<story><title>Why batteries both thrill and terrify the U.S. utility industry</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-12-05/musk-battery-works-fill-utilities-with-fear-and-promise.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mrfusion</author><text>$6K&amp;#x2F;year sounds really high no?  My neighbor pays $100-150&amp;#x2F;month for a 3200 sqft house.</text></item><item><author>djrogers</author><text>I installed a 10kw system ~15 months ago on my 3600sq ft house.  Average electricity costs was ~$6k&amp;#x2F;year before the panels, the first year on solar to total cost for the year was $300.&lt;p&gt;That $300 worth of electricity for the year is before I&amp;#x27;ve been able to talk the wife in to replacing our incandescent bulbs, swapped out our old pool pump, etc etc - I could easily get that down to below 0 with a small investment in bulbs.  So in my case at least, it was trivially easy to get to a net-zero usage.&lt;p&gt;A few $$ notes - the system cost $37k, I got 11.1k of that in a tax credit from the feds, so my net cost was 26k.  I&amp;#x27;m saving 5.7k&amp;#x2F;yr, which means my break even point for the system is 5 years.  In 5 freaking years I&amp;#x27;m making money from my solar panels!  And I don&amp;#x27;t have to write a $500 check to PG&amp;amp;E every month.  It&amp;#x27;s a beautiful thing...&lt;p&gt;BTW - the above numbers (plus my severe aversion to debt) are why I&amp;#x27;m so against solar leases.  If we had a solar lease, we&amp;#x27;d still be stuck with monthly payments, would have trouble selling our house, and would be stuck for 20 years.</text></item><item><author>jarrettc</author><text>The article suggests that solar panels could be an &amp;quot;existential threat&amp;quot; to power companies. For those of you who are familiar with the math of solar panels, how realistic is that prediction? How much of a normal home&amp;#x27;s energy needs could be supplied by solar panels, assuming the panels covered the entire surface area of the roof? How much is the ROI on solar panels likely to improve in the foreseeable future? (I&amp;#x27;ve heard estimates of 5-8% annual return for 2014.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Shivetya</author><text>Welcome to a fully regulated rate structure, throw in the combined weight of years and years of &amp;quot;its for the environment&amp;quot; and the costs go to the people who have the least voice and for many the least ability to pay.&lt;p&gt;The have so regulated pricing and punitive structures into service there that they have to have assistance programs just to alleviate the burden on middle income and lower consumers.</text></comment>
<story><title>Why batteries both thrill and terrify the U.S. utility industry</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014-12-05/musk-battery-works-fill-utilities-with-fear-and-promise.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mrfusion</author><text>$6K&amp;#x2F;year sounds really high no?  My neighbor pays $100-150&amp;#x2F;month for a 3200 sqft house.</text></item><item><author>djrogers</author><text>I installed a 10kw system ~15 months ago on my 3600sq ft house.  Average electricity costs was ~$6k&amp;#x2F;year before the panels, the first year on solar to total cost for the year was $300.&lt;p&gt;That $300 worth of electricity for the year is before I&amp;#x27;ve been able to talk the wife in to replacing our incandescent bulbs, swapped out our old pool pump, etc etc - I could easily get that down to below 0 with a small investment in bulbs.  So in my case at least, it was trivially easy to get to a net-zero usage.&lt;p&gt;A few $$ notes - the system cost $37k, I got 11.1k of that in a tax credit from the feds, so my net cost was 26k.  I&amp;#x27;m saving 5.7k&amp;#x2F;yr, which means my break even point for the system is 5 years.  In 5 freaking years I&amp;#x27;m making money from my solar panels!  And I don&amp;#x27;t have to write a $500 check to PG&amp;amp;E every month.  It&amp;#x27;s a beautiful thing...&lt;p&gt;BTW - the above numbers (plus my severe aversion to debt) are why I&amp;#x27;m so against solar leases.  If we had a solar lease, we&amp;#x27;d still be stuck with monthly payments, would have trouble selling our house, and would be stuck for 20 years.</text></item><item><author>jarrettc</author><text>The article suggests that solar panels could be an &amp;quot;existential threat&amp;quot; to power companies. For those of you who are familiar with the math of solar panels, how realistic is that prediction? How much of a normal home&amp;#x27;s energy needs could be supplied by solar panels, assuming the panels covered the entire surface area of the roof? How much is the ROI on solar panels likely to improve in the foreseeable future? (I&amp;#x27;ve heard estimates of 5-8% annual return for 2014.)</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jere</author><text>Yea a $500 per month electricity bill sounds steep to me. When my bill hit $400 in the winter, I realized I had a problem with my water heater.</text></comment>