Previous posts in this series: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Our roof has a new accessory. 10 gleaming solar panels adorn the west side, a little bit of eco-bling for the house. Solar Newcastle installed our 2.5kW system for $4550 last December. We have been powering along nicely over Summer and Autumn with our personal power station going at full steam.
Going solar wasn't just a decision we made for the self sufficient and environnmental attributes. It had to pay for itself too, by cutting our electricity bills down the track without costing us more now. So we set out to do a little bit of maths to find out if the dollars worked out. You can use these sums to work out if solar on your roof will save you money.
How much will solar save you?
Take one year of electricity bills and total the cost of the bills to reach an annual electricity cost for you household. Our household of two people uses 7400kW/hrs at $3000 annually. In the previous post Busting Our Electricity Bills - Part 4: Sizing Our Solar System, you worked out how much electricity your household consumes. You used these figures to work out the best size of solar system to meet your needs. We chose a 2.5kW system which would meet approximately one third of our annual electricity needs. Using the annual percentage figure for electricity supplied by your chosen solar system size that you calculated in the previous post, apply it to your annual electricity costs to work out how much your chosen solar system will save you.
33% e from 2.5kW system x annual e costs $3000 = Annual saving off electricity bills $990
How long will it take for your solar panels to pay for themselves?
Get three quotes for your chosen solar system and then pick the best one. Our best quote for a 2.5kW system was for $4550. By dividing this figure by the amount saved off our electricity bills annually we will find out how long it will take to pay for itself.
Cost of 2.5kW solar system / annual saving off electricity bills $990 = 4.6 yrs to pay for the system from the money saved off our electricity bills.
No comments:
Post a Comment