Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Location: not sure, but there's a hell of a lot of water around here!
2,682 posts, read 7,574,655 times
Reputation: 3882
Advertisements
Quote:
Originally Posted by OpenD
Until very recently permission from HECO was simple, inexpensive, and fairly automatic. But now it has suddenly become very problematic and expensive. On local forums I've read of people encountering $9,000 fees for "studies" and $11,000 fees for "infrastructure upgades." That's a helluva load to add to a typical residential installation of maybe $30K.
HECO just doesn't want you to go solar. PERIOD. With the tax incentives, the price of solar panels coming down, and some new technology on the horizon that will make panels more efficient, HECO knows that in the long run, for most single family dwellings, especially in an area like Ewa, need for a hook up will be for emergencies only. Just keep that in mind. A four or five day kona storm, with no sunshine, and you're going to need something.
Get yourself 10 250ah 12 volt batteries and tell HECO to f##k off. They saw this coming a loooonnnnggg time ago.
Aloha
Will HECO let you disconnect from the grid? If they end up charging me for those studies I'm definitely gonna have to look into getting batteries and give them the finger.
Will HECO let you disconnect from the grid? If they end up charging me for those studies I'm definitely gonna have to look into getting batteries and give them the finger.
That's a good question. Can you go off grid on Oahu? Is that even allowed in Oahu?
We used these guys: Energy Plus Electric ? Solar Electric Green Energy Solutions based on the Big Island of Hawaii. They were around before the current solar craze and will still be there afterwards, too, no doubt. They do big commercial systems as well as small residential systems. Ours is a grid tie they put in last December. It's been great only paying $20 per month for power and we've pretty much switched all our appliances over to electric now. The system even runs a hot tub.
You're not required to be connected to the electrical grid on any island. Put in a stand alone (not connected to the grid) PV system and disconnect.
There is more oversight in a stand alone system, you have to check to make sure you've got the power to do whatever you're planning on, but there's less bills to pay as well. The battery bank needs occasional maintenance. We had a stand alone system for over a decade and after awhile you pretty much knew how much you could do with your system. That was a fairly small system, too, just a few panels, charge controller, battery bank of eight to twelve batteries and an inverter.
Also, with a stand alone system running on batteries, it's best to pull all the heavy electrical use items off the system if possible. Solar hot water or gas hot water, gas stove and oven, gas dryer or use a clothesline. That gets most of the common big electrical users right there.
Is it me or does the HECO bill not show the price you paid per kwh? I am looking at my kw used and looking at their rate sheet and the amount is off by almost $2.00. It might not be much but this stuff should be in detail. Looking at my PG&E bill they have the price per kwh. These freaking crooks!
You're not required to be connected to the electrical grid on any island. Put in a stand alone (not connected to the grid) PV system and disconnect.
There is more oversight in a stand alone system, you have to check to make sure you've got the power to do whatever you're planning on, but there's less bills to pay as well. The battery bank needs occasional maintenance. We had a stand alone system for over a decade and after awhile you pretty much knew how much you could do with your system. That was a fairly small system, too, just a few panels, charge controller, battery bank of eight to twelve batteries and an inverter.
Also, with a stand alone system running on batteries, it's best to pull all the heavy electrical use items off the system if possible. Solar hot water or gas hot water, gas stove and oven, gas dryer or use a clothesline. That gets most of the common big electrical users right there.
Thanks.
I'd like to add that we are using an induction cooktop, which reduces the heat load inside the house and electric consumption.
Is it me or does the HECO bill not show the price you paid per kwh? I am looking at my kw used and looking at their rate sheet and the amount is off by almost $2.00. It might not be much but this stuff should be in detail. Looking at my PG&E bill they have the price per kwh. These freaking crooks!
Here's how to read your HECO bill. Note there are many line items making up your bill, of which the basic charge per kWh used is only one line.
And don't worry, PG&E is in the process of breaking out their bill in the same manner. The days of lumping Utility Company charges into a single item, one rate covers everything, are over. They're all going to an "ala carte" pricing system that allows a lot of price adjustments for things like fuel surcharges, in between PUC rate sets.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
