9 Months into My Solar
Had my solar system (12.71 kW DC with a Tesla Powerwall3 battery) installed last October. I found out after the fact that this was probably the worst time of the year to install a system, but oh well.
We have a 2100 square foot house with 4 adults and a toddler living in it. We also have an in ground pool. After nine months, our largest bill from our provider was in February, when I found out that our house did not have a heat pump system ($$$$). Needless to say, even then the bill was manageable. It was much less, even adding the monthly bill of the solar, than previous winters without the solar. I’m talking hundreds less.
One of the reasons I think it has been more manageable is the electric provider and the plan we chose. We are with Reliant’s free nights program. This gives us completely free electricity from 8pm to 6am. There were other plans that had more hours of free, but those started later in the night (not good during the winter) and went later into the morning. Reliant’s plan worked best and for the most part the solar and battery got us through the “shoulder” period between sunset and when the grid took over.
My real only regret is that I did not increase my battery storage from the get go. If it were just my wife and I, the battery would make it. But with 5 of us, the battery hits the bottom some times.
I am waiting until the end of this post to tell you who we got our system from because they are not very well regarded on this sub. We used Sunrun and have had zero issues with our system, or them. In fact, they gave us the contact information for some of our neighbors who had Sunrun systems and we talked to them. A couple of them did not have good things to say, but after taking to them for a bit it became obvious that they went into the deal without doing their homework. I really wish I could have purchased the system outright, but we just didn’t have that money available. Our electric bills were getting increasingly out of hand, and this has seriously reined that in.
So, for those who are looking for an alternative to paying through the nose for your power, but don’t have the means to finance or purchase a system, give them an opportunity.
And for those who are looking for a good electrical plan that works with your system, I highly recommend Reliant’s “Totally Free Nights” plan. Here is a code that will get you a $50 bill credit (and me too!):
LW5BXSO
I believe that solar is the way to go in the future. Electric rates aren’t going to go down and having a system in your home will save you money. It has for us.