Monday, November 15, 2010

A Near Net-zero Month!

We just got our electric bill for November and it was $39.00, approximately 22.50 of which is a service availability charge. We only used 181 KWH!. We think that since our highest bill so far was for 783 KWH, we could probably achieve net-zero with another solar array or wind generator. We have the pre-wiring required for a wind generator, but it would probably cost about 10K, with installation. When we get our tax rebates for the solar, we'll have to decide whether the payback is worth it.

The service availability charge from our local power cooperative is really annoying. Basically, we pay .75 per day just to be hooked up, whether we use electricity or not. I wasn't aware of this charge before because I never looked at the bill details.