Our home smart meter electricity usage data

[NasGoreList]

We signed up with Dominion EV Smart House Meter Plan which gives you variable rates for electricity based on the time of the day and demand. Peak rate is from 1 to 7pm where kWh costs $0.16 cents (regular rate is $0.11 cents per kWh), all other times rates are lower especially from 1 to 5 am where they are only $0.05 cents per kWh. Using the car's charge timer we take advantage of 5 cents per kWh rate to charge our LEAF. This doubles LEAF's "fuel" economy to astonishing 320+MPGe (I average 4.8 miles per kWh)!

Our first electric bill came in and I thought it would be interesting to share the data I was able to get from Dominion web site about my house energy usage thanks to the smart meter ability to capture usage in the 30 min increments. They installed the meter on 5/20 so I only had 15 days worth of data for the May billing cycle, never the less I think it is pretty interesting especially the heat map which nicely shows when the we use the most electricity:

LEAF is set to charge until 5am and it looks like the car overestimates the time it thinks it needs to charge the battery fully since it clearly finishes charging before 5am. I changed the charging timer to 6am to account for inaccuracy and hopefully it will actually be finishing around 5am. Will see when the next bill comes.

Other two peaks in the consumption line up nicely with our AC programmable thermostat settings which are set to cool the upstairs from 11 am to 1pm (when our little one takes her daily nap) and again from 7pm to 7am to keep the upstairs cool for sleeping.

 

[jstack6]

We also have a Smart Meter and GRID Tied Solar PV in Sunny Arizona. We pay nothing to run the home and LEAF and get 10% back from the Utility. I tried to paste a copy of the monthly excess generation but can't see to get it to paste as a picture. So I made it into a spread sheet. The Negative kWh is the extra we made and did not use so we are ahead each month.

Meter Read Date Total kWh Average Temperature (°F)
5/19/2014 0:23 5/18/2014 -10 87
5/20/2014 0:23 5/19/2014 -12 86
5/21/2014 0:23 5/20/2014 -12 83
5/22/2014 0:24 5/21/2014 -12 79
5/23/2014 0:23 5/22/2014 -12 78
5/24/2014 0:23 5/23/2014 -5 77
5/25/2014 0:23 5/24/2014 -20 80
5/26/2014 0:23 5/25/2014 -16 86
5/27/2014 0:23 5/26/2014 -6 89
5/28/2014 0:23 5/27/2014 -5 93
5/29/2014 0:23 5/28/2014 -4 92
5/30/2014 0:24 5/29/2014 -1 89
5/31/2014 0:24 5/30/2014 6 92
6/1/2014 0:23 5/31/2014 3 94
6/2/2014 0:24 6/1/2014 -13 92
6/3/2014 0:23 6/2/2014 1 94
6/4/2014 0:23 6/3/2014 3 94
6/5/2014 0:23 6/4/2014 -5 93
6/6/2014 0:23 6/5/2014 -3 92
6/7/2014 0:23 6/6/2014 -9 91
6/8/2014 0:23 6/7/2014 -14 91
6/9/2014 0:23 6/8/2014 -11 92
6/10/2014 0:23 6/9/2014 -1 95
6/11/2014 0:23 6/10/2014 2 95
6/12/2014 0:24 6/11/2014 -2 93
6/13/2014 0:24 6/12/2014 13 94
6/14/2014 0:24 6/13/2014 -1 95
6/15/2014 0:23 6/14/2014 -12 93
6/16/2014 0:23 6/15/2014 -4 88
6/17/2014 0:23 6/16/2014 -6 90
6/18/2014 0:23 6/17/2014 -2 92

 

[NasGoreList]

must be nice when utility is sending you a check every month :mrgreen:

How long will it take you to brake even with the acquisition cost of the solar panels?

I looked into solar shingles/panels but they are still to expensive with installation. If I remember correctly it would take more than 10 years to brake even . The fact that Virginia does not give you any kind of credit doesn't help either.

 

[kieranmullen]

How many other investments are guaranteed return though? Unless someone cracks your panels. You will get a back back and with rates increasing every year payback just gets accelerated.