Purchase or Pre-paid lease of 4-year old Solar System

[sdold]

Maybe you generated 1379, used 616 and sent the 763 surplus to SCE?

[SunEagle]

So my first full month with solar is up. My SCE bill was a whopping $-19. My panels have been generating right around 40kwh per day average. Doesn't sound that great to me. Does anyone know how I could calculate what my electric bill for this month would have been without solar. SCE states consumption and generation numbers on my bill but the numbers don't seem to make sense. It says my net generation was -763 and my consumption was 616. But according to the solar city monitoring I generated around 1300 or so.

Depending on what the Utility meter is reading my guess is that you generated 1300 kWh, purchased 616 kWh and sent 763 kWh back to the Utility.

So in round numbers; 1300 - 763 = 537 kWh consumed from your generation and add that to the 616 kWh you purchased. That would get you 537 + 616 = 1153 kWh that you used.

[prhamilton]

if your usage was 1100kWh that's a $250+ bill. You are buying lots of power in tier3&4. You can figure around $0.25 kWh as an average cost at that usage level.

[quicksilver8907]

Im confused as to how you came up with the 1100kwh?I thought that the way the net metering worked is they kept track of all energy i used and generated back to the grid.
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[prhamilton]

Should have been more clear. Meant to answer the original question:

Does anyone know how I could calculate what my electric bill for this month would have been without solar.

You put 763kWh on the grid during the day. Pulled 616kWh during the night and cloudy days. SCE never saw the 537kWh you pulled directly from the solar panels because it all happened behind the meter.

Overall your net generation is 147kWh more than you used. Your saving this month is the difference of what it would have costed to buy all 1153kWh from SCE from the credit you received from your excess generation. I think you can say $250(without solar) vs $-19(with solar). Or a savings of $270. June is probably your biggest solar production month so not all month are going to be this good.

[quicksilver8907]

Should have been more clear. Meant to answer the original question:


You put 763kWh on the grid during the day. Pulled 616kWh during the night and cloudy days. SCE never saw the 537kWh you pulled directly from the solar panels because it all happened behind the meter.

Overall your net generation is 147kWh more than you used. Your saving this month is the difference of what it would have costed to buy all 1153kWh from SCE from the credit you received from your excess generation. I think you can say $250(without solar) vs $-19(with solar). Or a savings of $270. June is probably your biggest solar production month so not all month are going to be this good.

So between May 15-June 16 my bill was $125 without solar. The two months before that it was $70-80. So the lease is $140 a month, what are your thoughts?

[bp1]

So between May 15-June 16 my bill was $125 without solar. The two months before that it was $70-80. So the lease is $140 a month, what are your thoughts?

The system sounds like it's oversized for your needs. If you used 1100 kWh, your SCE bill would have been over $260 this month without solar, so at $140, you'd save $120. In the spring, you would be paying $60-70 more per month than needed. Your savings during the summer might not offset the additional cost for the rest of the year. See if they're willing to offer you a lease price that delivers you more savings - maybe $100 or 110 / mo.

Keep in mind your bargaining position - the costs SolarCity would incur to take the system down (sending out a technician, removing the system, and making sure your roof and electrical wiring are in order), as well as the fact that SolarCity would owe their tax equity investors a portion of the tax credits because of recapture rules, mean you definitely have the upper hand in a negotiation. See if they'll reduce the lease price to a level that delivers you savings on an annual basis. Or ask them to turn it off until they're willing to sell it to you for under $1/W.

[prhamilton]

Problem is he will probably be dealing with call centers that have no clue what do. I would tell them you aren't interested in leasing and you don't know how to turn it off and aren't comfortable touching something you don't own for fear of damaging it. If they want to send someone over to turn it off they should have a big truck because you want the system removed.

I would tell them you don't want the panels on your house if they are switched off. You want to be there when they take the panels off and unfortunately you have a job M-F. You can let them on to your property on Satudays and Sundays.

You are willing to purchase, have them give you a price. When they give you a price say you will think about it. If you don't like the price tell me it more than you can afford right now. Just keep chatting with them until they get sick of calling you. Now that the system is on take your time and enjoy the sunny days.

[prhamilton]

Curious if there is any update to this saga. Hoping there is a happy ending sometime in the future...

[JCP]

Thanks for checking in prhamilton. As of right now our free "3 month trial" period has ended, but the system still remains on and I am enjoying the benefits of it. During March-May we had our electricity on with no solar, and our bill was like $70 a month or so. Then June-Present our bill has been negative $20-40 a month. And we have really hot summers and they are still going on. Up in the 100s. So if my "lease" would be $140 a month, in my opinion it wouldnt really be worth it right? Because there are more months that are typically $70 than the $250 months, so it would probably be about the same as just using electricity.... I am not interested in the lease anyways, but just curious about others thoughts.

At least you now know how much the system would save you on an annual basis (looks about $1500 give or take them some). So, it should be easy to make an offer based on this.

[quicksilver8907]

System still running strong, just heard from them after the system has been on for a year and a half. They asked me if I had decided to keep the system and pay the lease. I told them the lease wouldn't be worth it to me. Just waiting for a response back at this point. I have no problem telling them to come get the panels, but they will have to repair my roof that is 15-20 years old....

[cebury]

System still running strong, just heard from them after the system has been on for a year and a half. They asked me if I had decided to keep the system and pay the lease. I told them the lease wouldn't be worth it to me. Just waiting for a response back at this point. I have no problem telling them to come get the panels, but they will have to repair my roof that is 15-20 years old....

Ha! I read this entire thread and it was interesting. Thanks for coming back and please keep us posted on what happens. Many I'm sure will bet they will just leave it there now that they have fully depreciated it and can walk away, despite it being a potential cash cow for them.

[quicksilver8907]

So i offered to buy it outright and I also offered $4,000 as a prepaid lease. It was a low offer but it was all I really felt comfortable doing. They declined and said the lowest they would do was $130 a month with a 3% increase every year. I estimate my electric bill to be about $60-70 in the cooler months and therefore even if it is $250 in the few months of summer it still is basically a break even. So we finally agreed to just have it removed. We agreed upon a date of September 28th for the removal and three guys showed up to remove it. They removed the panels and brackets but couldn't remove the inverter or the disconnect yet because they needed to wait for the power company to come out and do something. They patched the holes in the roof with flashing and a roofer is supposed to come out and actually do the patch job. Roofing company came by Monday and said because it's a patch job they needed to match the color so he took a sample. They were supposed to come back today but didn't and when I called they said they had problems getting the right color and they would be back tomorrow so we will see what happens. So I took the 28th-30th off of work because they only leave you 48 hours to have it inspected after it is removed so I was leaving time for that, but then when roofers couldn't come until this week I had to take more time off. I am self employed and getting frustrated that this process is taking so long. Today was day 5 being off work without pay and looks like I am taking tomorrow off too. Very irritated in this whole process.

[J.P.M.]

So i offered to buy it outright and I also offered $4,000 as a prepaid lease. It was a low offer but it was all I really felt comfortable doing. They declined and said the lowest they would do was $130 a month with a 3% increase every year. I estimate my electric bill to be about $60-70 in the cooler months and therefore even if it is $250 in the few months of summer it still is basically a break even. So we finally agreed to just have it removed. We agreed upon a date of September 28th for the removal and three guys showed up to remove it. They removed the panels and brackets but couldn't remove the inverter or the disconnect yet because they needed to wait for the power company to come out and do something. They patched the holes in the roof with flashing and a roofer is supposed to come out and actually do the patch job. Roofing company came by Monday and said because it's a patch job they needed to match the color so he took a sample. They were supposed to come back today but didn't and when I called they said they had problems getting the right color and they would be back tomorrow so we will see what happens. So I took the 28th-30th off of work because they only leave you 48 hours to have it inspected after it is removed so I was leaving time for that, but then when roofers couldn't come until this week I had to take more time off. I am self employed and getting frustrated that this process is taking so long. Today was day 5 being off work without pay and looks like I am taking tomorrow off too. Very irritated in this whole process.

As expected, great service from the lease co. That was SolarCity, right ?

[quicksilver8907]

Yes and then solarcity sales people came to my house today trying to sell me on solar. I told the guy see those metal patches on my roof. That's where a solarcity system once sat until about a week ago and I am still waiting for them
To fix it.