Free Solar Analysis
See How Much Solar Energy Your House Can Produce!
You may fill out our online form or you may cut and
paste the form at the bottom of this page to an
email, fill out the Solar Analysis form, and send it
to us.
Online form - use the scroll bar on the right to
scroll thru the form. Make sure to hit the submit
button at the bottom of the form when you are
finished. Thank you.
Your Electricity Use
In order to suggest appropriate sizes for a solar
system and do an analysis, it is helpful to know
your current or projected electrical consumption in
terms of kilowatt-hours per month.
The first place to start is to tell us how much
electricity you use now. From that we can tell you
the economics of different options (replacing all
your usage with solar, replacing some...). Because
of the structure of the rates, the economics are
very dependent on your consumption. The same size
solar system can save different amounts for
different people.
For the usage it would be good if you have a year's
history. We can roughly estimate from just one
month's bill but a year is much better. The number
we need is the total kilowatt-hours that you use
each month.
You can get the usage three
ways: 1. Directions for getting interval data from PGE: If one doesn't have online access to one's account
yet, it's easy and fast to get. (One needs a
statement copy for the account#) Go to PGE's website, click on "My Account" and then
on "Log in" in the lower right. In the box that pops
up you can register, if you haven't already. After logging in, click on "Usage Analysis" under
"My Usage". On the page that comes up, click on the "Green
Button" in the lower right corner, and choose
"Export usage for a range of days:" (3rd choice from
top), and change initial date so that it covers as
least a year (longer is even better). 2. You can call PG&E (800-743-5000). Ask them for a
12 month history of your kilowatt-hours per month,
broken down by month. You can ask them to email you
the answers or read them to you on the phone.
Forward those to us. 3. If you have 12 months of bills, you can find the
usage listed in a box in the Electric Account
Details portion of your bill (usually page 3 towards
the bottom of the page). It is also necessary to know the tariff under which
you are served. It is most likely E1 TB, but could
be different. It is on the first page, just above
your name on the left in the middle of the page. Is
your house all-electric, or do you have gas service
as well?
Please let us know the address of your house as
well.
If you would like, we can also give you lots of
links to interesting readings about solar, and solar
energy policy in general.
Thanks for your interest,
The team at Applied Solar Energy
Background
Net metering means that when your solar system is
producing more than you use, your energy flows out
to the grid, turning your meter backwards, earning
credits at retail rates. At times when you are using
more than you are producing (e.g. at night) the
energy flows from PG&E turning the meter forwards.
After each year, PG&E bills you for your "Net
usage". If you have not produced as much as you
used, you will owe PG&E. If you produced more than
you used, PG&E will now pay you as of 2011! Or your
account may just be zeroed out.
Solar Rebates are slowly decreasing, with scheduled
drops as different levels of solar installs are
achieved.
There is a Solar Federal tax credit of 30%, for
solar systems. Commercial systems (including on
rental properties) also qualify for accelerated
depreciation.
Solar Analysis Form to copy & paste
in an email
Street Address:
City:
Zip:
PGE Acct#:
Electrical Tariff (something like E1TB or E1XH):
Electrical Usage in kilowatt-hours (kwh) Since the
current year isn't complete yet, you can start your
history sometime in the prior year. Just make sure
we have at least 12 months history.
Month: |
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Current year |
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If you are interested in hot water as well, fill out
therms per month.
Month: |
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Current year |
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