this time last year we had the solar installed well by this time it was well on the roof … this date last year we had the meter replaced and the solar turned on.
The statistics:
- kWh Imported 4295.3
- kWh Exported 3199.9
- kWh generated according to the inverter 4936
- Fit Collected at 8c kWh $255.99
- kWh not purchased or sold 1736.1
I’m currently on a flat rate of 29.084 c/kWh (note my rate has gone up since solar was installed) minus 10% discount plus 5.5 c /kWh for green energy = 31.94 c /kWh. So the amount not purchased or sold is what I saved by not buying 1736.1*31.94c = $554.51 + the money I got from Fit $255.99 so in a year it’s saved me ~$810.5.
Has the solar been a good investment no…the capital cost was around $8.5k so with the amount saved it’ll take 10 years to pay back. The main reason for this is that we export way too much and the fit is so low if we got paid what it costs us it would of saved us ~$1500 a year and only 5.5 years to pay back. Do I care if it was a solid investment not really.
If we look at how green it is if we take imported – exported (1095 kWh) that’s how much power I’ve used from other generators which for my area is black coal, but that has been offset by my green power money purchasing green power from wind and biogass. so does my house run emissions free when it comes to electricity according to an accountant yes, because every kWh of power I’ve used has been purchased from a green source but maybe not according to an engineer.
Other interesting notes on the power bill:
average kWh used per day including solar from April to may 2013 before purchasing the EV was 12.1 kwh
average kWh used per day including solar from July 2013 to April 2014 post purchasing the EV is 16.5 kwh
so the effect of owning an EV on our power bills is about 4.4 kwh per day $1.40 increased cost. Note: this would also include seasonal cost extras like summertime air con and winter time heating so I won’t have a clear picture until we 1 year of EV ownership.
I have copied what you wrote and put in my figures. Maths isn’t my subject so you’d better check them 🙂
This time last year I had the solar installed well by this time it was well on the roof … 12 April last year I had the meter replaced and the solar turned on.
The statistics:
• kWh Imported 1348.3
• kWh Exported 3019.2
• kWh generated according to the inverter 4253
• Fit Collected at 8c kWh $315.36
• kWh not purchased or sold 1233.8
I’m currently on a flat rate of 27.02 c/kWh (note my rate has gone up since solar was installed). So the amount not purchased or sold is what I saved by not buying 1233.8*27.02c = $333.37 + the money I got from Fit $315.36 so in a year it’s saved me ~$648.73.
Has the solar been a good investment no…the capital cost was around $7.5k so with the amount saved it’ll take between 11 and 12 years to pay back. I hope I live that long.
I left out the fact that I get $64.95 discount a quarter as a pensioner – what difference does that make?
31.94c/kWh. Ouch.
Do you have the option of going on a time of use plan? If you are charging your LEAF at night it may be an option.
Mine installed Aug 09.
Imported 5280@24 = $1,267
Exported 6961@49 = $3,411
Produced 8878
Production used = 8878-6961
= 1117@24 = $268
Current prices. Rounded.
Savings over say 5 years = $3,700 ($735/year)
Paid $6,600 for a 1.2kW system. Payback 9 years.
Worked out if I had been on the time of use charging I would have been up another $100 per year (payback drops to 8 years).
Having got the LEAF and now on time of use charging it will be charged at 15c/kWh. The EV ownership is not yet 2 weeks so I am yet to see that in the bills.
Jeff I’ve done the time of day calculation before and it wasn’t in my favour but I’ll redo them and put in another blog post.