Third Day

In an earlier post, I described two approaches to the use of solar power. The first method involved a minimum use of electricity to allow the solar system to build up credits with the power company such those credits could be used during the winter when days are short and the sun is low in the sky. The second method involved more use of electricity under the assumption that the solar system will catch up and reduce the difference between power from the grid and power from the solar system.

When we came home from church today, the inside temperature was 63 (F), and we decided to switch to the second method and use a space heater to increase the inside temperature. The particular space heater we have uses 1.5 Kwh. The heater was placed near the chair in corner of our family room, and the heater helped my wife who was in the chair, but it didn't do much for me on the couch. I later turned the gas furnace on and brought the temperature up to 66. The furnace kept the temperature at 66, but the space heater didn't raise the temperature, probably because it heats objects not air.

We kept the space heater on for several hours. I checked the net meter at 5 pm MST, and the numbers were 14: 53 Kwh and 24: 51 Kwh. Today was a cool, cloudy day, and the solar system only generated about 75% of the power that it had the day before. Because of that more power was taken from the grid, causing the grid number (14:) to be higher than the solar power number (24:). Because the space heater was on during the evening, the net meter at bedtime had numbers of 14: 67 Kwh and 24: 51 Kwh. Today will be a continuation of the cloudy and rainy day that we had yesterday. Sunny days are forecast for the rest of the week, and it will be interesting to see if the solar system can reduce by the end of week the difference of the two numbers shown on the net meter.

Again, as  review, it isn't important if, from day to day, the grid number is larger than the solar system number. The important thing is that just before the meter is read by the power company and the resulting bill sent out, the grid number and the solar system number are within a few Kwh of each other. We pay about $0.12 per Kwh, and a difference of 20 Kwh would only be about $2.40 on our bill. Unfortunately, my next bill will go out tonight and will probably reflect the higher 14: number that I saw last night. The next bill after that will go out on approximately December 3 and will give a more accurate picture of how well our use of solar power and our management of grid power is doing.

I've been on the equal-payment plan such that I pay the same each month ($118), and I've gone off that system and will pay each month's bill regardless of how high or how low that bill is. This will help me see from month to month how well the solar system is doing in keeping my electrical bill lower than it has been.

I probably won't make another post for a few days and will then report how well our solar system is doing to reduce the difference between grid power and solar power.