I get two power bills at my house so now I'm looking into solar.

[SevenHillsResident]

Hi folks,

I live in a larger home and receive TWO power bills. I always just accepted that it is what it is but last summer was insane. My average monthly power bill last summer was $2,500 and now I am looking to add some solar. I don't think I can make a complete shift to solar but just be able to bring my costs down.

I've watched plenty of Will Prouse's videos and want to make some moves so I'll be lurking here to get more ideas and recommendations from other users on this forum.

V/R
Ron

 

[AntronX]

That's a huge bill. How many kWh per month? Do you have roof/yard space for solar panels?

 

[dougbert]

Hi folks,

I live in a larger home and receive TWO power bills. I always just accepted that it is what it is but last summer was insane. My average monthly power bill last summer was $2,500 and now I am looking to add some solar. I don't think I can make a complete shift to solar but just be able to bring my costs down.

I've watched plenty of Will Prouse's videos and want to make some moves so I'll be lurking here to get more ideas and recommendations from other users on this forum.

V/R
Ron

list all your loads - you probably have big AC units.

look at reducing loads but keep level of comfort you want. Mini-splits, swap out all out lights for good LEDs
get a Kill-A-Watt and measure your appliances, all to get an idea of where your power goes for

know which loads you can swap to a Critical Loads Panel helps prior to solar purchase

used to be: Spend $1 on load reduction to save $3 on power generation. better solar tech today so maybe not that good, but avoiding loads saves money and it is possible to get same level of comfort with better/newer units

 

[SevenHillsResident]

That's a huge bill. How many kWh per month? Do you have roof/yard space for solar panels?

I'll have my wife pull up the bills so I can verify.

As for space for solar, we live in a custom home that has a unique roof so we can mount the panels on the inside slopes without anyone seeing them. I know that HOA's cant stop us from mounting them here in Nevada but nobody in our neighborhood has installed them so I would rather keep them out of site for now.

 

[dougbert]

I'll have my wife pull up the bills so I can verify.

As for space for solar, we live in a custom home that has a unique roof so we can mount the panels on the inside slopes without anyone seeing them. I know that HOA's cant stop us from mounting them here in Nevada but nobody in our neighborhood has installed them so I would rather keep them out of site for now.

you live in the same town as will, contact him to see if he will show you stuff. He won't design stuff for others

 

[SevenHillsResident]

list all your loads - you probably have big AC units.

look at reducing loads but keep level of comfort you want. Mini-splits, swap out all out lights for good LEDs
get a Kill-A-Watt and measure your appliances, all to get an idea of where your power goes for

know which loads you can swap to a Critical Loads Panel helps prior to solar purchase

used to be: Spend $1 on load reduction to save $3 on power generation. better solar tech today so maybe not that good, but avoiding loads saves money and it is possible to get same level of comfort with better/newer units

We have seven different A/C units and they do look like larger units.

We swapped out EVERY single light bulb in our house to LED and if I remember correctly, it dropped our power bill by 28%. We have a weird light switch system in our house and everything is connected on one unit. You basically turn on every single light in the house but need to go and turn off certain areas manually.

V/R
Ron

 

[dougbert]

We have seven different A/C units and they do look like larger units.

power sinks for sure

you can approach things one load at a time or go full bore and do Netmetering with just AC coupling

We swapped out EVERY single light bulb in our house to LED and if I remember correctly, it dropped our power bill by 28%. We have a weird light switch system in our house and everything is connected on one unit. You basically turn on every single light in the house but need to go and turn off certain areas manually.

V/R
Ron

back in 1993 I swapped out 50 light bulbs for florescence and dropped 33% it works

yeah, weird light switch

Will has several mini-splits, on video if you saw them

 

[SevenHillsResident]

That's a huge bill. How many kWh per month? Do you have roof/yard space for solar panels?

Unfortunately I have no yard space for solar.

 

[740GLE]

Hace you considered downsizing?

Seems like quite the excessive house/set up.

The best watt is the watt you never use.

 

[SevenHillsResident]

Hace you considered downsizing?

Seems like quite the excessive house/set up.

The best watt is the watt you never use.

To be 100% honest, I have no plans on downsizing as it's our dream/retirement house. We had initially thought about when two left for the military and the last one leaves for the military next May but we really love it. I'm just trying to figure out how I can love the house and hate my power bills less. It really is overkill for three of us but again, this is the last house we ever plan on buying.

I had no idea how much we would reduce our energy use by switching to LED's and that was a real wake up for us. We also got rid of our front lawn and replaced it with synthetic grass and that cut our water usage down by a little over 40% which was also a wake up call. Water is high-demand commodity out here in Vegas/Henderson so it felt good to decrease our usage and drop our bill.

The AC coupling advice seems like the route to follow at this point.

V/R
Ron

 

[dougbert]

To be 100% honest, I have no plans on downsizing as it's our dream/retirement house. We had initially thought about when two left for the military and the last one leaves for the military next May but we really love it. I'm just trying to figure out how I can love the house and hate my power bills less. It really is overkill for three of us but again, this is the last house we ever plan on buying.

I had no idea how much we would reduce our energy use by switching to LED's and that was a real wake up for us. We also got rid of our front lawn and replaced it with synthetic grass and that cut our water usage down by a little over 40% which was also a wake up call. Water is high-demand commodity out here in Vegas/Henderson so it felt good to decrease our usage and drop our bill.

good work on the H2O. Retired last year myself, I know the value of not spending on things that can be cut out of one's life


Identifying what loads consume what power helps drive the design or load replacements

you might consider Emporia VUE monitoring

Emporia Vue: Gen 2 with 16 Sensors

Lower your electric bills! With the Emporia Vue Real Time 24/7 Electricity Monitor for the home. Great for Energy savings, real time utility bills, solar installations and net metering. Includes expansion module for monitoring of individual circuits.

shop.emporiaenergy.com

to get a good idea of where your power is going

The AC coupling advice seems like the route to follow at this point.

V/R
Ron

Consider the EG4 18kPV (or 2 - or 3 considering the number AC units) with batteries after the AC coupling
(Read its manual for some great suggestions)

if you design things right, you can add the 18kPV later and connect your AC coupled array(s) to the generator Input of the 18kPV. Easy upgrade if planned now.

 

[SevenHillsResident]

you might consider Emporia VUE monitoring

Emporia Vue: Gen 2 with 16 Sensors

Lower your electric bills! With the Emporia Vue Real Time 24/7 Electricity Monitor for the home. Great for Energy savings, real time utility bills, solar installations and net metering. Includes expansion module for monitoring of individual circuits.

shop.emporiaenergy.com

Consider the EG4 18kPV (or 2) with batteries after the AC coupling
(Read its manual for some great suggestions)

if you design things right, you can add the 18kPV later and connect your AC coupled array(s) to the generator Input of the 18kPV. Easy upgrade if planned now.

OK, I just forwarded those to my electrician. He knows all that's involved with our house and that we want to start making the best transition to solar that we can. I really appreciate the recommendations.

V/R
Ron

 

[SevenHillsResident]

Well, my electrician corrected me on the amount of AC units that I have... it's ELEVEN units . He thought I was opposed to solar power and wondered why took me so long to consider it.

 

[AntronX]

Wow, impressive. How many square feet is your house and roof?

 

[dougbert]

Well, my electrician corrected me on the amount of AC units that I have... it's ELEVEN units . He thought I was opposed to solar power and wondered why took me so long to consider it.

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wow - Do you have 400 amp service? or since you have TWO bills, 2 200 amp services?

well I guess we know why $2500 a month

 

[SevenHillsResident]

wow - Do you have 400 amp service? or since you have TWO bills, 2 200 amp services?

well I guess we know why $2500 a month

I believe it's two 200 amp services.

V/R
Ron

 

[AntronX]

but nobody in our neighborhood has installed them so I would rather keep them out of site for now.

I snooped around a bit and found 5 houses with PV so far. There are more in Seven Hills.

 

[JRH]

Hi folks,

I live in a larger home and receive TWO power bills. I always just accepted that it is what it is but last summer was insane. My average monthly power bill last summer was $2,500 and now I am looking to add some solar. I don't think I can make a complete shift to solar but just be able to bring my costs down.

I've watched plenty of Will Prouse's videos and want to make some moves so I'll be lurking here to get more ideas and recommendations from other users on this forum.

V/R
Ron

Damn…..your mighty chill about having a power bill more than most peoples mortgage…im impressed….Yeow… ya gotta admire players.

 

[740GLE]

To be 100% honest, I have no plans on downsizing as it's our dream/retirement house. We had initially thought about when two left for the military and the last one leaves for the military next May but we really love it. I'm just trying to figure out how I can love the house and hate my power bills less. It really is overkill for three of us but again, this is the last house we ever plan on buying.

I had no idea how much we would reduce our energy use by switching to LED's and that was a real wake up for us. We also got rid of our front lawn and replaced it with synthetic grass and that cut our water usage down by a little over 40% which was also a wake up call. Water is high-demand commodity out here in Vegas/Henderson so it felt good to decrease our usage and drop our bill.

The AC coupling advice seems like the route to follow at this point.

V/R
Ron

Imagine what you could save if you opened up breakers for rooms/areas of the house not frequented.

We have a finished third floor we never use except for storage. No way in heck do we heat or cool it year round.

It does sound like you are in a pickle with HOA and where you could install panels without upsetting someone.

Do you know if you have “time of use rates”? Maybe if you installed batteries to charge up overnight/cheaper rates and load shaved during the peak you might be able to shave the bill down.

 

[dougbert]

Imagine what you could save if you opened up breakers for rooms/areas of the house not frequented.

We have a finished third floor we never use except for storage. No way in heck do we heat or cool it year round.

It does sound like you are in a pickle with HOA and where you could install panels without upsetting someone.

Do you know if you have “time of use rates”? Maybe if you installed batteries to charge up overnight/cheaper rates and load shaved during the peak you might be able to shave the bill down.

now that can be very beneficial even without any solar panels

2-3 18wPV and batteries, no solar to start with and do the TOU time shift, yes