The power company used to refund me

Unfortunately my electric company doesn't give out checks, they give out credits. It amounts to getting 11% of what I overproduce. So if I overproduce by 100Kw I get back credit for 11Kw. The rest they get to keep. And I THINK! I think credits expire every two or three months. So if I don't use it I lose it.

One option available is to have them install a battery. But they still own the battery and get to use its power whenever they feel the need. While I'll still have power during a failure, they get priority on that source. I've heard good and bad things about it so I don't know if it's a good deal or not.

 

I wonder if @Kilovolt has input on that since he lives about an hour south of me. (nope! wrong kilovolt. The user I'm thinking of lives in Utah. Unless something has changed that I don't know of. His icon has what looks like a turtle driving a small compact car. Unless he's changed it.)

 

Perhaps it's time to add some solar panels to the roof. I WILL be looking into that.

Hi. Am forced to keep my solar generation injected back into the grid to nearly equate yearly consumption figures. All is credited against my consumption from the grid but, at 100% fare for the next 21 years .
If I generate more, I would have to leave airconditioners on while not needed as I should keep a near zero balance but not mandatory. Will never see payment from the electrical utility. Generating more is pointless, but there is no limit nor blanking the credit to zero.

I consume from the grid at $0.11/KWh and am getting credit at the same $0.11/KWh rate for what I inject back to the grid. Super deal I had to jump onto it when it was offered/ legislated 5 years ago.

Now the utilities/legislators are lowering the bonanza every year (for new users) It is like they do not want us generating. Perhaps the answer would be to go entirely off-grid. I do not have the 'tonsills' to go that route yet. Perhaps if I get some Prius batteries from the wreck yard for peanut$, would re-consider.

If you are getting a very low 11% robbery level credit percentage, I would start bitching legislators. What you put at a tenth of rate to your neighbors that consume it, the utility profits 90%

The investment for your solar system is from your pocket. The utility did not share/supply your cost. The utility has less cost to produce energy because you do it for them. But bills your neighbors full rate from you generating for them.

 

My suggestion is to first understand the reality of "TANSTAFAL"="There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." If the utility owns the solar cell system, they decide how it is used. That is how it works.
If YOU OWN the solar power system, then YOU can decide how it is used. So if you own the storage battery system, then you can decide how much of the power you use.
AND, that would include power stored in the battery pack of an electric vehicle. No Way would I choose to let some government Hack decide how much of it they could borrow.

 

Unfortunately my electric company doesn't give out checks, they give out credits. It amounts to getting 11% of what I overproduce. So if I overproduce by 100Kw I get back credit for 11Kw. The rest they get to keep. And I THINK! I think credits expire every two or three months. So if I don't use it I lose it.

I know someone in Eastern Oregon with solar panels. He says the power company stopped paying for his excess power because they give the credits to poor people.That seems wrong to me because his system was very expensive and he's still paying for it.

 

My September electrical bill arrived today : I consumed 122KWh from the grid; and injected 854KWh into the grid. Credit added this month for the winter electric heating future months is 732KWh



The interesting column 'Meter multiplier' is 1 for both KWh and for KWhGEN. That is full 100% credit rate from what I generate.
Accrued so far 2.7MWh :

 

THAT is also the reason I do not use electric heating for the house. But if youget 100%credit for generated (delivered back) power that works.

 

If YOU OWN the solar power system,

I own the solar completely. The power company OFFERS a free battery AND $1000 for allowing them to install it. Seems like maybe something worth investigating. But like you said - no free lunches. I don't have a battery. But if I DID own a battery they would NOT be able to use it for their purposes.

I know someone in Eastern Oregon with solar panels. He says the power company stopped paying for his excess power because they give the credits to poor people.That seems wrong to me because his system was very expensive and he's still paying for it.

Who's the poor? The electric company exec' family members? Personally I wouldn't mind going off grid but there's advantages to having the grid available. And to have it "Available" even if it's not used - the power company still has a legal right to charge you for maintaining the grid. As a Utah resident - I have no options. Not unless I buy property in an undeveloped area and do my own development such as well water and a septic tank for waste disposal and solar / wind turbine plus energy storage of my own can I get away from the law. But then all the power company has to do is string wire near my property and they might be able to start charging me because it's available.

There's a lot on the subject I don't know, neither from a knowledge base or from experience. And my local area laws are not necessarily like other laws in other areas (states - etc.)

 

OK, I did not realize that it was your own solar power system, the mention of purchasing a battery did confuse me about who owned what. Now the ownership is clear.
Batteries, large and small, are an expensive investment that does provide benefits. No question about that.
The bad news is that most of them eventually wear out and suffer reduced capabilities. Alternative energy storage schemes have existed for many years, mostly they are less efficient and more expensive than batteries. And all the others are more complex and usually cost more. The only ones that do not wear out are the super capacitors, but they are a lot more expensive so far.
What can make a large bank of rechargeable batteries much more effective is an inverter that is able to use much more of the charge as the voltage drops. A possible alternative is appliances and devices able to function adequately as the battery voltage drops during discharge. BUTall of that is more complicated.

 

I own the solar completely. The power company OFFERS a free battery AND $1000 for allowing them to install it. Seems like maybe something worth investigating. But like you said - no free lunches. I don't have a battery. But if I DID own a battery they would NOT be able to use it for their purposes.

Who's the poor? The electric company exec' family members? Personally I wouldn't mind going off grid but there's advantages to having the grid available. And to have it "Available" even if it's not used - the power company still has a legal right to charge you for maintaining the grid. As a Utah resident - I have no options. Not unless I buy property in an undeveloped area and do my own development such as well water and a septic tank for waste disposal and solar / wind turbine plus energy storage of my own can I get away from the law. But then all the power company has to do is string wire near my property and they might be able to start charging me because it's available.

There's a lot on the subject I don't know, neither from a knowledge base or from experience. And my local area laws are not necessarily like other laws in other areas (states - etc.)

I've been looking at whole house batteries lately. I found a 16kWH lithium battery for $3400. It still needs an inverter for another $3500 and to install probably another $1-2k for balance of system. I'm still waffling on paying $8-10k for it though. There are a few other sellers with similar product offerings as well. My solar system paid for itself in about 8 years and I figure I've made about $10k since then between renewable energy credits and not paying a huge electric bill.

I'm still doing research on how much and how well the battery systems can save when they store energy during peak solar for use during low solar/high usage times. My neighbor is on the same power company transformer that I'm on and I noticed that my inverter derates due to the line voltage running high with his system generating as well. It's only been worse since he installed his system. It's hard to say how much more I can get out of my system using a battery.

 

My solar only generates when there's an AC signal from the grid. If the grid goes down so does my power. Not real happy about that but at least I can plug a portable generator in and provide an artificial 60Hz so the solar can provide the rest of the needed current. Trouble is when the sun goes down the generator could overload and trip its breaker. Or worse. Ruin the generator.

Certainly wouldn't try to run the whole house but my generator is not powerful enough to run two fridges and a freezer. MOST of the electrical use in the house is superfluous but in addition to the ice boxes there's also an electric stove. I DID keep the gas stove connected in the garage but the wife gave it away to a friend in need. She didn't stop to think about if we're without power.

Last year we needed to boil a huge pot of water for taters. Had to strip down the smoker because the large stock pot we then owned was not induction ready. THAT problem has been remedied; bought an induction ready stock pot. Haven't used it yet. Where would we be if we lost the grid due to hacking? In trouble for sure. I have a Coleman camping stove but there's only so much that can be done on that. Filtered rain barrels collect 100 gallons of rain when it Does rain. But without fire we'd have no way to boil it. Guess I have a few new projects to work on. At least hot water is gas fired. Provided we have water pressure. And gas.

 

And for those concerned about back feeding the grid - I have an isolation breaker. Can't power the house from the generator when the breaker from the grid is still in the energized position. Have to shut one off before I can turn the other on.

 

...I can plug a portable generator in and provide an artificial 60Hz so the solar can provide the rest of the needed current.

What make and model inverter do you have? I've often been curious as to whether I could do that to my system without damaging it.

Does the inverter shut down if you're not drawing enough power?

 

OK, and thanks for the additional background explanations! Not understanding the whole system will certainly lead to inadequate advice on the part of the uninformed!
AND, CERTAINLY, needing to use outside sources for parts of a project adds a great deal to the expense. I am fortunate in being able to handle it myself. THAT makes a large difference.
The economics of adding battery storage certainly requires careful consideration.

 

the large stock pot we then owned was not induction ready

Place an iron plate, disc, into the bottom of the non-induction pot.

 

OK, and thanks for the additional background explanations! Not understanding the whole system will certainly lead to inadequate advice on the part of the uninformed!
AND, CERTAINLY, needing to use outside sources for parts of a project adds a great deal to the expense. I am fortunate in being able to handle it myself. THAT makes a large difference.
The economics of adding battery storage certainly requires careful consideration.

This thread has kind of taken a turn towards solar panels whereas I was more concerned about unusually high electric bills. Turns out we had the same bills this time last year; relatively speaking.

 

Our utility bills are higher this year, also. BUT the explanation is simple: The utility company increased the rates.