Driving for free off of my solar panels

[lauriejeanne]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a newbie and I just wanted to introduce myself.

Three years ago we installed solar panels and purchased only the amount we needed to cover our electric use at the time. A year later, I leased Marcello la Mia Mini Machina Piccola (my wonderful FIAT 500e). I thought we would need to buy at least one more panel for the house, but that has not been necessary.

My "true-up" month is July and every year, SDGE owes me money instead of the reverse, so I clearly can drive Marcello for free!

But what I love most is not spilling gas on myself or my fingers at the filling station!

[RalpheeRalph]

Hi Everyone,

I'm a newbie and I just wanted to introduce myself.

Three years ago we installed solar panels and purchased only the amount we needed to cover our electric use at the time. A year later, I leased Marcello la Mia Mini Machina Piccola (my wonderful FIAT 500e). I thought we would need to buy at least one more panel for the house, but that has not been necessary.

My "true-up" month is July and every year, SDGE owes me money instead of the reverse, so I clearly can drive Marcello for free!

But what I love most is not spilling gas on myself or my fingers at the filling station!

I'm hoping the same is true

I recently installed Solar PV on my house...I purchased the system based on prior usage before and during the remodeling....Actually I installed a 2kw smaller system than was recommended (12.5kw vs 14.5kw)....I had ALL new wiring, outlets, switches, fans installed (replaced old aluminum wiring), All New LED lighting including new fixtures , 2 New Energy Efficient AC units, a GE Hybrid Hot Water Heater and Variable Speed Pool Pump....

When I moved in after the remodel (before solar) I still felt my usage was high....I never lived in the house before the remodel.....

What I learned after Duke Energy installed my new meter is that the old meter was not accurate and reading much higher than actual usage so I may have installed too much solar....Although the system has only been "live" since March 1st I have "sold" over 2000kw more than I bought from them....And thats with EV Charging....

I just purchased a 2014 BMW i3 REX so we will be a 2 car EV household....Lets see how it goes...

[CraigM]

Does my jealousy show? :-)

I had my house surveyed two years ago, soon after getting my 500e. Too many trees. The house runs north-south, so the West side would be best, but neighbors trees shade my roof from the early afternoon. The East side is shaded by a beautiful LARGE tree in my front yard. My wife would like to have our tree removed due to worries during wind storms, and all the work raking leaves in the Fall. I feel the tree is just too beautiful to cut down, plus it probably helps keep the house cool. O'well, we don't use all that much electricity anyhow.

[maximizese]

I too am getting "free" electricity from rooftop solar. I went with a 4.8kW system that has produced an average 28kWh/day for the month of May. When I was in energy miser mode (pre 500e), we would use about 11kWh/day. With the EV and liberal use of the 5-ton AC, we are using an average of 30kWh/day. Immediately after getting our 500e, we switched to a time of use rate plan with SCE. This brought our monthly bill to about $120 based on 850kWh used. After installing the solar array, we're getting a $109 credit each month because we use so little energy during peak rates (when we're generating and getting credited). It's a buy low, sell high set up. Here's a graphic of my generation/usage: