{"id":17,"date":"2025-01-29T14:52:20","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T22:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/?p=17"},"modified":"2025-02-01T09:36:17","modified_gmt":"2025-02-01T17:36:17","slug":"solar-for-the-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/?p=17","title":{"rendered":"Solar for the House"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>For me, the simplest choice was to go with <strong>SunRun<\/strong> through Costco. Their pricing was competitive, and the added assurance of Costco\u2019s satisfaction guarantee made it an easy decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned after owning the system for over 4 years:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_75 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/?p=17\/#1_I_Should_Have_Done_It_Sooner\" >1. I Should Have Done It Sooner<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/?p=17\/#2_Sizing_Your_System\" >2. Sizing Your System<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/?p=17\/#3_Gasoline_Savings\" >3. Gasoline Savings<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/?p=17\/#4_The_Importance_of_a_Backup_Battery\" >4. The Importance of a Backup Battery<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_I_Should_Have_Done_It_Sooner\"><\/span>1. I Should Have Done It Sooner<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>With the federal rebate, my break-even point was around 5 years. Previously, my electricity bills were between $500 and $1,200 a month (don\u2019t ask why they were so high!), but now we\u2019re down to under $150\/month. Ideally, it would be under $50, but here&#8217;s why it\u2019s not:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Sizing_Your_System\"><\/span>2. Sizing Your System<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When I initially sized the system, I only accounted for 1 Tesla. Now, with 3 EVs, I need more electricity for the extra 2 vehicles that weren\u2019t included in the original plan. Had I factored that in, my monthly bill would likely be under $50.  Also consider the size of your solar system based on todays needs and the future.  What happens when you are an empty nester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Gasoline_Savings\"><\/span>3. Gasoline Savings<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>On a related note, my monthly gasoline bill dropped from $500\/month to under $100 thanks to the solar power and eliminating the use of gas cars. So, not only am I saving on electricity, but I\u2019m also spending a lot less on gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_The_Importance_of_a_Backup_Battery\"><\/span>4. The Importance of a Backup Battery<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Most important tip:<\/strong> Make sure you buy a backup battery! The salesperson didn\u2019t emphasize this, but after doing some research, I realized how crucial it is for maximizing savings. The backup battery lets you <strong>USE stored power<\/strong> during peak rate times. In California, the peak rates are <strong>4x<\/strong> higher than non-peak (i.e., <strong>$0.43\/kWh<\/strong> vs. <strong>$0.13\/kWh<\/strong>). These high rates occur between 3 PM and midnight\u2014when electricity companies really rake in their profits.  Thus, run your house on a backup battery during these very expensive times of day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For me, the simplest choice was to go with SunRun through Costco. Their pricing was competitive, and the added assurance of Costco\u2019s satisfaction guarantee made it an easy decision. Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve learned after owning the system for over 4 years: 1. I Should Have Done It Sooner With the federal rebate, my break-even point&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,10],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-house","tag-house","tag-solar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62,"href":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions\/62"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ketolivingcoach.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}