Are you a net producer or consumer of electricity?

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

RegGuheert

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
6,419
Location
Northern VA
Including charging your electric vehicles, is your home a net producer or a net consumer of electricity?

I'll start: We are still net consumers. While we almost never run our air conditioner, we heat with a heat pump in the wintertime and that consumes more than the excess we produce during other months.

So, how about you? Any net producers out there? Do you use fossil fuels for any of the heating tasks in your home?

P.S. I sure wish we could post polls on this forum!

MODERATORS NOTE: Added poll!
 
I am almost exactly net zero. My all electric home and Leaf are powered by my photo voltaic system. In a hot summer month with monsoons and more driving than normal I will have a $30 electric bill. I am really pleased with my set up.
 
I am a net consumer of electricity, but just barely.

My PV System (6.9 kW) covers 125% of my on-peak (9 am - 9 pm) and about 40% of my off-peak.

My electricity is so cheap off-peak (about $0.055) that I only put in enough PV to cover on-peak.

The upgrade to the pv system allowed me to charge the LEAF on-peak and run my pool pump on-peak.

All in all, I am very happy with my PV and my LEAF and charging the LEAF is now FREE and CLEAN!!!
 
We were net producers of electricity from our 5.16 kW PV system until we got the LEAF, about 2,500 kWh net. Now we're net consumers of about 1,400 kWh per year, though all of that change in consumption occurs between midnight and 6 am, the Super Off Peak hours for our TOU rate plan. Cost-wise, we pay zero for electricity due to TOU rates.

We consume natural gas for heating and water heating, but our cooking is electric.
 
Reached a milestone last month, drove the LEAF 500 miles and supplied all my home electrical needs and the utility credited me with $1.24. Home is all electric with a deep well water pump. Solar array is a little over 8000 watts DC with a grid tie inverter system.
 
I am a net consumer: about 300 kWh per month for condo plus Leaf (although I do purchase Green Power from LA DWP). Also, our HOA consumes about 1800 kWh per month running required lights in parking garage and operating the elevator. This works out to about 250 kWh per unit. A few months I had William Korthof retrofit our lights with T5 fluorescents, resulting in a decrease from 2700 kWh per month to 1800. I hope to have the HOA install solar on the roof over the next several years.
 
We are net consumers. Our 5kW photovoltaic only provides about half our electricity. Our home is large, and being in Phoenix the A/C needs to run most of the year. The solar would have only provided about 40% if we hadn't also upgraded our kitchen appliances to the latest Energy Star, and had a radiant barrier placed under our roof at the time the solar panels were installed. We also use a programmable set back thermostat, CFLs and LEDs wherever possible. My wife even uses a solar clothes dryer, a.k.a. clothes line instead of the electric dryer.

I would have liked to install a higher capacity photovoltaic system, but our utility, SRP, only provided an incentive up to 5kW. That made 5kW the most cost effective for us.

I would love to do more upgrades to improve energy efficiency, but they do not seem cost effective at this time. We have two 10-SEER A/C units, I think they are 2-tons each. Upgrading to a 16-SEER would take a while to pay itself back - but if our 20 year old units ever break I would upgrade then. Our pool pump is already high efficiency, but I see there are now even higher efficiency ones available - at a price. The next time our hot water heater goes out I am going to strongly consider replacing it with a heat pump type - they are very efficient, especially when the garage they are in has an ambient temperature almost equal to the hot water.
 
Since you asked about whether people have to use fossil fuels for heating, I thought of mentioning a citation. The highly recommended free online book "Without Hot Air" suggests that the best option for heating / cooling is using heat pump / air exchanger where the author quotes efficiency of more than 400% vs 80-90% efficiency of fossil fuel heaters.

"Without Hot Air" is really worth reading.

Question:
For the net producers, does your utility send you a check? Specifically, I want to know what it might take to make PG&E in CA to pay net solar producers? It sounds no brainer to me as they have no problem paying polluting coal / gas power plants and nuclear power plants. Why not pay families producing excess solar electricity?
 
leafetarian said:
Since you asked about whether people have to use fossil fuels for heating, I thought of mentioning a citation. The highly recommended free online book "Without Hot Air" suggests that the best option for heating / cooling is using heat pump / air exchanger where the author quotes efficiency of more than 400% vs 80-90% efficiency of fossil fuel heaters.
It's not an option unless one desires to be connected to the grid, however. Even heatpumps draw too much power for an off-grid building. It's much better to incorporate as much passive and/or active solar as possible before using some type of fire to add additional heat if needed.

Beware of the author's assumptions. :)
 
leafetarian said:
Question:
For the net producers, does your utility send you a check? Specifically, I want to know what it might take to make PG&E in CA to pay net solar producers? It sounds no brainer to me as they have no problem paying polluting coal / gas power plants and nuclear power plants. Why not pay families producing excess solar electricity?

I was told by PG&E that they pay only 4 cents a kWh and you have to be a net producer. Cost-wise because of time of use, my bills showed a credit of $300, but since my kilowatt usage was a positive instead of a negative figure, I don't get a check for $300. Next year, EVs can charge free at my house if it looks like I have a monetary credit. (BTW, we should start such a network of solar PV in the SF Bay Area. Perhaps to especially welcome apartment/condo dwellers who need charging.)

From a policy standpoint, PG&E does NOT encourage energy efficiency which its Pacific Energy Center espouses.
 
Sorry, a little confused from reading your reply. So, if you are a net producer, do they give you a credit to carry forward to next year (as you said next year EVs can charge for free at your house) or at the end of the year they will cut you a check for your excess production (minus consumption) at the rate of 4 cents / kwh?

Yes, something should be done to help condo / apartment dwellers.
 
By the way, where abouts in Alameda county are you? I might have to bring my LEAF to charge from your solar some time! :) I live in Los Gatos and often have to make roundtrips around the bay (Los Gatos -> SF -> Oakland -> San Jose -> LG, etc.) and I can make these trips in a day with little bit of charging that is enough to reach home.

Whenever I tried to get solar companies to install solar for my roof, they tell me that because my usage is very low and my yard has lots of trees, solar won't make sense for me and they are not interested in working with me.
 
There is NO carry forward from year to year, whether in kilowatts produced or in monetary credits. The reason I have monetary credits is because PG&E pays us more during peak hour production than non-peak hours. Also, when I use electricity, I pay 30 cents during peak hours and 9 cents during nonpeak. That why I have a monetary credit, being careful to use electricity during non-peak hours. But overall in electron usage, I used 100 kilowatts more than I sent to the grid during the year. That's why I don't get paid the measly 4 cents per kilowatt hour (since I was a net consumer), nor do I get the $300 monetary credit (because I exercised energy efficient habits).

PM me and we can discuss.
 
Some of us are the fortunate? ones who were grandmothered in on the solar E7 rate which is no longer offered. New solar installers are offered the E8 rate. Besides just comparing the lower 4 cents versus 9 cents off peak rate, you must also compare the time of use for those rates. How many hours per day do you get that lower rate versus what you pay the rest of the day at peak hours, semi-peak and whether you are pushed over to a higher tier rate. Enough to give one a headache. Word is that PG&E is also phasing out E9 (albeit grandmothering those on it). Check out North Bay Electric Auto Assn.'s website (nbeaa.org) next meeting on July 14th (go to newsletter, and scroll down).
 
leafetarian said:
Did you consider E9A rate? I am on E9A and it has similar 30c peak rate but at night when most of EV charging happens, rate is super low 4 cents / kwh.
This would only increase my net monetary credit for which I already get no reimbursement from PG&E.
 
leafetarian said:
Whenever I tried to get solar companies to install solar for my roof, they tell me that because my usage is very low and my yard has lots of trees, solar won't make sense for me and they are not interested in working with me.

Have any of them give you a solar report? What's your southern exposure look like? Seems to me it would take some serious shading for it to not make sense.
 
No, they haven't given me any solar report. Usually, whenever I call up a solar company they take my address and look up in satelite view / maps and then they tell me several trees are blocking southern exposure. Then they tell me that unless I cut down the trees it won't make sense. But, I have several old trees and don't like to cut down trees.

Generally, based on what they see on internet, they don't feel it is worth their time to come to my home and check on my roof.

Another thing they tell me is that my PG&E bill is too low to make solar financially viable. My usage is between 320 kwh - 450 kwh per month (not more than 500 kwh). Is that also a problem?
I am OK with longer solar payoff if somebody can work with my roof shading issues.

Can you recommend any solar companies that will give me solar report?
 
Back
Top