I just got my October electric bill! Let’s look inside and see what it comes to.
Since I have solar on my garage, my electric bill is far less than it used to be. I typically look forward to getting my bill and taking my best guess as to what it will come to. Overall, in the summer, I produce more than I use, and in the winter, I use more than I produce.
After opening the bill, it looks like I hit a sweet-spot for October, using only 20 kWh of electricity more than we produced. That’s about a day’s worth of electricity. The actual cost of that electricity was only $2.21. Unfortunately, flat-fees, charges, and taxes brought the total for the month to $17.52!
Since I already had a credit of more than that (from overproducing power in the summer months) I still didn’t actually have to pay anything.
Interestingly enough, on the BACK of my electric bill, all the numbers are listed for the On-Peak/Off-Peak time of use numbers. By using these numbers, I could actually look to see if I would pay a different amount if I was on the Time of Use plan.
The TOU plan with my power company means I would pay 20 cents per kWh during on-peak times and 6 cents per kWh in OFF-peak times. On-Peak is 8AM to 8PM weekdays. Off-peak is nights, weekends, and holidays. Fortunately, solar production lines up pretty nicely with those peak times. Even if electricity costs more during the day, so what, if I can make it myself! Better yet, what if I can EARN that same rate exporting power during the day!?
I crunched the numbers on the back of my power bill and found that this month, being on a Time of Use plan would have saved me $27.18! Instead of owing the power company, they would have given me a credit!
So, I’m all set now to being the Time of Use planning starting this next billing cycle. Will it actually work the way I plan? What if I have to use a bunch of electricity during the day? Will I actually save money!?!
Tune in for next month’s electric bill to find the answer!
Until then, stay charged-up!
-Ben Nelson
300MPG
October Electric Bill and Time of Use
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