News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Solar Panels Reduced My Electric Bill by $2,677 in 2022 by bgentry on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @01:26PM (#34235578)
I'm in the Austin suburbs on Pedernales Electric Coop (not Austin Energy as in the city proper). In 2022 they switched away from net metering to a scheme that pays just over 50% of the cost for power returned to the grid. So I now pay $0.090337/kWh for power consumed from the grid, and am credited only $0.05377/kWh for power returned to the grid.

https://www.pec.coop/your-service/distributed-generation/int...

This has changed the payback equation quite a bit. I'm now incentivized to do everything I can to use the power I generate rather than returning it to the grid, whether running more A/C during daylight, running laundry during the day, or storing it on my Powerwalls for using off hours.

Although the payback equation doesn't really make sense anymore, we're still happy with our decision to install solar + powerwalls because we can run the A/C as much as we want without feeling guilty, and also get a solid backup in case of major storm events like the 2021 winter storms. We both work from home and have an infant so keeping the house comfortable is important.

Re:Solar Panels Reduced My Electric Bill by $2,677 in 2022 by manscrober on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @01:55PM (#34236108)
My parents in Germany are paying 0.50€/kWh this year. How much does a typical household use in austin?
Re:Solar Panels Reduced My Electric Bill by $2,677 in 2022 by bgentry on Tuesday January 03, 2023 @02:16PM (#34236507)
Looks like the household average is ~1000 kWh/month, with summer months being a lot higher.

https://austinenergy.com/about/reports-and-data-library/data...