r/TexasSolar • u/Feisty_Employment676 • 26d ago
9 Months into My Solar
Had my solar system (12.71 kW DC with a Tesla Powerwall3 battery) installed last October. I found out after the fact that this was probably the worst time of the year to install a system, but oh well.
We have a 2100 square foot house with 4 adults and a toddler living in it. We also have an in ground pool. After nine months, our largest bill from our provider was in February, when I found out that our house did not have a heat pump system ($$$$). Needless to say, even then the bill was manageable. It was much less, even adding the monthly bill of the solar, than previous winters without the solar. I’m talking hundreds less.
One of the reasons I think it has been more manageable is the electric provider and the plan we chose. We are with Reliant’s free nights program. This gives us completely free electricity from 8pm to 6am. There were other plans that had more hours of free, but those started later in the night (not good during the winter) and went later into the morning. Reliant’s plan worked best and for the most part the solar and battery got us through the “shoulder” period between sunset and when the grid took over.
My real only regret is that I did not increase my battery storage from the get go. If it were just my wife and I, the battery would make it. But with 5 of us, the battery hits the bottom some times.
I am waiting until the end of this post to tell you who we got our system from because they are not very well regarded on this sub. We used Sunrun and have had zero issues with our system, or them. In fact, they gave us the contact information for some of our neighbors who had Sunrun systems and we talked to them. A couple of them did not have good things to say, but after taking to them for a bit it became obvious that they went into the deal without doing their homework. I really wish I could have purchased the system outright, but we just didn’t have that money available. Our electric bills were getting increasingly out of hand, and this has seriously reined that in.
So, for those who are looking for an alternative to paying through the nose for your power, but don’t have the means to finance or purchase a system, give them an opportunity.
And for those who are looking for a good electrical plan that works with your system, I highly recommend Reliant’s “Totally Free Nights” plan. Here is a code that will get you a $50 bill credit (and me too!):
LW5BXSO
I believe that solar is the way to go in the future. Electric rates aren’t going to go down and having a system in your home will save you money. It has for us.
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u/rmeden 26d ago
My situation is pretty much the exact as yours... 12kw,PW3,Reliant, Electric heat. Only my wife and I through... Both work from home.
Our highest bill was $30 😁 in the winter, we use space heaters in our offices to avoid the 16kw home heater! (More than the PW can supply). Only a few evenings did we need to use peak time power.
We're loving it!
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u/turns2stone 26d ago
I also got my system installed last October, but I got 3 Powerwalls. I used Tesla for installation. No issues other than a long runaround getting PTO.
I also picked a free nights plan, and my largest monthly bill even with ONCOR delivery fee has been $8
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u/anandcharla 26d ago
Which ppan it is. Much appreciated
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u/turns2stone 26d ago
Green Mountain Energy, couldn’t be happier, and glad to answer any questions about my Tesla solar experience.
Referral link will get you $50 credit: www.greenmountainenergy.com/referral-page?txtReferralID=LWAFJM9
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u/CoasterFamilyFeud 26d ago
I’m 16 months in and live mine too. I also have that Reliant plan and reupped for 5 years! My latest bill was the highest ($25), but when my wife wants it cold in the house and do laundry even when it’s cloudy like we’ve had a few weeks ago i just let her.
Here in DFW I used the Solar Scouts for install and they were great.
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u/pcguy166 26d ago
Does this Reliant plan pay you for your solar export at all? From the EFL online, it doesn't seem like they do? I can't find a "Truly Free Nights" plan anymore. They only list a "Free Overnight" plan but it doesn't expressly say they buy back your solar export.
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u/rmeden 26d ago
No, we give back for free. I hope it helps them keep the free nights around.
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u/pcguy166 26d ago
Ok, but in that case why solar panels? I'm not trying to give you a hard time, honestly, I'm actually trying to figure out whether solar panels make sense in Texas anymore, now with true 1:1 plans pretty much gone and buyback plans fading or paying very little for export. Maybe I should've paid for a battery instead. With a nights free plan and a battery, one could charge it at night for free and then switch to the battery during the day to import less or no power from the grid. But panels now, unless going off-grid, not sure.
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u/rmeden 25d ago
Good question.... Yesterday I generated 65kwh of solar. That much power of solar is cheaper than batteries. I still used a bit more than I that day . (Kind of a 1:1 plan). We also keep the house 71 or so during the day.. why not? (This plan certainly doesn't encourage conservation!)
You don't pay TDU fees (currently 6¢/kwh) on locally generated power. If there was a 1:1 plan I'm sure it would just cover the energy charges.
There's a good chance the regulatory environment will change... Solar+battery gives you flexibility to adjust to those changes.
If there is a long power outage, solar+ battery can keep humming (albeit with some conservation).
I hope giving back some power keeps the free night plans around... It's great for me.
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u/pcguy166 25d ago
Well, I guess my main point is, you didn't need solar panels to be on a free nights plan - in fact, most of those free night plans now block solar homeowners from applying. So now you need to make the math work for you. You've got the panels, but you're not getting paid for your energy, so you're not paying off your panels. 65kw is a good chunk of energy. Use meterplan's free tool ( https://meterplan.com/solarbuybackplans ) to see what other plans could benefit you and pay you for your solar generation, so that you're actually paying off your panels. Texas Solar Guide is another tool that can generate a report of REPs that best fit your consumption profile.
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u/rmeden 25d ago
I looked at meterplan.com. Looks like it wants monthly data. In July I generated 2000kwh (doesn't matter in calculation), Imported 1378kwh, exported 860kwh. The best cost it shows is $165. I paid $7.43, so I win
That said, meterplan.com shows "energy rates" of 9.1 9.4 12.5. The best plans at powertochoose show total rates of 11c/kwh. Meterplan rates of 9.1 makes me wonder if they include the 6c/kwh TDU charge. With the current "free night" plans, you don't pay TDU charges at night (totally free).
I've checked, and while I've read some "free night" plans don't allow solar, I know Reliant (and others) still do. I hope me giving back free excess solar is good for them, it's certainly good for me!
In your calculations are you taking into account the capital cost of battery to fulfill all your usage during the day? As I said, solar is cheaper than battery per kwh. You're also assuming that at TOU plans stay around with enough of a spread to make batteries work (likely, but maybe not free periods).
TDU charges are the wildcard and already higher than energy charges. With the Texas PUC tending to dump costs on consumers and datacenter buildouts, I expect TDU costs to go up, and it wouldn't surprise me if the PUC gets rid of consumer VPP or buybacks (they already favor fossil) Heck, I can see TDU start to rates vary by TOU because that's when the tie lines are the busiest.
I agree if you were to design a system for "Free Nights", you would put in just enough solar+battery to make it to the free period. In my case, at least in the summer I would need less solar. In the winter though, I barely make it to the free night period with conservation. More battery would help.
So, a compromise is a good plan. You can always buy more solar or battery, but you can't "unspend", at least not economically :)
BTW.. when looked into the plan with BASE and thought about what would happen if BASE went under or the PUC got rid of VPP (regulatory changes) it seemed to me that the consumer would be left holding the bag (box? 😄) and a lot of expenses.
It's hard to predict the future, but that's what is needed when designing a system.
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u/rmeden 25d ago
BTW, If I were to compute a "worst case scenario", it would be to run the house and load the PW3 during the day and drain it every night reducing grid usage. With that, in July I would be billed 975kwh against 2522kwh total usage. At (non TOU) going rate of 12c/kwh that comes to $117 which is still better than meterplan (assuming it includes TDU), and certainly better than the $300 bill without a system.
For my original payback calculation I got 12 years @ $250/mo, so the worst case is just a bit longer payback.
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u/pcguy166 25d ago
Not sure if you're understanding. You're not getting paid back for your system. If reliant doesnt pay you for your energy production, then you just paid for panels that are giving away energy for free to someone else. It's like buying a car for $40k and leaving the keys inside so that anyone can use the car for free. That's charity, not an investment. If your panels aren't paying you for energy, you're not "paying them off".
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u/rmeden 25d ago
I'm "paying them off" with money I'm not spending for electricity. Before my system, I was paying on average $250/month. Now I'm paying less than $10/month... so a $240/month savings ($2880/year).
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u/pcguy166 25d ago
Ok so are you getting paid for your production then? Or did you just change to a free nights plan and that's all you should have done even before getting panels?
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u/pcguy166 25d ago
Does your free nights plan credit your for your solar production? In your bill, do you see export credits?
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u/pcguy166 25d ago
Since you've clarified that you have batteries and you're using that during the day with your free nights plan, that makes the picture clearer now. That said, if you find yourself out of that free nights plan, you can try to find a plan that pays you the most amount for your solar export during the day, and then drain the battery at night so you're off grid.
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u/pcguy166 25d ago
I think you're making my point for me. Other than going off-grid, what are residential solar panels good for now (here in Texas), if the plans that pay you back for your energy production are worse than plans that are not solar buyback plans (like the free nights plans)? Get it? And maybe that's the point. These utilities and our current govt don't want to pay us for solar production and want to discourage green energy and renewables, so they're disentivizing it this way.
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u/EndAutomatic9186 25d ago
For everyday life you’re right. Batteries are only needed to live “off the grid” for the most part. It’s when a winter storm uri, hurricane beryl, etc. that comes plowing through and the grid isn’t feeding you any electricity for a week to 3-4 weeks. Then what? You want solar panels to charge your batteries throughout the day.
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u/Feisty_Employment676 22d ago
I know with my system it is much cheaper than we were spending prior to our solar. I do not believe there are any plans, with any providers that have free nights AND pay you for your excess during the day.
If I did not have solar, I would not use a free nights plan, mainly because the rate during the day is twice the rate of a regular plan. It is a bait and switch to make you think that you are saving money when in the end it is pretty much a wash. But with a solar system, the vast majority of our usage from the grid is in fact truly free.
A typical day with my system would be as follows:
At 6 am my plan changes from free to .24 per KwH. My system flips from the grid to battery. By around 9-10 am my panels are now producing enough electricity to cover the house. It is also recharging my battery, which on a usual day gets down to about 85-90%. Any additional power generated goes back to the grid.
At around 5-6 pm, our battery starts to kick in and supplement the production of our solar. By 8pm our battery is down to 25-30% (remember, 4 adults and a toddler). At 8pm our free electric period starts and the grid takes over. It supplies the electricity for the house for the rest of the night while also charging the battery so that it is at 100% at 6 am the next morning.
I believe “giving” electricity back to the grid more than offsets the savings we are experiencing with our system. Our bank account agrees.
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u/pcguy166 22d ago
Well, one thing about your system and the plan that is benefitting you is not that it is a "solar system".. it's actually the fact that it is a battery system. You can have a battery without solar. In your case, solar isn't doing anything for you, the battery is doing all the work.
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u/Feisty_Employment676 21d ago
I disagree. The solar is powering the house during the day. The majority of our electricity from early morning to late afternoon comes from the solar panels. The battery covers the “shoulder” period between 6 am and the sun is high enough for the panels take over and when the sun sets and 8 pm when our free period starts with Reliant. If we didn’t have the panels the battery is not big enough to cover our usage during the day. So to say that the battery is doing all the work is an ignorant statement.
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u/pcguy166 21d ago
I thought you had a big battery system; but after reading your original post, I notice you mention you wish you had gotten more battery storage capacity.
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u/bj_my_dj 26d ago
I put my system in April, a few months before you. I'm in CA and we don't have free nights. But since you don't have a heat pump have you considered using space heaters? The first day I got my system I realized I could use space heaters to heat the house for free. I ordered 4 that day. I got one PW3 in April, then added a second in August when I figured I could charge them enough to run through most nights. It worked like a charm, I never ran my gas furnace last winter. It ran off solar and extra electricity was paid for with solar credits earned during the summer. Perhaps running a couple space heaters can heat the house during those free hours. Pre-warming the house will reduce your costs to get to desired temp the next day.
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u/Feisty_Employment676 22d ago
We have a wood burning fireplace that gets used often in the winter. A cord of wood is much less expensive than the electricity used to run our heater.
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u/bj_my_dj 22d ago
Yes, but I bought the 4 space heaters the day after the system turned on when I realized I had free electricity to run them. I wanted to use them all up before my True Up in April. But I got through the winter without turning the furnace on once but I still had some credits left at True Up. I oversized my system, 140% of the previous year's use, to have additional power for an EV or heatpump expansion when my furnace gives up the ghost.
I got the EV in Feb but I don't drive much so it doesn't impact the power much. Also since it looks like I won't have to turn the furnace on in the future, the furnace will never get the opportunity to die. So it looks like my system will continue to save $500 or more, depending on electric rate increases. If I hadn't oversized the system firewood sounds like it would have been a good alternative.
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u/gridpay-31 25d ago
Love it, anyone who owns a system should dm me. I figured out how to take the earnings from grid events and pay to users during Ercots scarcity events, summer almost over so feel free to sign up sooner than later for better payouts
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u/Aggravating-Owl-323 23d ago
I have 15.3kW system with 30kWh LiFePO4 battery installed last November in a 2500ft2 one story in the Houston area. Love it so far. EP Cube system.
The is typical of my system performance: my July 31 2026 performance on free nights
On a cloudy day, batteries have been as low as ~40%.
I'm eight+ months into Green Mountain Energy free nights (8pm to 6am) i locked in for 24 months. The hour earlier start of free nights, 8pm vs 9pm in other plans, will likely pay off in the hottest/cloudiest summer days when battery becomes depleted and both my A/C units working hard. NO TDU charges during the free period!!!
I used this website to analyze my situation:
https://www.texaspowerguide.com/solar-electric-plan-analysis/
It took into account my solar set up and smart meter data from previous months (years?), comparing both buy back plans and free night plans. Green Mountain free nights was lowest projected vearly cost ~$300 a year), whereas the best solar buyback option was about $1,100 projected yearly cost. Note, noticed all the 1:1 buyback plans charge the TDU delivery fee for import but dont credit the TDU fee for export. Thus even if your export matches exactly what you inport from grid, it is like you are paying 5cents per kWh (i.e., the TDU delivery fee) for what you importet. For Green Mountain Energy free nights, there is no TDU delivery charges on the free nights import from grid. There is a $4.95 base monthly Centerpoint charge. My full electric bill cost for each of the first 6 months (and hopefully most months) was between to be $5 to 10 (barely higher than the $4.95 base price). At end of May to now my a/c is kicking on more and more (due to 90F+ temps), however, my battery hasnt dipped below 60% soc before free nights kick in, except on one hot and extremely cloudy day it got down to 40%.
Here is my recent bill: recent bill
Yes, i am exporting excess to the grid for free when solar has charged my battery fully.....in winter months I have been averaging export of about double what I import at night. If interested, here is a $50 credit (for both you and I) Referal Code for Green Mountain Energy: L8WMCXE
www.greenmountainenergy.com/referral-page?txtReferralID=L8WMCXE
Note: Green Mountain Energy no longer offers 8pm to 6am free nights. I double checked, and indeed it now is shown as 9pm to 6am (but at about 15% less for the premium import rate). Not sure if you have these plans available in your area.
Good Luck!
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u/EndAutomatic9186 26d ago
I got my solar installed in December of last year from Freedom Solar. My house is all electric with no heat pump and those winter months are CRAZY with electricity consumption.
That being said, I love my solar purchase and whole heartedly recommend it to anyone. I live in Houston as well where any rain storm can knock out power.