You use electricity day in and day out, and you probably don’t think much about it. You just expect it to be there when you flip a switch. And then when the bill comes, you pay it, because what else are you going to do?

By now you know there are ways to reduce your electric bill including things like turning out lights when you leave a room, swapping traditional incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent or LED bulbs, or even switching your electricity supplier. (Contact us to learn more about the last one.)

Using less energy is the key. Some of the strategies above do that, but minimally. So how can you really reduce how much electricity you use? Or, more to the point, how can you reduce how much electricity you draw from the grid? The secret lies in the delivery of your electricity.

Understanding your electricity charges

Your electricity bill breaks down into two components: the supply charges and the delivery charges. The former is generally one line on the bill showing the number of kilowatt hours (kWh) used, the price per kWh, and the total for the supply of those kilowatts. The latter breaks out all the elements of what it takes to deliver the power to your home or business. Notice, in the image below, how the number of kWh supplied (and delivered) to you is used to calculate all the items in the delivery section. If you could somehow reduce your kWh consumed, you would really save some money! Enter solar power.

The Solar Solution

A couple years ago I added solar panels to my home, for two reasons:

• I could, and
• I liked the idea of using more renewable energy

While I have a sizeable system for my area, the degree to which it generates enough power to meet our demand varies based on a lot of factors. So we invariably must draw power from the grid. But we are drawing much less power from the grid, meaning the number of kilowatts used to calculate our delivery charge is much lower too!

For roughly the same period this year as the above bill covers, my solar panels generated just over 900 kWh. So that means the delivery charges above represent about half of what I would have had to pay without my solar system. Think about that. That means I kept about $100 in my pocket instead of paying it to the utility. (I do pay a small fixed fee per month to my solar company, but I am still coming out ahead.)

So beyond the “feel good” aspect of using solar power, there is real money to be saved beyond just having the panels, especially if you have electricity demand that exceeds what your solar panels can generate.

If you are interested in solar power for your home, we can help. Contact us to learn more.