I made the move to rooftop solar a little more than a year ago as described here. There has been plenty of rumblings about the CPUC reducing the financial benefits, and thus the incentives, to people putting solar on their roofs, but the latest news appears to be some sort of compromise that could maintain the momentum in California. The one-year point is my check-in to see how it's paying off. Twelve months after going active is known as the frist "true-up". Per PG&E, I generated 449 kWh more than I used this past year, i.e. I sent them back 449 kWh. On a day-by-day basis, it is variable with the weather as I noted here. What isn't variable is the direction of electricity rates in the state--they are headed up for a variety of reasons.
The next question is "how do I get paid for my "donation" to the grid?". That turns out to be a bit more complicated since I have Peninsula Clean Energy between my meter and PG&E. Recall we all got moved to this green non-profit and one would have to opt-out if one didn't want it. It turns out my credits live with PCE and they do their payouts in April of each year by sending a check to anyone whose balance is more than $100. I'm at about half of that now based on how the 449 kWh is spread across winter and summer, peak and off-peak pricing. If the balance is less than a hundred bucks, it rolls over to the next year.
The bottom line appears to be you get to feel good about generating solar juice and if you use a good amount (e.g. perhaps you have a pool with filters and pumps running thru the day) you cover most of your usage costs. There are still connection costs to be paid, but you probably won't see any windfall each year.
Comments