The Money Mustache Community
Around the Internet => Antimustachian Wall of Shame and Comedy => Topic started by: KungfuRabbit on September 16, 2015, 05:12:13 PM
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So i went to a presentation at work today about a new "discount" we get with a solar panel installation place, because i've thought about it but the returns for my situation (MN has less sun and less cooling and cheaper utilities....) is not worth it.
Anyhow among the solar presenters was a guy from my company that talked about his solar panel installation with them. He wanted to save money on his utility bills so he went with solar. His project was $58,000 for 13KW no batteries or anything just solar, down to $43,000 after rebates (mostly federal, some local), for this summer that size installation covered about 60% of his houses electric bill.
..........?????????????.............
his monthly AVERAGE bill for JUST the electric part was $300 / month. in MN!!!!!!!!!! We only use A/C like 2 months a year, and then gas in winter for heating. Not to mention electric is about $0.08 / kwh here, so he used about 3750 kwh electric PER MONTH!!!!!!!!!
The house is also 4300 square feet, 1990s construction by the picture. Which is large for sure, but i have friends in 6000 square foot places that average less than $150 / month for the electric part (for you HCOL people MN is cheap, a 6,000 sq ft house can be as low as $500k, plenty of people in my income bracket were foolish enough to buy them).
i'm just baffled. by my numbers he'd have to leave ~30 60-Watt light bulbs on 24/7 to go from a more reasonable bill to that one.
O, and for the record, my monthly average for electric is below $60, and i'm trying to get that lower....
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Maybe he wants to have a year-round Christmas decoration?
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Wow, more than 3000 KWh/month? We use around 60 KWh... Maybe Dexter's Laboratory is in his basement :D
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He's got to be running like an indoor hydroponics operation, right?
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Are you sure he didn't mean his new monthly electricity bill was only 300 pennies? nickels? even quarters...?
We live where summer temps get over 100 degrees regularly and in our highest month we are nowhere near $300.
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Coworker bought a Leaf, such a great deal with all the rebates and tax credits!!!! Then decided to add solar panels to charge the Leaf.
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The house is also 4300 square feet, 1990s construction by the picture. Which is large for sure, but i have friends in 6000 square foot places that average less than $150 / month for the electric part (for you HCOL people MN is cheap, a 6,000 sq ft house can be as low as $500k, plenty of people in my income bracket were foolish enough to buy them).
6000 square feet! Do they have a trolley to take them from one end of the house to the other?
Where I live, 6000 square feet is a small apartment building.
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his monthly AVERAGE bill for JUST the electric part was $300 / month. in MN!!!!!!!!!! We only use A/C like 2 months a year, and then gas in winter for heating. Not to mention electric is about $0.08 / kwh here, so he used about 3750 kwh electric PER MONTH!!!!!!!!!
Same for me...at most 2 months of AC and gas heat. We also pay $0.08/kwh, but my electric bill is only $60 - $65 a month...and that includes an electric hot water tank.
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Coworker bought a Leaf, such a great deal with all the rebates and tax credits!!!! Then decided to add solar panels to charge the Leaf.
....and?
A lot of people do that. Separately, both can be economically viable (and even if not, can still be done for good reasons). Together, they synergize quite well (especially in areas with time-of-use billing). It also shuts up the ignorant bastages trolling the EV driver about "hurr durr nice coal car".
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Just on the average monthly electric bill... I don' t know how people rack it up so high.
I have an LED for my fish tank, a pretty decent gaming rig that's on 8+ hours a day, a fan or two in the summer, occasionally AC, light heat in the winter, plus lights and all my chargeable gadgets, and the highest I've ever gotten has been $75, the average is more like $45. My friends in similar sized apartments have $150+ easily, and I don't understand how.
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In the summer we run a pool pump. In the winter I do woodworking in the garage and run electric heaters out there. We pay around $150/month on equal billing.