Before joining make sure you are producing more than you are importing, shoulder seasons always provide the best net output, but once it starts heating up and if you have AC that export might dry up and you don’t want to be paying top $ for electricity at that point.
I designed my house 7 years ago and with solar back then I was net zero over the years but the last two years have been a lot hotter which makes me run my AC more and bumped me into importing more during the summer times - I will be getting another 7.5kW added next month so will join the solar club once again.
That is a good point. Will need to go through last year's bills, to see where my AC put me at usage. We have two summers of AC usage, so I could compare them, since one was with poorly insulated attic and last year was with the attic spray foamed.
Luckily we are comfortable with a higher inside temperature than most. If it's 23°C inside we are comfortable, whereas I know many people running their homes at 18°C. Lower Delta T across the walls/attic, the less you lose energy wise
I have a 24.8kW system and average about 3,000kWh export monthly and 600kWh consumption during the high rate. My payback is 1.5 years for the entire system thanks to the $20k CEBA loan forgiveness and the GHG $5k rebate.
It gets much easier to exploit the solar club if you have heat pump(s) for winter heating. Also really helps exploiting with discretionary loads like multiple EVs and a hot tub to meet the 105% offset restriction. I prefer to use the free Level 2 EV charging across town because it is very expensive to charge my EVs at home.
I was limited to where I could put my panels, put them on the garage I had built few years ago. The house is shaded by two large pines, which is nice but not good for panels.
Was still 103% of our usage for the last 12 months, which was all calculated in November. Now we added more load with the HPWH. Wish I had done a heat pump instead of AC few years back, but our house was hot due to poor attic insulation and I was too busy to do my research.
No EV for us, happy with hybrid technology for our uses.
What's the process for getting more added to your system? Do you have to prove energy consumption greater than production? I'm in the process of getting a system now and I'm wondering if I can add to it in the future.
They’re all pretty much the same company with different versions of a storefront. I’d just go with the cheapest one, or the one that donates to a charity that you like. I go through Sandstone Energy which donates net profits to the Calgary Public Library Foundation.
The solar club is a program by UtilityNet. All the retailers are basically just sub-marketers. So pick any of them. As you have stated the main difference is the admin fee.
Solarmax lets you bundle gas and power for one admin fee, so that's who I am with for the summer. I would not go fixed for gas, if you are, you are likely significantly overpaying. Variable gas has been around $2-3/GJ for the last year.
Will continue to look in to it. We might break even on power during the peak of summer heat, especially considering we added a HPWH few months ago.
The gas prices, we were fixed for the last 8 months. Not too concerned about it, but I also don't watch these things closely, hence going fixed. Got screwed on power last year for a few months because I do not pay any attention.
I suggest going with Rocky Mountain Community Energy. Their profits go to building community-owned renewable energy projects through an all-volunteer run cooperative. Can’t get cooler and more energy transition-oriented than that!
Before joining make sure you are producing more than you are importing, shoulder seasons always provide the best net output, but once it starts heating up and if you have AC that export might dry up and you don’t want to be paying top $ for electricity at that point. I designed my house 7 years ago and with solar back then I was net zero over the years but the last two years have been a lot hotter which makes me run my AC more and bumped me into importing more during the summer times - I will be getting another 7.5kW added next month so will join the solar club once again.
That is a good point. Will need to go through last year's bills, to see where my AC put me at usage. We have two summers of AC usage, so I could compare them, since one was with poorly insulated attic and last year was with the attic spray foamed. Luckily we are comfortable with a higher inside temperature than most. If it's 23°C inside we are comfortable, whereas I know many people running their homes at 18°C. Lower Delta T across the walls/attic, the less you lose energy wise
I have a 24.8kW system and average about 3,000kWh export monthly and 600kWh consumption during the high rate. My payback is 1.5 years for the entire system thanks to the $20k CEBA loan forgiveness and the GHG $5k rebate. It gets much easier to exploit the solar club if you have heat pump(s) for winter heating. Also really helps exploiting with discretionary loads like multiple EVs and a hot tub to meet the 105% offset restriction. I prefer to use the free Level 2 EV charging across town because it is very expensive to charge my EVs at home.
You used the CEBA to put a solar system on your house? Jesus dude...
I was limited to where I could put my panels, put them on the garage I had built few years ago. The house is shaded by two large pines, which is nice but not good for panels. Was still 103% of our usage for the last 12 months, which was all calculated in November. Now we added more load with the HPWH. Wish I had done a heat pump instead of AC few years back, but our house was hot due to poor attic insulation and I was too busy to do my research. No EV for us, happy with hybrid technology for our uses.
What's the process for getting more added to your system? Do you have to prove energy consumption greater than production? I'm in the process of getting a system now and I'm wondering if I can add to it in the future.
Yes, consumption, but also roof capacity and bus bar capacity as well
They’re all pretty much the same company with different versions of a storefront. I’d just go with the cheapest one, or the one that donates to a charity that you like. I go through Sandstone Energy which donates net profits to the Calgary Public Library Foundation.
K that is kind of what I was starting to think, given that the two pages both show the same Trademark part of utility net.
Yeah, if it’s a UtilityNet marketer you can’t really go wrong.
SpotPower is directly via UTILITYnet, with no third party marketer ✌️
I second this. Been with Spot for over a year with zero issues.
The solar club is a program by UtilityNet. All the retailers are basically just sub-marketers. So pick any of them. As you have stated the main difference is the admin fee. Solarmax lets you bundle gas and power for one admin fee, so that's who I am with for the summer. I would not go fixed for gas, if you are, you are likely significantly overpaying. Variable gas has been around $2-3/GJ for the last year.
Will continue to look in to it. We might break even on power during the peak of summer heat, especially considering we added a HPWH few months ago. The gas prices, we were fixed for the last 8 months. Not too concerned about it, but I also don't watch these things closely, hence going fixed. Got screwed on power last year for a few months because I do not pay any attention.
I suggest going with Rocky Mountain Community Energy. Their profits go to building community-owned renewable energy projects through an all-volunteer run cooperative. Can’t get cooler and more energy transition-oriented than that!