Solar Numbers Tell the Story

By Theodosia Wade, Former Sustainable Newton Board Member

In March 2019, my husband Billy and I installed 12 solar panels on our roof as part of the Solarize Newton Morgan campaign.  We were super excited to to reduce our carbon footprint, become a little more energy independent, and save money.  Not only did the solarize campaign allow us to get better pricing on installation and materials, but it also did the leg work of choosing a reputable solar installer.  We worked with folks who had already gone solar and others like us who were adding solar for the first time.   It was a great experience. 

Fast forward to today and we can look at the numbers to see how much electricity we're using and how much money we have saved over the last 2+ years. 

You can see from the graph above that our electricity use from GA Power has gone down since our installation in March 2019 from a peak of 14,351 kilowatt hours (kWh) in 2018 to 9,527 kWh in 2020, even though our last few years have been some of the hottest years on record. 

Again, the numbers look great for the amount of money we have spent on our electric bills from Georgia Power.  We dropped from $1,699.77 in 2018 to $1,128.49 in 2020. 

Several things have increased our savings.

• One is that Georgia Power has gone to a monthly net metering system that means they are paying us more than they did originally for any electricity we sell back to the grid. 
• The second is that we have chosen a time-of-use plan for our electric billing.  Georgia Power calls this their Plug-In Electric Vehicle plan.  So, I adjust my thermostat to use less electricity during the day (peak energy demand on the grid) and they charge me less for the energy I use at night than on the regular plans.
• And third, we were able to take advantage of a 30% federal tax credit in 2019, which helped us save money up front.  (That tax credit is now 26%.)  Electric rates are only going to go up, so as they do, our savings will be even better.  Our return on investment is about seven years, so we will be using free sunshine to power our home after that.  Our goal is to add more panels and a battery for storage somewhere in the future. 

Sustainable Newton recently did an update on rooftop solar, which you can view below.
Going solar has been a great experience for us and I would be happy to speak with anyone wanting more information.  Email  twade@emory.edu or call me at 770-317-4862.