Power rate increase

[Mr. Tightwad]

$25.31 last month, more than usual.

[NW-Bound]

Apparently, not all places have a minimal service charge as they do where I am, or if there is, it must be very low.

At my metropolitan home, the service charge is $20/month. At my high-country boondocks home, the minimum charge is $31/month.

At my city home, the bill of $34.42 for Nov 2021 means only $14.42 for electricity, again thanks to the solar+battery system.

At the boondocks home, when we are not there the lowest bill is $41, and only $10 goes to the electricity for the fridge. The electric rate is $0.08/kWh, and the fridge burns a bit more than 4 kWh/day.

[SeanPizzle]

PG&E rates in CA are .28/.36/.44 per KWH. We got solar a year ago and the ROI is just a hair over 4 years.

[ncbill]

still under $0.10/kWh here including taxes.

no decent payback for solar unless you are able to incorporate and so then depreciate the system at your 'business.'

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Apparently, not all places have a minimal service charge as they do where I am, or if there is, it must be very low. At my metropolitan home, the service charge is $20/month. At my high-country boondocks home, the minimum charge is $31/month. At my city home, the bill of $34.42 for Nov 2021 means only $14.42 for electricity, again thanks to the solar+battery system. At the boondocks home, when we are not there the lowest bill is $41, and only $10 goes to the electricity for the fridge. The electric rate is $0.08/kWh, and the fridge burns a bit more than 4 kWh/day.

I guess I should feel "good" that my only "monthly" charge is $11.50 (whether I use a KWH or not.) Of course, when I divide my total KWH by my total bill (which includes 8 other charges) it comes out to over $0.38/kwh. So maybe I shouldn't feel "good" after all, but YMMV.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau I guess I should feel "good" that my only "monthly" charge is $11.50 (whether I use a KWH or not.) Of course, when I divide my total KWH by my total bill (which includes 8 other charges) it comes out to over $0.38/kwh. So maybe I shouldn't feel "good" after all, but YMMV.

Because of the fixed charge, my all-in cost at the metropolitan home is $0.138/kWh when averaged over the last 12 months, and it gets higher and higher as I improve my solar+battery system and use less and less from the grid.

The cost per kWh is outrageously high at $0.33/kWh at my high-country boondocks home, because of the high fixed charge of $31/month and the fridge being the sole power consumer when I am not there. If I used more, it would be only $0.08/kWh.

If I lived up there full-time at the high country, I would go off-grid as it would not be hard to do so with a solar+battery system. The need for air conditioning is minimal at 7,000 ft, and it would be for only a few days each year and only a few hours each day too. I would have to install a propane furnace, however, for the winter cold.

Come to think of it, perhaps the utility up in the high-country place has to levy a high fixed charge because people up there use so little power. And most full-timers do use propane for heating. Heat pumps like mine don't work that well (low down to -11F) and need electric resistance heaters for a boost. It would be expensive for full-time living without propane.