Author: Lacy Cook — Once you’ve started researching solar companies and obtaining quotes, you may be wondering why we’re asking for your electric bill. There are a few reasons why a solar company needs that information — namely, to help you figure out how much you’ll save with solar, and to accurately design your rooftop solar system. Providing your past bills helps you know how solar can benefit you, and helps us ensure that it will.
1. Your electric bill helps us assess your energy consumption
Your electric bill gives you hints on your energy consumption patterns, and can help us tell where you’re at with your electricity use. Maybe you’re a single person living on your own, not using much power; maybe you have four kids and your power bills are through the roof. Whatever your home situation, your power bill helps us determine what array size can save you money, and what makes the most sense for you.
2. Your electric bill helps us optimize your solar design
Roof space, direction, and angle, as well as shading, all matter for your solar design. But your energy consumption matters too. Washington DC solar regulations state a rooftop solar system can’t generate more than 200% of a customer’s past electricity usage.
But even if we could drastically oversize your system, to generate 300% of your usage, for example, you might not really want that. You’d likely be overpaying for solar. Here’s a good way to think about it: if you only need a car for yourself, to commute around town or grab groceries, you’re probably not going to go out and buy a huge SUV. If you have four kids who are all playing multiple sports, you might want that SUV. Ultimately you’ll choose a car that fits your needs. Rooftop solar works the same way. If you don’t need a larger system, why pay thousands of dollars extra for one?
At the same time, you don’t want a solar array that is too small. As long as you have available roof space that works for solar, we want to ensure we’re using that space. Your electric bills help us appropriately size your system so you can save on your power bill without overpaying for solar.
3. With an accurate design, you’ll get a good idea of your future savings
Once we create an optimized, personalized solar design based on your past electric bills, you can see how much rooftop panels would offset your electricity use. Offset essentially means how much of your power consumption the panels cover, letting you avoid paying your utility company for that power.
The design we create for you will allow you to really nerd out over the details, if you so desire! You’ll be able to check out not only your consumption offset, but also your estimated solar savings over 30 years, your solar payback period (more on that in a minute!), your return on investment, and your net savings. The design will also estimate the cost for your future utility bills after solar, and your estimated bill difference.
4. With a precise solar design, you’ll be able to understand the solar payback period
Wait — what’s a solar payback period? Basically, this means how long it will take for you to break even on your solar investment. The solar payback period is also known as the breakeven point.
A few factors go into calculating your breakeven point, but you need current utility bills for a more accurate estimate. One half of the equation for how much you’ll save on power bills is your past electricity costs. You can divide the cost of your system by how much you’ll save each year to determine your solar payback period.
That payback period decreases with financial incentives like the 30% federal solar tax credit and any Solar Renewable Energy Credits, or SRECs, that your system generates.
The solar payback period is an important metric for a homeowner who paid in cash or through a solar loan. If you go with Uprise’s no-cost solar program, we’re the ones who need to think about the solar payback period, since we covered the cost of your system. You’ll be able to focus on your immediate electric bill savings.
How can I send you my electric bill?
If you have a paper copy of your bill, great; we’ll take it! Feel free to make a copy or take a picture of it if you’d like to hold on to the original. If you’re signed up for e-bills, simply log into your account and download a PDF of one of your past bills. If you have a Pepco account, you can find past bills if you click on “My Dashboard” (on the left of your screen on a desktop) and then click “Account History.” Scroll through bills in the center of the page and click “Download” to the left to download a PDF. You can email us that PDF. If you’re having any issues, we’re happy to do what we can to help out.
It’s a good idea to have a bill or two or three ready when you have an appointment with one of our solar specialists. We’ll take it from there to create your design. Any other questions? Give us a call at (202) 750-5718 or fill out the form directly below to schedule your consultation.
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