is also guaranteed production, but it has always run a little below, so I get a check back at the end of each year. One other thing you will likely discover. Sense will run about 3% lower on the solar that your inverter measures. But Sense lines up more accurately with my actual billing data so my solar provider takes credit for an extra 3% production that I really don’t see in my PG&E net bills.
Thanks for the great production data over the last several years! Good to have some context on how 2020 compares to previous years…especially since 2020 is my FIRST year!
I used a friend’s 2019 production ratios to predict my production, and I was set to hit 6,500kWh (a full 1mWh over my production “guarantee”)… But needless to say, I am NOT on track to hit that lofty number due to the wildfires… Maybe in a good year I can achieve the 6,500kWh forecast at some point…but it ain’t gonna be this year!
What about your consumption? Are you finding that solar covers 100% of your needs from a net metering perspective? Do you have a lot of excess to sell-back? Or are you under producing to your consumption and paying out at your true-up?
Here’s my Sense view on 2020. One caveat - I also had an issue with the bridge from my inverter to the Tesla, so I lost about a week of Aug/Sept production to that, so in this case my Tesla output is lowe than Sense.
Given that I have 3 EVs and AC, I don’t generate enough solar electricity to offset my home consumption - I really only cover 26%. But if I look at the benefits of TOU vs a tiered plan, my savings are much more than that.
So your strategy was only to take the edge off the cost of your utility bill, not to completely offset it… Is that right?
The great thing about your strategy is that you are eeking out every ounce of solar benefit… Many people don’t realize that the ~$10/mo minimum charge is just that…a minimum charge… It is not a charge that you pay for nothing… At the end of the year, if you owe $120 in electricity overage costs, your ~$120 minimum charge covers that… If you completely offset your bill 100%, you are likely leaving ~$120 on the table (so to speak)…
My strategy was to use the as much of my southern exposure roof as possible while living within the code constraints. At the time, panels were much more expensive and only 200W. But they have already paid for themselves.
I have twenty 325W Panasonic solar panels for a total of 6.5KWH. I should be producing 7MWH offsetting about 97% of my annual usage. We have net metering in NY and they don’t pay us for excess power. We just get credit for the next month and it’s unlimited on how much you can bank. I’ve installed a new AC this summer and it uses 25% less power. I’ve banked 2.5MWH so far.
