Gotta add my experience on this.
We are only 2 people - adults, no children.
We would have monthly electric bills of $185 or more each month while consciously conserving electrical usage, with no spa use.
Nov, 2014 we installed an 4.5Kw grid tie system to an existing home that had pretty much everything to be an all electric home - refer, range, dryer, freezer, spa/hot tub, domestic hot water. Cost was about $18k before tax credits were taken out.
We paid ourselves back at $200 per month for about 4 years to recoup the actual cash out of pocket + interest.
The 4.5 KW PV system was just a bit short of providing all our electrical needs, if we did not use our spa.
If we only used 94°F water in it, we still had a fairly large electric bill of $20 to $40 per month above the minimum charge during what was a fairly cloudy, rainy period.
Then a few months ago, we had solar heating added to our domestic hot water, another $5k. No assistance because we are now both retired with no taxable income.
Now, in a relatively dry, sunny period, and with no spa usage, we have been getting some electrical over production.
We now have about 275 Kw (and growing) of electrical overproduction from our PV system through the last 2 or 3 months with no electrical bills received.
We are still waiting for a credit notice from HELCO for our over production.
At the moment one inverter/panel is offline.
We are still producing an excess of electrical power with only a 4Kw sized PV system.
Got other projects on the griddle right now, but, I will chase down the PV problem and be adding a simple additional solar hot water system specifically for the spa's hot water.
We should be able to use the spa full time and still have no electrical costs after finishing these 2 projects.
We are only 2 people - adults, no children.
We would have monthly electric bills of $185 or more each month while consciously conserving electrical usage, with no spa use.
Nov, 2014 we installed an 4.5Kw grid tie system to an existing home that had pretty much everything to be an all electric home - refer, range, dryer, freezer, spa/hot tub, domestic hot water. Cost was about $18k before tax credits were taken out.
We paid ourselves back at $200 per month for about 4 years to recoup the actual cash out of pocket + interest.
The 4.5 KW PV system was just a bit short of providing all our electrical needs, if we did not use our spa.
If we only used 94°F water in it, we still had a fairly large electric bill of $20 to $40 per month above the minimum charge during what was a fairly cloudy, rainy period.
Then a few months ago, we had solar heating added to our domestic hot water, another $5k. No assistance because we are now both retired with no taxable income.
Now, in a relatively dry, sunny period, and with no spa usage, we have been getting some electrical over production.
We now have about 275 Kw (and growing) of electrical overproduction from our PV system through the last 2 or 3 months with no electrical bills received.
We are still waiting for a credit notice from HELCO for our over production.
At the moment one inverter/panel is offline.
We are still producing an excess of electrical power with only a 4Kw sized PV system.
Got other projects on the griddle right now, but, I will chase down the PV problem and be adding a simple additional solar hot water system specifically for the spa's hot water.
We should be able to use the spa full time and still have no electrical costs after finishing these 2 projects.
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Was a Democrat until gun control became a knee jerk, then a Republican until the crazies took over, back to being a nonpartisan again.
This time, I can no longer participate in the primary.
Was a Democrat until gun control became a knee jerk, then a Republican until the crazies took over, back to being a nonpartisan again.
This time, I can no longer participate in the primary.