Here’s a graph of our power usage from SRP so far for the Feb 22 – Mar 21 billing period. We’re just about breaking even, as the days get longer and warmer. We’re getting more sunlight and therefore more power, and using less for heating.
The days stand out when we do laundry or a lot of cooking, though clouds can also force us to buy more. There are several of those nice days when we sell power back to SRP.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Dale // Mar 12, 2012 at 12:19 pm
I forgot. Do you get equal credit for selling power back verses what you pay? After reading Richards explanation on the disadvantage af batteries, the electric company makes the best storage place.
2 Daryl // Mar 12, 2012 at 2:20 pm
All the power I send back to the power company is just deducted from the amount I use — the meter actually runs backwards. If I am net negative at the end of the month, the KWh balance is carried forward to the next month and deducted from my usage that month. All this is great — I sell it back at the same price it costs me.
The exception is at the end of April. If I have a negative balance at that time, the power company sends me a check for the excess, but they pay at a wholesale rate, which is about 1/3 the rate they charge us.
This is to their benefit, of course, since the end of April is the time I am most likely to have an excess. Spring is the best time for generating solar power, so instead of carrying that forward and deducting it from my high summer bills they pay me off at a lower rate.
But it could be worse. Some utility companies just deduct the wholesale cost of the power you generate each month, instead of letting the meter run backwards. So I’m not complaining.