Suburban 5-4-and-a-Door Solar: Summer Bill Summary

We have now had solar panels on our house for the three traditionally hottest and most power-hungry months of the year in the Atlanta area. While one year is not a trend, we thought it would be insightful to compare the bills from these three months to previous years.

From 2013 to 2016, the collective bills for the months of July, August, and September (added together) averaged $948. This year, we paid $572 for those three months. That's a savings of $376 over that three month period.

In terms of kWh, the average power used in the months of July, August, and September from 2013 to 2016 was 6121kWh. In 2017, we used 4012kWh - a savings of 2109kWh over that three month period.

What is particularly interesting is to see the effect on the yearly spending running graph. This is a graph of the total spending for the previous year - the same graph that was used in the previous post on ROI calculations. That big drop off at the end is the effect of saving over $350 in three months. We hope that the trend will continue as we enter the cooler part of the year.

There are obviously a lot of details involved, but this is still a striking change. Some of the savings was certainly due to conservation and the 2-day power loss from the hurricane. For those who want to see more number details, click here. For more on our solar story, follow the solar tag below.