2022 Solar Summary

[nakman]

Hoping someone can help me understand this.. also curious how you other guys fared last year.. according to Xcel Energy I used 4797 kWh of electricity last year. At least, that's what they billed me for. here's the data.

and again in graph form

Before solar, my annual usage was 7098 kWh to be exact

So my usage went up, not down.. yes I added an EV and a hot tub. We can get to that in a bit...

My meter at the house, which was installed 2 days before Christmas 2021 and read 00000 at the time, now says 6051. Figure that's 54 weeks of usage, so more realistic my meter would be 5827 for 52 weeks.

And then my solar system has reported production of 8.3 mWh, or 8300 kWh, right?

Some questions...

1. why am I billed for 4797 kWh when I consumed 5827 kWh? Am I to expect a big fat reconciliation bill at some point?
2. did I really consume like 13,000 kWh of electricity? the sum of what I was billed from Xcel and what I produced? (8.3+4.7) So adding a hot tub and Leaf almost doubled my consumption? wow, am baffled here.. so I could turn off the hot tub and sell the Leaf and we'd get to 0?

anyone else feel like Xcel energy is trying to screw them?

 

[60wag]

That does look odd, but then you do have two teenagers. Is the hot water gas or electric? When did the solar go online?

 

[nakman]

Hot water is gas. So is the heat. And we've had solar all year, it went online at the end of 2021... so a full year of data here.

 

[krice118]

Nothing helpful to Add but i am very interested in following along here. Thanks for sharing Tim.

 

[60wag]

From the numbers above, looks like your average monthly consumption in 2020 was 596 kWh and in 2021 was 619 kWh, not too far apart for a baseline. Solar goes online at end of 2021. Your 2022 monthly average on the meter drops to 436 kWh, so it looks like the meter is working correctly. (December 2022 is an outlier). Adding the meter numbers to the solar produced in 2022, the monthly average consumption went up to 1154 kWh. So yes, it looks like your consumption doubled after the solar went in.

How much power does the hot tub consume?
How many miles a month is the Leaf driving? Is all of the Leaf charging done at home?
How big is the grow operation in the basement?

 

[nakman]

So we probably drive the leaf 1000 miles a month. Also we didn’t have it until February, so all of Jan is non-leaf.

I couldn’t get a straight answer from the hot tub folks on consumption… they just flip it around that it all depends on your temp setting, outdoor temps, how often you use it, etc. oh, and their spas are the most efficient, of course. (Wind river). Best I could get from them is that most customers notice about a $30-50 per month increase in their power bill. So convert that to watts somehow I guess.

 

[J1000]

I know Xcel is facing lots of backlash and several lawsuits after the recent year or so of changes. Just about everyone across the board is reporting their bill going up since the install of new meters. More than some of it looks to be mistakes or mixups of addresses. For a lot of homes Xcel would "estimate" your usage based on the neighborhood so possibly you were benefiting from that.

 

[RayRay27]

Hoping someone can help me understand this.. also curious how you other guys fared last year.. according to Xcel Energy I used 4797 kWh of electricity last year. At least, that's what they billed me for. here's the data.

View attachment 110790
and again in graph form
View attachment 110791


Before solar, my annual usage was 7098 kWh to be exact
View attachment 110792

So my usage went up, not down.. yes I added an EV and a hot tub. We can get to that in a bit...

My meter at the house, which was installed 2 days before Christmas 2021 and read 00000 at the time, now says 6051. Figure that's 54 weeks of usage, so more realistic my meter would be 5827 for 52 weeks.
View attachment 110794

And then my solar system has reported production of 8.3 mWh, or 8300 kWh, right?
View attachment 110796


Some questions...

1. why am I billed for 4797 kWh when I consumed 5827 kWh? Am I to expect a big fat reconciliation bill at some point?
2. did I really consume like 13,000 kWh of electricity? the sum of what I was billed from Xcel and what I produced? (8.3+4.7) So adding a hot tub and Leaf almost doubled my consumption? wow, am baffled here.. so I could turn off the hot tub and sell the Leaf and we'd get to 0?

anyone else feel like Xcel energy is trying to screw them?

Can you pull up your usage for 2022 on Xcel?

This is what mine looks like for this year. My bill has gone up every month this year. A large part is because how damn expensive gas is getting but the stupid Colorado utilities commission keeps approving rate increases proposed by Xcel.

 

[RayRay27]

Watch the following video by John Oliver. I feel it provides some really great insight into how energy companies pretty much have all the freedom they want to charge customers whatever they want and we have to pay.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-YRSqaPtMg

 

[nakman]

Ray my 2022 usage from Xcel is in the first post here.. 4797kWh total.

I think I can back into the hot tub. What I know about the Leaf is that it uses 30 kWh to reach a full charge... like from 20-30 miles or so left to go, to being completely topped off. Our charger shows this data, here's one example:

So for simple math say the leaf needs 30kWh for every 120 miles driven. We drove the leaf 12,000 miles in the year, that's 3000kWh of power right?

I used 13,000 kWh total in 2022. we ran the AC a little more last summer also, so let's say I used 8000 kWh rather than my typical 7429 kWh pre-AC baseline. 13,000(total)-8000(baseline)-3000(leaf)=2000kWh for the hot tub. that doesn't feel too out of line?

 

[gungriffin]

So frustratingly, the monthly usage online with Xcel is NOT right. It has been a royal hassle to figure out how much power I am using at my new house. Xcel wouldn't allow me to see my detailed bill online unless I signed up for paperless billing. The monthly power estimator is not correct as well. What a useless tool. I called about the inaccuracy a few months ago. Xcel said they were aware of the issue and that the number on the bill was the correct number. I started to photograph my usage at my house just to check that they were reporting things correctly. They always report the day that they check the meters. I am so over Xcel...

I am using extra electricity to get my 12 month usage up to 5000 Kwh in my new place. I am not living there right now, but I am doing this so I can install 200% of my annual usage. I will then put in a 9900 kwh system on my roof. It will be that size because the permit requirements in Denver shift to be much more onerous at a 10 kw solar system.

As far as the electric car, a quick google search for the Nissan Leaf is that it would use somewhere around 3 Kwh per mile. So 1000 miles a month would be about 333 Kwh on the bill. That would be a large part of the increase. Then somewhere around 200 Kwh a month for the hot tub. Is the hot tub 120 or 240? I am a big fan of the Kill a Watt product to measure Kwh used. It is only about $30 for the 120v version. I find it great for estimating real world energy consumption. There are also solutions that you can attach to a breaker to estimate Kwh used. That would certainly help to give you an exact number rather than just an estimate.

https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU

 

[gungriffin]

Maybe something like this to estimate usage on the hot tub if you are using 240v:

https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Frequency-Electric-Voltmeter-Multimeter/dp/B07YC1XHKQ/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=killawatt%2B220v&qid=1674081906&sr=8-3&th=1

 

[nakman]

Maybe something like this to estimate usage on the hot tub if you are using 240v:

Hey that's cool Ryan, thanks.. also thanks for diving into this. I think my estimates are pretty close to yours also?

I don't know how you'll get approval for 200% of your past usage though, unless you've got a couple deposits down for an EV? I thought the limit was 120%, you could get them to bump that up with a binding contract for an EV but not sure how much though...

 

[Romer]

Colorado passed a bill, SB21-261, that changed the 120% rule to 200% so that homeowners can now offset up to 200% of their last 12 months of energy

 

[nakman]

Oh well this just keeps getting better and better... thanks, Ken!

 

[Romer]

Oh well this just keeps getting better and better... thanks, Ken!

No problem. I am getting a heat Pump installed next week (Dual Fuel) in replacing 1 off my two systems. I want to see data on winter electricity increase and evaluating that and an EV (or two) in the future looking at increasing my current system by 20 to 30% in the future. I haven't decided if I will do that. I want to see the data first

 

[nakman]

just to add to my data here... if you log into Xcel Energy, then in My Account click on Usage. Then under filter by report type select "net generated by customer." Check out the data...

Never once has my system out produced consumption. I was on the phone with Xcel today and they said heir system shows that my solar produced about 1000kWh/month last year. Really? where can I find that data? Well you can't get it on the website, but they'll open a ticket and they're going to email me a report. holding my breath for this.

 

[RayRay27]

Here is what my net generated looks like. I have no data for May of 2022 so not sure if they didn't receive any information on it or not reporting it?

Not sure if this calculation makes sense or not but could you take your total solar production info from your solar company and subtract the reading on your net meter? Again Xcel is the worst to deal with and they have very little information how your solar production off sets your electricity usage.

 

[nakman]

@RayRay27 yeah I kind of did that above. That is really sweet that you're a net generator, even in October/November. And I am not saying this is incorrect, just seems sad that I can't have a month where I produce more power than I consume. I am sure there were days that I was in the black here and there, just not consistently.

Xcel told me last year that they have absolutely no idea how much electricity I generate. And with only a net meter, how could they? So I'm curious how they told me today they can see this data, I don't think the person I was speaking with understood the question. Just bummed we didn't get a larger system, result of the then 120% cap and the additional limiting of my undersized inverters.. I'm still saving money on electricity though, and my total buy-in is still 1/3-1/2 of everyone else's. hope this is helpful to the next solar shopper.

 

[RayRay27]

Sorry, not trying to hijack this thread but here's a real doozy about how Xcel treats its customers.

Xcel threatens to shut off Highlands Ranch woman's power unless she repairs crew's mistake

It's stress Sue Sanders knows she can't afford following her recent heart attack, but Xcel Energy's threat to shutoff power at her Highlands Ranch home this week put her over the top.

www.denver7.com