Fixed energy bill

[ifall 0]

I have an option of paying the same amount each month for my electric bill and wanted to see what people's experience with this have been. There is no settle-up at the end of the year (which was my first thought/fear) and I can sign up again after the 12 month period. I'm sure with adjusted rates though. My gut tells me to sign up for this as it's a pretty fair rate IMHO. Anyone have any bad experience doing this?

[popsjumper 2]

Assuming last year was an average year for energy costs...

What was your total outlay last year?
How does that compare to what they are offering?
Can you opt out after year-end? (I think I see yes.)

Fixed rate: Does that mean you can crank up the AC and heat all the way to max all year?

Hmmmmm...green people will not like that.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Squeak 17]

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I have an option of paying the same amount each month for my electric bill and wanted to see what people's experience with this have been. There is no settle-up at the end of the year (which was my first thought/fear) and I can sign up again after the 12 month period. I'm sure with adjusted rates though. My gut tells me to sign up for this as it's a pretty fair rate IMHO. Anyone have any bad experience doing this?

have you considered Solar panels on the roof for power.
I have them and i end up getting money BACK from the power company (granted I live in OZ were the sun is always out). but you will get a very significant reduction in the power company bills.

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[ifall 0]

I averaged out one year and the total cost per month including tax and any other charge was $80.27. I moved in this house May of last year but my avg. I went on was from Sept. 2010 to Sept. 2011 and I got my $100 deposit credited back for paying on time every month for a year. They are offering me $72.29/month before tax and misc. charge for the next 12 months. Seems pretty reasonable to me.

It's a 12 month at a time thing and after one year I don't have sign up again if I don't want and they are claiming no settle-up charges at the end of term.

Squeak, I will be looking into that now that you mentioned it. I have a LOT of exposure with a roof sloped from the center facing east/west so I get sun all day. Thanks.

[Remster 24]

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I have a LOT of exposure with a roof sloped from the center facing east/west so I get sun all day

The preferred roof orientation is South. With your roof set up (if I understood correctly), 1/2 your panels will not have much sun for 1/2 the day. In fact, in order to get the full government incentive for the installation (in AZ anyway) they need to be South (+- 20 deg), angled at 30ish deg from horizontal (within a few degrees)

Remster

[oldwomanc6 38]

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I have a LOT of exposure with a roof sloped from the center facing east/west so I get sun all day

The preferred roof orientation is South. With your roof set up (if I understood correctly), 1/2 your panels will not have much sun for 1/2 the day. In fact, in order to get the full government incentive for the installation (in AZ anyway) they need to be South (+- 20 deg), angled at 30ish deg from horizontal (within a few degrees)

I'm assuming that Squeek's face North

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[Remster 24]

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I have a LOT of exposure with a roof sloped from the center facing east/west so I get sun all day

The preferred roof orientation is South. With your roof set up (if I understood correctly), 1/2 your panels will not have much sun for 1/2 the day. In fact, in order to get the full government incentive for the installation (in AZ anyway) they need to be South (+- 20 deg), angled at 30ish deg from horizontal (within a few degrees)

I'm assuming that Squeek's face North

Backwards ozzies...

(hence my reply to ifall )

Remster

[ifall 0]

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The preferred roof orientation is South. With your roof set up (if I understood correctly), 1/2 your panels will not have much sun for 1/2 the day. In fact, in order to get the full government incentive for the installation (in AZ anyway) they need to be South (+- 20 deg), angled at 30ish deg from horizontal (within a few degrees)

Didn't think of that. I will have to look into the govt. incentive thing more I suppose. Attached pics to show what I would be working with.


eta: Got the compass out and to be more accurate it's facing ESE/WNW.

[oldwomanc6 38]

I'm assuming that Squeek's face North

Backwards ozzies...

(hence my reply to ifall )

They's not backwards, they's upside down

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[Remster 24]

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They's not backwards, they's upside down

One does not make the other less valid

Remster

[oldwomanc6 38]

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They's not backwards, they's upside down

One does not make the other less valid

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[justme12001 0]

I've done this for several years with my power company. Not sure if yours will be the same, but the way mine works is every new year they average your rates again. So if you have a good rate this year and decide to crank the AC and heat next year the average goes up. Pretty straight forward. Mine usually stays pretty much the same, $20 or so fluctuation from year to year.

[Squeak 17]

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The preferred roof orientation is South. With your roof set up (if I understood correctly), 1/2 your panels will not have much sun for 1/2 the day. In fact, in order to get the full government incentive for the installation (in AZ anyway) they need to be South (+- 20 deg), angled at 30ish deg from horizontal (within a few degrees)

Didn't think of that. I will have to look into the govt. incentive thing more I suppose. Attached pics to show what I would be working with.

Remi is correct, but the reduction in efficiency is only about 10%, you can install an extra panel to compensate.
We have 21 panels and a 5.7Kw inverter, 6 panels are north facing the others West Facing, we have no issues what so ever with power production.

I will say that not all panels are created equally though, so do your homework.

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[ifall 0]

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I've done this for several years with my power company. Not sure if yours will be the same, but the way mine works is every new year they average your rates again. So if you have a good rate this year and decide to crank the AC and heat next year the average goes up. Pretty straight forward. Mine usually stays pretty much the same, $20 or so fluctuation from year to year.

Thanks! That is good to know.

[ifall 0]

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The preferred roof orientation is South. With your roof set up (if I understood correctly), 1/2 your panels will not have much sun for 1/2 the day. In fact, in order to get the full government incentive for the installation (in AZ anyway) they need to be South (+- 20 deg), angled at 30ish deg from horizontal (within a few degrees)

Didn't think of that. I will have to look into the govt. incentive thing more I suppose. Attached pics to show what I would be working with.

Remi is correct, but the reduction in efficiency is only about 10%, you can install an extra panel to compensate.
We have 21 panels and a 5.7Kw inverter, 6 panels are north facing the others West Facing, we have no issues what so ever with power production.

I will say that not all panels are created equally though, so do your homework.

Thanks, I definitely will. With a brief search I've already found a lot of companies with info from do it yourself to full installs by the company. Any recommendations?

[Squeak 17]

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The preferred roof orientation is South. With your roof set up (if I understood correctly), 1/2 your panels will not have much sun for 1/2 the day. In fact, in order to get the full government incentive for the installation (in AZ anyway) they need to be South (+- 20 deg), angled at 30ish deg from horizontal (within a few degrees)

Didn't think of that. I will have to look into the govt. incentive thing more I suppose. Attached pics to show what I would be working with.

Remi is correct, but the reduction in efficiency is only about 10%, you can install an extra panel to compensate.
We have 21 panels and a 5.7Kw inverter, 6 panels are north facing the others West Facing, we have no issues what so ever with power production.

I will say that not all panels are created equally though, so do your homework.

Thanks, I definitely will. With a brief search I've already found a lot of companies with info from do it yourself to full installs by the company. Any recommendations?

Dont know what's available for you lot, but there's a good forum at Whirlpool they have a whole bucnh of anaracks there Search in "GreenTech" subforum

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[Remster 24]

Ifall: look into the programs from your power provider. They may require a professional install from an approved installer.

PS: Anaracks = geeks. Thought I'd translate... ;)

Remster

[ifall 0]

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Ifall: look into the programs from your power provider. They may require a professional install from an approved installer.

Good point, I'll do that.

I'm kind of a geek too.

[ifall 0]

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I have an option of paying the same amount each month for my electric bill and wanted to see what people's experience with this have been. There is no settle-up at the end of the year (which was my first thought/fear) and I can sign up again after the 12 month period. I'm sure with adjusted rates though. My gut tells me to sign up for this as it's a pretty fair rate IMHO. Anyone have any bad experience doing this?

That sounds like 'levelized billing.' That came about around ten years ago or so when news media was coming out with stories about people getting their power shutoff in winter when they got hit with a $300 bill they couldn't pay.

Basically it's a 'statistical average' bill for the year. You use a few hundred during the winter and summer from heating and cooling, but much less in the Spring and Summer when temps are more agreeable. You pay an average of that every month so you don't get big bills some months and tiny bills other months.

For homeowners they used to adjust that every year based on over or under usage (it might go up $5/month if you turned the AC down an extra two degrees).

If they changed that I wonder what angle they're working.

Back on topic, nice.

That is why I was asking. My grandmother did that (she's been dead 15 years) and after her death my mom and her sister had to take care of the "settle-up" for what they claimed was overage of their average.

This seems to be pretty legit though. No small disclaimers and they actually state they don't "settle-up" at the end of 12 months.

I'm still going to look into it more to see if I can find a catch but I just wanted to see if anyone had anything to say about it. Thanks for the reply.

[PhreeZone 15]

I've been doing this for my gas and my bill is around $39 per month year round. I know in the summer I barely touch the gas except for hot water so those months I am just putting money away for winter. There is a catch up period with my program where they can see if you are way off the average and they will readjust your monthly bill to the new level.

Also forget about solar here in Ohio. I've done the math multiple times and we are just too far north and have too many cloudy days to even come close to paying off the panels let alone seeing a return on them in anything less than a 20 year span.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[ifall 0]

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I've been doing this for my gas and my bill is around $39 per month year round. I know in the summer I barely touch the gas except for hot water so those months I am just putting money away for winter. There is a catch up period with my program where they can see if you are way off the average and they will readjust your monthly bill to the new level.

Also forget about solar here in Ohio. I've done the math multiple times and we are just too far north and have too many cloudy days to even come close to paying off the panels let alone seeing a return on them in anything less than a 20 year span.

I have gas as well and like you I use it for water only in summer also. In summer and winter electric and gas are pretty much polar opposites when it comes to bill time.

Good point.

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There may not be a 'settle up' at the end of the year, but your billing will adjust for the next year. If you move or switch providers you will probably be paying any overages as well.

You're not getting anything for free, it's just a method of spreading the cost out so people can absorb it easier.

I would expect it to adjust up or down depending on my usage but my usage has been pretty predictable and that's why I'm considering this.

I never expect to get anything for free and I like predictable when it comes to my monthly bills. Helps me with my budget. A little adjustment each year up or down I don't mind.

[sfzombie 3]

i got on this system when i moved. what they told me was that the bill would be set for 12 months(there was a 10% fluctuation monthly built in) and at the end of the 12 months, any overages would be added to the budget over the next 12 months. or they had the option that i could pay the extra at the end of the year. i chose to have the extra spread out over the next year because i doubt i'll be staying til the end of the lease.

http://kitswv.com

[DougH 270]

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I have an option of paying the same amount each month for my electric bill and wanted to see what people's experience with this have been. There is no settle-up at the end of the year (which was my first thought/fear) and I can sign up again after the 12 month period. I'm sure with adjusted rates though. My gut tells me to sign up for this as it's a pretty fair rate IMHO. Anyone have any bad experience doing this?

have you considered Solar panels on the roof for power.
I have them and i end up getting money BACK from the power company (granted I live in OZ were the sun is always out). but you will get a very significant reduction in the power company bills.

\

With only 900 bucks in power consumption a year she is going to have an awfully long payback period on solar panels.

The investment would be better spent elsewhere!

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[ifall 0]

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I have an option of paying the same amount each month for my electric bill and wanted to see what people's experience with this have been. There is no settle-up at the end of the year (which was my first thought/fear) and I can sign up again after the 12 month period. I'm sure with adjusted rates though. My gut tells me to sign up for this as it's a pretty fair rate IMHO. Anyone have any bad experience doing this?

have you considered Solar panels on the roof for power.
I have them and i end up getting money BACK from the power company (granted I live in OZ were the sun is always out). but you will get a very significant reduction in the power company bills.

\

With only 900 bucks in power consumption a year she is going to have an awfully long payback period on solar panels.

The investment would be better spent elsewhere!

Whew!!! It's still there thank God! I'm a dude but I get what you're saying.

[DougH 270]

Sorry! That being said, you really had to check in your pants to confirm the validity of my statement??!!

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P