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Originally Posted by Why Not?
House is right at about 2,000 sq ft with a pool and lots of electricity used and we almost never top $300. APS and I think SRP both have plans that allow you to save $ if you run your major stuff during off peak hours(noon-7 are considered peak)so we just run our big stuff at night. Keep the ac between 76-78 during the day(78 when it's 110 outside feels like a freezer)and we're good. Pay almost nothing for water and I'm with Lewdog, gotta go DTV for Chiefs games
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Even with on/off peak in our rentals were were close to $300 in the hot months for 1500 sq/ft and no pool. And we only did stuff at night. Maybe those houses just weren't well constructed?
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Originally Posted by Why Not?
Hey Lewdog, do you like solar? I've been thinking about it but I don't want to pay the $20,000 upfront and the monthly lease payments seem like they neutralize the electric bill savings?
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House had solar on it already so in order to buy the house we had to accept the solar. We didn't have to put any money down on it and lease is good for another 18 years. You definitely come out more ahead if you can purchase the panels but most don't want the up front cost or responsibility of maintenance. Lease does cost you more in the long run but you aren't responsible if the system breaks down and no up front expense. I say we still save roughly $40-50 a month with our lease and electric bill compared to my estimated without it. Not as much as some people think but still coming out ahead. Leases are getting worse and worse though with APS trying to level higher rates and taxes for those acquiring systems. Those who started leases for solar 3-4 years ago when rates were awesome, are coming out way ahead.
Another great thing is the Kwh roll over. We still go on/off peak plan with solar and we currently have a 1600 kWh credit for on peak usage, meaning I can run the AC cooler, do laundry and run pool pump on peak as we aren't even close to being charged as they use our credit hours first. So I've paid $0 in on peak electricity usage the entire year! Last month our off peak electricity we used, that the solar didn't generate, was 1000 kWh. That's a whopping $35 spent on electricity for us for July in Phoenix! It's APS stupid fees that cause our bill to be $120 last month! June was only $50 though. Solar lease is $131. So last month was total of $250 spent on solar/APS with 2300 sq/ft house, pool pump 12 hours a day, AC at 78-80 degrees when home and 75 degrees at night. So I think my estimate of saving about $50 last month is pretty accurate.
We get paid out $.03 for any kWh credit we have left at the end of the year. And we will definitely have on peak credit at the end of the year topping easily 2000 kWh.