Not much talk about solar power in SW Florida (Sarasota: for sale, power lines)

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by davephan

... Just how cheap is the power in SW Florida? .....

According to my latest bill:

Rate: RS-1 RESIDENTIAL SERVICE

Non-fuel: (First 1000 kWh at $0.057690)
(Over 1000 kWh at $0.068510)

Fuel: (First 1000 kWh at $0.028020)
(Over 1000 kWh at $0.038020)

Customer charge: $7.57
Taxes and charges 11.22

................................

So I guess it's about 8.5 cents per first 1000kw and 10.7 cents above 1000kw.

I used 1,134kw this month with the AC running every day, and I expect my usage to peak over the next few months to around 1,500kw. In the winter I use a pretty steady 750kw/mo.

As far as the customer charge I read somewhere (probably here) that FPL dramatically increases the customer charge if you are hooked to solar. I haven't verified that but if true that extra cost has to be figured into any ROI estimates.

[az99]

Originally Posted by davephan

How much does your electric power cost in PA? Does the utility charge a grid connection fee, if so how much is it? When did you have the system installed and what is your calculated break even time?

Right now it is about $.18 per KWH will all the bogus charges included. They only give back generation cost which is about $.08. We have no grid connection fee.

My system was installed in 2009. At that time the SREC's were selling for $275. It worked out to be about a 10 year payback. But like all the other lies and over estimates of the electric price rises the installers were using, the SREC's are now worth pretty much nothing. My system will never pay for itself. Hopefully I will get some back on resale of the house as it costs very little in total energy.

I use about 26,000 KWH per year. The solar produces about 11,000 KWH. The other bad thing is that our state has a PUC that allows the electric co. to do whatever they want. Even when I use no electric I get a monthly charge of $36.00 for all the BS customer service, and meter reading(they only read every 4-5 months)charges they add on. And just to insult your intelligence even more they have a charge for the smart meters they are going to install in the next 15 years.

The better way to use the money would have been to buy stock in the electric company and pay the electric bill with the dividends.

[Restrain]

az99: saw the receipt for a 5K system the other day. $42K for the unit,including all peripherals. Return just is not worth it.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by Restrain

az99: saw the receipt for a 5K system the other day. $42K for the unit,including all peripherals. Return just is not worth it.

An estimate of $42K for a 5K system sounds pretty high. Our rough estimate was $32K, but after all the tax credits, rebates, and money back from the utility would drop the cost down to about $12K. The payback would take about 7.9 to 8.5 years. But it looks more likely ever day we think about it that we won't be in Minnesota that long. The electric power rates are significantly cheaper in Florida than Minnesota, and drastically cheaper than Hawaii, where they pay about 37 cents per KWH because most of their electric power is still generated with diesel fuel. They have some utility wind power in Hawaii, but the utility charges the same as if it was generated from diesel fuel.

If we chose SW Florida, we would absolutely get a whole house generator, since there are more electric outages than we are used to here. We have a small 5 KW gasoline generator now, but we are still thinking about getting a whole house system here. As we get older, we are less tolerant of the few electric outages that we have to experience. I don't know if natural gas is piped to homes in that part of the county, or if we'd have to use propane and a big propane tank.

[az99]

Originally Posted by Restrain

az99: saw the receipt for a 5K system the other day. $42K for the unit,including all peripherals. Return just is not worth it.

Was that in Fla. ? That sounds way high.

[wpc691]

Originally Posted by davephan

An estimate of $42K for a 5K system sounds pretty high. Our rough estimate was $32K, but after all the tax credits, rebates, and money back from the utility would drop the cost down to about $12K. The payback would take about 7.9 to 8.5 years. But it looks more likely ever day we think about it that we won't be in Minnesota that long. The electric power rates are significantly cheaper in Florida than Minnesota, and drastically cheaper than Hawaii, where they pay about 37 cents per KWH because most of their electric power is still generated with diesel fuel. They have some utility wind power in Hawaii, but the utility charges the same as if it was generated from diesel fuel.

If we chose SW Florida, we would absolutely get a whole house generator, since there are more electric outages than we are used to here. We have a small 5 KW gasoline generator now, but we are still thinking about getting a whole house system here. As we get older, we are less tolerant of the few electric outages that we have to experience. I don't know if natural gas is piped to homes in that part of the county, or if we'd have to use propane and a big propane tank.

No natural gas here, you'd need a tank. I guess I'm not sure about other locales, but prolonged power outages in Punta Gorda are pretty rare, unless you're talking about Hurricane Charlie. Sometimes we'll get a brief period of "flickers" that last a few seconds. I assume those are no good for electric appliances, but I don't know if they're long enough to even kick a generator on. The house we bought came with a portable generator and a switch box to plug it into our electrical panel, set up to run fridge, washer/dryer, microwave, a few lights. That should hold us for a 1 or 2 day outage, so we decided not to spring for a whole-house system.

[Macgregorsailor51]

Whole house is for someone with an extra $15-$30K burning a hole in their pocket.. I will in time buy a roll-around to run the A/C and some lights and the fridge..

Originally Posted by wpc691

No natural gas here, you'd need a tank. I guess I'm not sure about other locales, but prolonged power outages in Punta Gorda are pretty rare, unless you're talking about Hurricane Charlie. Sometimes we'll get a brief period of "flickers" that last a few seconds. I assume those are no good for electric appliances, but I don't know if they're long enough to even kick a generator on. The house we bought came with a portable generator and a switch box to plug it into our electrical panel, set up to run fridge, washer/dryer, microwave, a few lights. That should hold us for a 1 or 2 day outage, so we decided not to spring for a whole-house system.

[mktobob]

Unless things have changed drastically over the years, I see no reason to invest what is to me, a fairly substantial amount of money, in a back up system covering the entire house. Like Macgregorsailor51 said, a small system with targeted items is good enough.
In the mid 80's I helped build and operate a radio station in the Ft Myers/Cape Coral area and we automatically switched over to generator every afternoon during the rainy season. Our solid state equipment was very susceptible to lightning strikes and spikes.
On the residential side of the generator discussion, unless someone has a trunk full of cash, the cost of a whole house system doesn't figure.

[Macgregorsailor51]

Imagine only using your car every few years Think you might have any starting issues when you need it to start? Many larger units have an automated start up schedule.. Are you likely to keep track of when or if the start up took place.

Originally Posted by mktobob

Unless things have changed drastically over the years, I see no reason to invest what is to me, a fairly substantial amount of money, in a back up system covering the entire house. Like Macgregorsailor51 said, a small system with targeted items is good enough.
In the mid 80's I helped build and operate a radio station in the Ft Myers/Cape Coral area and we automatically switched over to generator every afternoon during the rainy season. Our solid state equipment was very susceptible to lightning strikes and spikes.
On the residential side of the generator discussion, unless someone has a trunk full of cash, the cost of a whole house system doesn't figure.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by Macgregorsailor51

Whole house is for someone with an extra $15-$30K burning a hole in their pocket.. I will in time buy a roll-around to run the A/C and some lights and the fridge..

A whole house generators doesn't cost that much! I think it's closer to $8K. We are thinking about getting one for our current home. I should call a couple companies to get a closer estimate than a ballpark estimate. I'm sure it must be much lower than $15K to $30K!

We bought a gasoline 5 KW generator on a Black Friday sale, but haven't tried using it yet. It would be a hassle to run long cords all over the house to lights, computers, and the refrigerators. I should check out how much it would cost for an electrician to get a plug-in setup for it to connect it to the main power breaker box with a switch to isolate it from the utility power during outages. We'll keep the portable electric generator. If we get a whole house system, it doesn't hurt to have a portable backup generator for a whole house backup generator. A portable generator might also come in handy to loan to one of our relatives or friends in the area, in case they have a long electrical outage.