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Mark_K5LXP said:
Historically, how long does it take for retail rates to double? Looking online at averages it's about 25 years and that's about the same rate as inflation.
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I doubt you're looking at PG&E for CA.

Also, see here.

"On average, Auburn, CA residents spend about $267 per month on electricity. That adds up to $3,204 per year.

That’s 47% higher than the national average electric bill of $2,179. The average electric rates in Auburn, CA cost 33 ¢/kilowatt-hour (kWh),"

But as I explained before, I wasn't doing this to save money. More for the frequent power outages there. However, those outages have not been so bad lately. But most of those are in midsummer. I also just like the idea.

I also expect it to be a worse deal moneywise in the middle of the winter when the days are shorter.

Part of the cost issue is my PG & E bills are much cheaper than most others in Auburn even without the solar because I am not there all the time. So the more juice I use there, the better deal it becomes. It's now closer to a flat rate I pay every month.

I am not charging my EVs enough at my Auburn home lately! I don't drive the cars often this time of year and I can often get my charges on my motorcycles at no cost to me between Reno and Auburn as well as many other places I ride to.

What surprises me the most about all this is how the number of places to provide a free AC charge station to the public is on the increase in CA as the price of the electricity goes up.

But at least now at my Auburn house, I can use more electricity without worrying about the bill increasing as much.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
I just got an email from PG&E that says the AC power at my Auburn, CA house will be down until around 0600 hrs.

I just checked on my Tesla App, and yep, the Tesla PowerWall is working, but down to 37%. That is because I can tell it how and when to charge and discharge. I have the Tesla PowerWall set for use during peak times and charged up when off-peak. I just now changed that for when the power comes back on so the Power Wall stays more fully charged for when the power goes out. A heavy snowstorm in the mountains may be related to why the power is off. This time of year is when I should let it charge up more for power outages.

Anyway, for now, at least my Auburn house is only drawing 200 watts according to the app. All looks normal there, I can use my security camera and all during this power outage, thanks to the Tesla PowerWall.

Even the 37% should last me until the power comes back up, since the house is drawing so little current with nobody there.

-Don- Tucson, AZ
 
I skimmed through the entire thread and didnt see this discussed. If i missed it my apologies.

Last time i looked into solar for the house was over 10 yrs ago. I kept salt water aquariums and wanted solar as part of a backup in case the power went out.

I was told at the time by the local power company that i would have to decide if i wanted to be on grid or off grid and if i was on grid then the solar system would shut off if the main power went out. Never made much sense to me why.

Does it work that way? Can i have solar, be connected to the grid, and still have the solar work when the power goes out?
 
rvlifer said:
Can i have solar, be connected to the grid, and still have the solar work when the power goes out?
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Yes. But you MUST have a battery such as a Tesla PowerWall as my Auburn house has. Then my Tesla app for my car gets a new page for my home solar. You do NOT need to own the Tesla car for the Tesla App to work, anybody can download it and use it on Tesla stuff, including Tesla superchargers for non-Teslas and that type of thing.

But you can also buy a solar system without a battery and that is what you had. All that does is reduce your electric bill, serves no other purpose and the house goes dead when there is a power outage. I have no use for that type of solar system. I don't even want it without the battery. And I certainly like the way the Tesla Powerwall works to the point I would not even want to try another brand. But the truth is I never had a chance to compare it to another system.

From the App, I have 100% control of the entire solar system, even from here. I can take the house off the grid at any time and run on the battery, tell it how much I want to use the battery when the rates are higher (as the peak times in Auburn and how much to save the battery for when the power goes out). I also have a choice to charge the battery from the grid from the solar or both and at any percentage of each.

I let it charge to near full this morning from the grid because of the storms in case it is needed for power outages, like the one the house had last night. My Auburn house has 4.2 KW of solar, which is NOT much for a house but it is all I need, and I often get the full 4.2 KW in the sunny afternoons. The Tesla PowerWall battery is 13.5 KWH. Smaller than four out of five of my electric motorcycles, but is more than enough for most power outages. Has worked well for all of them since I have had the system.

BTW, it works so smoothly that when I turn off the power from the grid, I can tell no difference, not even the slightest flicker of the lights. The same when I turn the system back on. There is a delay of a few seconds, but it clearly shows when and what is happening from the Tesla App.

When the power went out last night, the house could not tell any difference in any way. Everything worked as normal all night long running from the Tesla Powerwall.

-Don- Tucson, AZ
 
Sounds reasonable but that wasnt an option when i asked. I could never figure out why that had to be the way it was given that all you needed was a good autocutover switch to make it work and they did those all the time for standby generators
 
rvlifer said:
I kept salt water aquariums and wanted solar as part of a backup in case the power went out.
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How much power do they draw?

Why not save a ton of money and do what I did at my Reno house? I bought a UPS for everything I want to run during a power outage and my Reno house has no solar.

I have several UPS units, for the computer, cable modem, router, lights & other stuff near them, etc. I even have a UPS on my automatic garage door openers. I can open the garage doors by a press of a button during a power outage. All my UPS units are this one.

-Don- Tucson, AZ
 
DonTom said:
How much power do they draw?
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I never calculated it but tons lol. I ran mostly high end sps coral tanks with high wattage metal halide lighting. Add in all the pumps, heaters, computer control, calcium reactor, protein skimmer and everything else and i was paying at least $200/mo in electricity for the aquarium alone.

The last time i looked at solar was at least 10yrs ago
 
We did do it to save money. Prior to installing a leased system on our roof out PG&E bill averaged between 350-400 a month.

We paid $119 per month for the system in the beginning but we it goes up a bit every year. It's currently at $130(ish).

Our net electric bill for the year is less than zero.

We have 18 230W panels. No batteries. We've had one 4 hour outage in the last 5 years that we know of.
 
I got out of the hobby a long time ago but i opted for a portable generator with a manual generator switch hooked to the house panel as a backup

I ran vortech pumps with battery backup for water circulation within the tanks.

ecotechmarine.com

VorTech - Propeller Pump

The gold standard for generating flow in reef tanks, the VorTech is unsurpassed in beauty and functionality.
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rvlifer said:
Sounds reasonable but that wasnt an option when i asked. I could never figure out why that had to be the way it was given that all you needed was a good autocutover switch to make it work and they did those all the time for standby generators
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It was not an option the power company KNEW about.. Does not mean it was not an option.

Today.. I just put a EPS (they call it) Interruptible power supply. on my fridge it consists of a battery, inverter/charger the battery will charge off solar. or mains or 12 volt (the battery is 50 volt) and if power fails. the fridge does not... I can also kill mains power to it if I had enough solar.
 
rvlifer said:
They wouldnt allow it at the time
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I do not see how the power companies can "not allow it". Many people's houses are off-grid and that has been going on for a very long time. Large homes that have a lot of solar, battery KWH, and a large inverter with no connection to the power companies. Houses that are "boondoocked" :D. I know a few people who own such a house. Well water and all that too.

-Don- Tucson, AZ
 
It was a long time ago. They probably were trying to keep people from adding solar. Things have changed.

I think this is another thing that falls into the how it should work isnt how it does in reality lol
 
rvlifer said:
It was a long time ago. They probably were trying to keep people from adding solar. Things have changed.
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I have wondered if home solar works against us all. Many houses in Auburn have solar. That means PG&E needs to jack up their price per KWH even more so. Think what would happen if every house was on solar and most had almost no need for PG&E.

I don't think the public can win this one with home solar.

Perhaps someday electric companies will simply bill everybody a flat rate every month regardless of how much power is used. Then all of our home solar systems will be worthless.

BTW, you do NOT need to have solar to run a Powerwall. You can charge it from the grid at any time and then use the power from it at some other time. This is handy for areas where they charge different rates at different times, such as in Auburn, CA.

-Don- Tucson, AZ
 
Not feasible but I actually would prefer that all houses get solar so we can get away from electric monopolies.

i own land in so colorado that i hope to build on someday and the house i am in now is supposed to be temporary. Gonna be a while before i have the money but the view will be worth it. If i ever get that house done i will be looking at solar and battery backups. If i do it on this house i will reuse the stuff on the rv.
 
DonTom said:
Perhaps someday electric companies will simply bill everybody a flat rate every month regardless of how much power is used. Then all of our home solar systems will be worthless.
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Except, the flat rate can be anything deemed necessary by utilities or governing authorities, making the switch to something user controlled still desirable. I've always thought utilities liked private solar, doesn't it reduce peak demand by some amount? I know around here they offer incentives for remote load shedding, having your own generation I would think could mitigate some of the uncertainties of utility power. What I know the utilities don't like is net metering but I suspect few residential systems are spinning the meter backwards. While there are often ordinances requiring occupied residences to be grid tied it doesn't mean your solar has to be. One can isolate specific equipment and operate it separately from grid power and there's nothing anyone can say about that (today...). Decide what problems solar is going to solve for you up front and from there it's equipment and upkeep.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM
 
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