Any chance on the condensed version of cost v return on the solar pannels? I would like to install, but with an average electric bill of about $175/mo, it does not seem cost effective.
Ouch! This is probably worth a new thread under a different topic. But what is your actual consumption in kWh? Different tiered rate structures make it difficult for us to guess. Also, what size home, what other energy sources, and how may people? When going solar, conservation to reduce your existing load is almost always the the most cost effective first step.
The Solar Panel system is a 4KW setup which is estimated to produce 5,800 kWh worth of electricity per year with a resulting savings of approximately $1,500 per year (this figure is specific to my utility rate structure (California, SoCal Edison, etc...) My annual household electrical usage is ~11,000 kWh - so I should be saving about half of my electricity usage (and 2/3 of my electricity bill - the difference having to do with tiered pricing). 1,400kWh is about what the new Prius Plug-in will use per year, By the way, I am estimating to eliminate about 100 gallons per year of gasoline (1 tankful of gas per month (as compared to current Prius)... or about $50 of gas (this is very rough - but gives you an idea of the value in the shift of energy source). There are all sorts of other things you can do to change your energy pricing in California - secondary metering for Plug-in car for example... But I thought it was interesting that my new solar panel system happens to just about offset my new Prius Plug-in demand.
