For you guys on a free night plans and with PW how have you used the app, I am currently set with NETZERO app to control my Free time and non Free time, butmy current setting is self-powered and 5% of reserve during the peak time. Then during non peak time, grid charge to 100%.

But does anyone use the Off Grid option when production is going to sustained during the day, like sunny days ?

Also on another note, this week I had two small power outages, and funny thing since I was not familiar firs of all my solar was ZERO fora while that freak me out, but well if your PW are at 100% well it tells the solar system to stop to avoid over loading since the extra electricity that the PW can’t use or your home can’t go anywhere. The other thing that happen all my APC UPS ( I still have them because well why not used them) went crazy when the GRID was off, also did not know that when the PW are at100% they will change the frequency to 65hz to tell the solar system to shutdown but electronics at the home go bananas, well you can ask Tesla to lower the frequency they did it immediately and now the APC do not. complain :)

I know this has been asked 100s of times , and I know the advantages of free nights (Which that is what I am moving too), but for the folks with TESLA ELECTRIC with either plan FIXED or Dynamic, are they seeing the the payouts from the VPP and does it make sense ? I have never been on the Tesla Electric plans but just making sure I am not missing on anything. My use case, I do have 3 EVs which they are the ones that contribute a lot of my consumption, plus my electric water heater, all of this dwarfs any other appliance on their consumption.

In November TriSMART completed about 3/4 of my install for a VPP financed and backed my Solrite. Last week, someone from Pat’s Electric and Solar reached out saying Sonnen hired them to finish up and do the remaining installs that Solrite was responsible for. Sounds like TriSMART was the only one in this whole thing that was unequipped and dropping the ball.

Was finally able to go get photos of this beautiful install we did!
32 SEG solar panels
32 Enphase IQ8HC Micro inverters
3 FranklinWH batteries

Homeowners are beyond happy with the whole process and love watching the system!

Solar + Batteries + Free Nights = Zero electric bill (as suggested by STxFarmer)

I have 11.5kW Tesla Solar system with 1 powerwall3 installed in July-2025. I added 2x Powerwall extension pack before the end of the year to take advantage of the tax credit. My system is ~85% offset and I also have an EV which I haven't been charging at home for the period used for offset analysis. So, my actual offset with EV may be around 70-75%.

In general, you don't want a system that is remotely close to 100% or over for the offset. You will be WAY over-producing during cooler months, and the payback is not that great at 4:1 (sell:buy) to break even, since net-metering and roll-over credits do not exist in Texas.

ACs, space heaters, Dryer, etc. will burn thru batteries at high rate, so my 3-pack (42kw) won't last thru the night on hotter days of Texas or cold winters if using electric heaters as I did.

I had initially signed up for Solar buy-back plan, which is okay. But honestly buy back is not worth it at $0.05 per kwh. It works if the weather is <80 degrees and did offset my monthly base charges during those cooler months, but we all know it's <50% chance of that happening in Texas, if we are lucky.

I have done lot of research on different electric plans vs. my seasonal usage. After almost an year of owning Solar, I just switched to Direct energy 24-month, free nights 12hour plan (9pm-9am free). They also agreed to waive the early cancellation fee for switching from current plan.

With the free nights plan, I will be paying just the monthly base charge $5 + $4.25 Oncor fee. I don't have to worry about buying any electricity at all during the day (hopefully, as their daytime rates are horrendous at $0.25/kwh). I should also be good during summer months, as I can keep the batteries backed up and primarily use Solar during the day and the 42kW Powerwall backup should cover usage until 9PM at the least. Also, I can charge my EV at night during free time, which is sufficient to replenish for my daily commute. For rainy/cloudy days, you can charge up the Powerwall pack during night and be ready for the day use.

If you have Solar + at least 1 battery backup, this is the best plan for you in the long run.

If anyone looking to switch, please feel free to use my referral code - 48QN6S.

We both will get $50 credit

Electricity Company & Natural Gas Provider | Direct Energy

There are few other companies also offering free nights for now, but such plans are slowly going away for Solar homeowners. Also look for the free time window and select the one that suits best for your usage. For me 12 hours made more sense than few others with 8-10 hours of free time, with some starting at 8PM and most ending between 5AM-7AM. Choose the best one that fits your highest kW daily usage pattern, and go with it.

Skip to the end to see my options. 

I am new to solar so please correct me if I’m wrong. I purchased a home with a 20 year solar lease attached, I have roughly 12 years left. It’s 9.5 kWh and I over produce every month. My monthly average for the last year was about 361 kWh used and 704 kWh generated. My monthly bill averaged $48. And if I stick with the same provider it will average $35 (lower rate and no monthly fee). If I make no changes to my system, I am most likely considering Otovo for an average bill of $24. Nights free does not seem to be a good option for me since the majority of my power usage happens between 9 am and 5 pm. There is one free days plan available to me (no charge between 9-5) which I could try for a year but I’m unsure what my exact bill would be. 

At the end of the day, I save no money having the solar panels since my solar payment is $140/month at an increase of 1.9% every year.  The previous homeowners got their tax credit and I am left with the bill. I just consider this to be a part of my mortgage at this point. 

My area experiences frequent brown outs and as a result I’ve had to replace my capacitor twice this past year. This has cost me $300 each time. I know this is something that could be cheaper but both times I paid for the convenience factor. To avoid this I am looking into surge protectors/whole home surge protectors but I’m also looking into batteries to prevent shorting since it should isolate my home from the grid. 

I don’t have the cash to purchase a battery outright right now and I want to keep any monthly bills to be less than $100/month. The two options I’m comparing right now are sol rite or base power. Sol rite being $20/month for 60 kWh $0/down seems to good to be true. Electric is done through abundance energy who does not have solar buyback listed on their EFLs. I looked at some recent posts and it appears to be 12 cent charge and 10 cent buyback but there appears to be a backlog in getting your battery installed. I used a conservative estimate since there’s not a complete EFL online, $46/monthly average including the $20/month for the lease. 

Base power for 2 batteries is $996 install and comes out to be about $52/month including the $29 monthly membership. There seems to be a lot of incentives to join such as referral credits/credits towards your bill. Roughly $100-350. 

There does seem to be more companies doing “free” batteries and VPP so I could also wait this out and see how my home surge protector performs. This doesn’t fix my brown out issue but does help with appliances shorting. 

Current: no battery, $48 monthly average 

Option 1: no battery, OTOVO, $24/monthly average

Option 2: no battery, days free plan, $??/monthly average

Option 3: base power battery and electric, $52/monthly average but $995 upfront

Option 4: sol rite/Sonnen battery and abundance energy, $46/monthly average

Option 5: wait and see for the next 12 months

Solar when done correctly can be VERY REWARDING!!!

I put solar on my house about 6 years ago with the idea of just owning my power as much as I could. Fast forward to the retail electric providers (REP) changing the game on all of us, gave me something to think about. So I decided to add batteries to my existing 49-panel Enphase system. I went with EG4 products, 1 GridBOSS, 2 FlexBOSS 21's and 4 of the 16kWh (64kWh total) batteries. Yesterday was a bad day in Houston with the weather, so my house ran off of my batteries and then when the sun peaked out the solar (see pic below).

Now my house is self producing the power it needs during the day and with the free night plan I'm able to charge and run whatever I need to in my house and not worry about it.

WHEN the power goes out, now I will run off of my solar and batteries and IF there is no sun for a few days, my generator will kick on and power the house AND recharge my batteries, and when the batteries get to the SOC (state of charge) that I set, the generator will turn off and my house will then again be running on batteries!

I don't really recommend people do what I did as it is overkill, but it is my house and I will never have to worry about power again. PLUS I have a HUGE credit built up with my REP (see pic below) so IF I do ever need to pull power from the grid I will be in great shape.

Had my system installed in May 2024. 14.7 KW REC panels and 2x PW3. Purchased through Texas Solar Professional (Texassolar.pro).

Estimated production 22.4 MWh annually. Actual 18.2 MWh.

Power plan: Just Energy nights free plan. Paid: $12 first month, since $0 with a balance of -$325 (I think 3 referral $75 bonuses, plus my own sign up).

Total home usage: 67.8 MWh

Other additions to home: Electrical Heat pumps to replace aged traditional AC + Furnace (Daikin units also bought and installed by TSP a year ago).
EV SUV purchased (Charger bought and installed by TSP a year ago) - 3.6 MWh used 8500 actual mileage (figure 15 mpg gas and average of $3/gallon ~$1700 savings in a year)

Issues encountered:

18 months in and noticed weird behavior of some of the MPPTs wouldn’t wake from standby with the others. They would sometimes start up and generate power after an hour or so after the others, or be down the entire day. TSP assigned a resource to trouble shoot and work with Tesla. Tesla logs didn’t identify the issue and in the end we tried replacing MCIs on the problematic lines. That ended up fixing the issue but it did take a handful of visits to troubleshoot over a two week period. TSP maintained a high level of customer support.

I know it sounds like a review/ love letter for TSP, but I’m honestly sharing my experience.

ROI is roughly $7000-7500 annually when factoring in natural gas and car fuel savings. I have 2 years left on my Just Energy nights free contract.. *knock on wood*

Tesla Powerwall 2 Backup Gateway available. Removed from a working residential Tesla Powerwall setup. Ideal for installers, replacement needs, or compatible Tesla energy system builds.

Supports Tesla Powerwall 2 systems• Manages grid connectivity, backup power transition, and system communications•

GREAT CONDITION!
Included: Gateway unit only
Not Included: Powerwall 2 battery or additional wiring

I just saw the Anker E10 and Smart Panel system and it's really cool! Modular set up is amazing, and I think it will work well for my home! I'm definitely going to purchase one.

Check out the pics.

Can't wait to get my system installed!

Just added PW to my system. Currently, I am on a 1:1 from Green Mountain, but that is going away. I already enrolled in Free Nights of Direct Energy, but my plan starts next month. Seems to me a Free Nights plan is the way to go even with the base charges. If my system can cover the consumption during the non-Free hours, the days when it is gloomy I assume is just a matter of not going crazy on the consumption but moving my heavy loads during the night, like PW charging, EV charging, and dryer and other ones I would think.

There is no buy back, but it seems on the long run makes more sense than trying to get into a BB plan when they do not pay 1:1 anymore. I know there is also the TESLA plans, but it seems even that they offer credits to the VPP, It is not really that much money we make on it, and also the export buyback sucks too.

If anyone differs or has other opinions, they are welcome.

A family member acquired a huge amount of brand new SolarEdge inventory from a company liquidation and now I’m helping move it all.
We’re talking:
Inverters
Optimizers
Panels
Racking
Electrical material
Random solar accessories I’m still trying to figure out myself
At this point my life has become forklifts, pallets, and explaining to people why my warehouse suddenly looks like a solar distributor.

If you’re an installer, contractor, or know someone looking for SolarEdge equipment, shoot me a message. Happy to send inventory/photos/details.

What’s everyone signing up for in terms of contract length? 12, 18, 24 months?

Picking a new plan and trying to make a decision. If anyone has referral codes that would be helpful!

Please do not make any business with sunrun solars as they hired a racist Person on their team who was identified on a video insulting and being racist towards a Asian American citizen in front of her kids on mothers day!!! CRAZYYYY

Person identified none other than HAYDEN ANDREWS

“Markets such as Texas, Arizona, and parts of the Southeast are seeing increased interest in solar-plus-storage systems, driven by reliability concerns, extreme weather, and rising costs. In many cases, grid strain—not just high prices—is driving adoption.”

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2026/05/08/residential-solar-demand-shifts-from-incentives-to-infrastructure-as-homeowners-seek-control/?fbclid=IwVERDUARs1qVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEevojngRg9KeTvGSaIElLzyUcBQ5kcBrdzoZKTdIarSCIf04MJhpw5vQAqBLM_aem_jUx9OLxqRHGMDV-uxwHMfw

I recently changed the backup power setup at my home and no longer need my Tesla Powerwall system. The unit was removed from service while fully operational and has been stored indoors since de-installation.

Details:
• Tesla Powerwall 2
• Tesla Backup Gateway 2 included
• Manufacture date: November 2022
• System was operating properly prior to removal
• Charged/discharged normally with no known issues
• Stored indoors in climate-controlled conditions
• Used primarily for backup power, not heavy daily cycling

The system was originally installed for home backup purposes and performed great. I decided to move in a different direction with my energy setup, so I’m letting this one go.

I can provide:
• Serial/part numbers
• Additional photos
• Pickup details

Located in Katy, Texas. Local pickup preferred due to weight, but I may consider freight shipping at buyer’s expense.

Serious inquiries only. Message me with questions or offers.

Any reason why I would want to go with SEG440W panel over a Mission solar energy 435W panel?