I recently installed both solar electric (house) and solar thermal (pool) and after 40+ years of PG&E bills averaging $300+ per month, my last bill (July) was $76.14. From here on out, I will no longer receive electric bills until end of year, so I won't have data to add to the survey until this time next year, but if this is any indication of efficiency and lowering of monthly costs, I am delighted. Yvonne Daniel
Jinal Jhaveri > Yvonne DanielOctober 12, 2010 at 9:57am
Thanks Yvonne.
This is great info. Can you share how much was the ballpark expense to install Solar Electric for your house?
--Jinal
Yvonne Daniel > Jinal JhaveriOctober 13, 2010 at 7:31am
Hi Jinal, Chris Cahill, and Greenridge friends,
The ballpark cost for solar thermal and electric for the 5-bedroom Greenridge model was $26-28,000.00, but there were quotes up to $70,000.00. I think the pool by itself (thermal) was originally estimated at $6,000. Hope that helps.
Regarding the recommendation, Chris, this is always hard because although I had great confidence in my guys originally, I am still trying to get things finalized --after 4-5 months, depending on how we count. My particular circumstances play into the deal, but I have been disappointed with this part and until it is absolutely finished, I can't give a name. I must say that with 3 separate teams working on lots of projects on my home, the best was Eichler Solutions for windows and glass- Sergeiy was outstanding and far superior to everyone else (among diverse types of work teams).
Best wishes and again, I hope this helps others, Yvonne (Daniel)
WOW Yvonne - that's fantastic info re: the solar savings. I had no idea it could be that great a difference; I know it still takes some time to make up for the installation costs, but this certainly is an incentive to take a harder look at getting it done. Andria
Hi folks - thanks to those of you who took the survey. If you haven't yet, please do - I will monitor it periodically and update this information as we get more data. In the meantime, here's the recap of results so far.
* No one who responded has solar panels nor central air.
* 20% had double-pane windows but their bills (surprisingly) were not significantly different from the rest of us.
Here's a chart showing how we're all faring on the PG&E bill front:
Hello Jinal,
I am happy to share my pg&e bills with you for the past 2 years, since I have been contemplating solar additions and I had to get all the yearly costs. I will put a copy in your mailbox and we can talk any afternoon or evening.
Best wishes on the new one, Yvonne Daniel
I'm sure many people are not comfortable answering this question on a public forum, but I'm also sure many of us are curious about the same thing! So I've created a short anonymous survey here - please take a moment to fill this out so we can get an aggregate answer for Jinal and anyone else who's interested. Thanks! Andria
Sorry I am just joining this discussion - I just filled out the survey... One note: It's important to separate the electric part of the bill vs. gas....
I am also looking into neighborhood solar options though at this time I will not be able to do solar for our house until late next year at the earliest...
Thx andria for the survey and posting the results!
Replies
I recently installed both solar electric (house) and solar thermal (pool) and after 40+ years of PG&E bills averaging $300+ per month, my last bill (July) was $76.14. From here on out, I will no longer receive electric bills until end of year, so I won't have data to add to the survey until this time next year, but if this is any indication of efficiency and lowering of monthly costs, I am delighted. Yvonne Daniel
This is great info. Can you share how much was the ballpark expense to install Solar Electric for your house?
--Jinal
The ballpark cost for solar thermal and electric for the 5-bedroom Greenridge model was $26-28,000.00, but there were quotes up to $70,000.00. I think the pool by itself (thermal) was originally estimated at $6,000. Hope that helps.
Regarding the recommendation, Chris, this is always hard because although I had great confidence in my guys originally, I am still trying to get things finalized --after 4-5 months, depending on how we count. My particular circumstances play into the deal, but I have been disappointed with this part and until it is absolutely finished, I can't give a name. I must say that with 3 separate teams working on lots of projects on my home, the best was Eichler Solutions for windows and glass- Sergeiy was outstanding and far superior to everyone else (among diverse types of work teams).
Best wishes and again, I hope this helps others, Yvonne (Daniel)
* No one who responded has solar panels nor central air.
* 20% had double-pane windows but their bills (surprisingly) were not significantly different from the rest of us.
Here's a chart showing how we're all faring on the PG&E bill front:
I am happy to share my pg&e bills with you for the past 2 years, since I have been contemplating solar additions and I had to get all the yearly costs. I will put a copy in your mailbox and we can talk any afternoon or evening.
Best wishes on the new one, Yvonne Daniel
I am also looking into neighborhood solar options though at this time I will not be able to do solar for our house until late next year at the earliest...
Thx andria for the survey and posting the results!