After a slew of analysis on the projected return-on-investment of our solar panel project, the results are finally in for the first complete month of being on PG&E’s E7 net metering electricity schedule.
Before I go into the quantitative results, one key advantage of the PG&E net metering program is that instead of paying for the electricity monthly, you pay the bill annually (called the Annual True-Up). PG&E sends a Net Energy Metering Electric Statement which just informs you of the net energy charge or credit for the peak and off peak times.
There is a nominal monthly fee of $8.29 which includes:
– Distribution $7.36
– Public Purpose Programs $0.14
– Generation $0.40
– Utility User Tax $0.39
For the month of April, our net consumption was 431kW which resulted in an electricity bill of $31.00 (which will be kept as a running tally until March 2009). The figures are based on the E7 winter season schedule. This is a significant decrease over 2007’s electricity useage of 875kW which resulted in an electricity bill of $155.50.
Our total consumption this month would have actually been greater due to the new addition of our wine cellar. So a conservative estimate is that our solar project has saved us $124 in April and the ability to “borrow” $31 from PG&E interest-free for a year.