I gotta say, I was a little disappointed in my electric bill this month.
The electric utility ONLY owed me a small amount. Which is why this is so crazy!
Any normal person would be ecstatic to GET money from the power company instead of owing it! I think I finally hit the point that I’m really starting to take solar for granted. If I had to OWE the power company, say, $100, I’d be outraged! Yet the average American easily pays that much and more EVERY MONTH!
Beyond that, I can’t think of the last time I’ve had to pay for gasoline. I’ve never had to do any maintenance work on my car beyond adding windshield washer fluid. It’s just so darn cheap to operate, and I don’t even think about it.
In fact, I’m saving THOUSANDS of dollars per year by making my own electricity AND not purchasing gasoline OR common automotive maintenance. Unfortunately, it’s not as glamorous as somebody writing me a check at the end of the year. I simply DON’T spend the money I used to on these things.
Where does the money go instead? Wherever I want it to. My seven year-old daughter has a retirement fund. Can’t say that for too many little girls. The money can go to retirement, college savings, paying off the mortgage faster or whatever. (I’d say paying off debt faster, but the only debt I have is the construction loan for the garage.)
This spring, I got hurt pretty bad in a traffic collision, which caused not only medical bills, but a serious drop in my income. Fortunately, we had savings.
I chatted one night on the phone with a friend who was filling in for me at work. He’s kind of what I think of as a typical successful guy; married, house, a couple kids, two cars, a full time job. But he also has a mortgage, two car payments, and college loans. In the conversation, he admitted to me that “If it had happened to me, I don’t know what I would have done.”
Seems that I’m the odd man out for not being up the my eyeballs in debt the way so many people are. I don’t live high on the hog, but if the Solar Death Ray videos are any indication, I can have plenty of fun on a low budget.
Perhaps I am getting a little jaded, but the solar is no longer that exciting. It simply cranks away, saving me money. Even if it’s not much that the power company owes me, it’s still a lot that I don’t owe them.
And frankly, that feels pretty good.
Until next time, stay charged up!
-Ben
PS: How much did I actually save? I’m credited at full retail rate for power produced, which was 756 kWh. That comes to a value of $98.28. Plus the $1.39 the power company owes me makes a grand total of $99.67. For even more value, consider the fact that I didn’t have to earn money, pay taxes on it, and then spend my post-tax dollars to pay the electric bill!
