Understanding Your Electricity Bill Before and After Going Solar

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Understanding Your Electricity Bill Before and
After Going Solar
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• Once you have a solar panel system installed,
  youll be able to generate your own electricity
  and save money by swapping to a cleaner energy
  source, instead of having to rely on
  grid-supplied power. But, you might need a little
  help understanding your electricity bill before
  you swap to solar, and afterwards
• Kilowatt (kW) and Kilowatt-hour (kWh) and usage
  explained
• Your usage as a homeowner, is the amount of power
  consumed by your property within a fixed period
  of time, and on your electricity bill, youll
  likely see both monthly and annual usage or
  consumption shown as kilowatt-hours.

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• Electrical power is rated in watts, with a
  kilowatt being equal to 1,000 watts, and a
  kilowatt-hour (kWh) is the measurement of actual
  electrical energy consumed over the period of an
  hour.
• If you have a 1,000-watt (or 1 kWh) microwave for
  example, it would take one hour of usage to
  consume 1 kWh of electricity, and a 50-watt
  lightbulb would need to be running for around 20
  hours (50W x 20h 1,000Wh) to equal 1 kWh of
  electricity consumption.

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• Off-peak and demand charges
• Electricity rates vary based on the exact moment
  a home consumes energy on-site with a demand or
  time-of-use billing structure. With an off-peak
  billing structure, customers are charged more for
  their electricity when demand is high or at its
  peak in a utilitys service area, typically shown
  as on-peak, or off-peak on a utility bill.
• With smart energy management, homeowners are able
  to save money on demand charges by only using
  appliances that consume high-power, in off-peak
  hours. Solar energy systems that generate
  electricity in the afternoon, can help homeowners
  use more of their own power during periods of
  high demand, although this isnt always as simple
  as it might sound.

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• Smart meters, net metering and customer
  production
• When a solar energy system is installed at your
  home, your traditional utility meter on the side
  of your home, will be replaced with a smart
  meter.
• Net metering means that your electricity usage
  will be measured against your solar energy
  systems production, directly, to resulting in a
  net energy consumption that youll be billed
  for.

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• Showing as customer production or customer
  energy generation on your electricity bill, is
  your solar energy production, and if your net
  metered solar panels produce more energy than you
  consume in a single month, you might have a
  negative energy electric bill with energy
  credits that are rolled over into the next
  billing cycle.
• For more guidance on understanding your
  electricity bill once you make the switch to
  solar, chat to your local solar provider, who
  will help talk you through it and make sense of
  your savings.

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• Proxima Solar Energy is a proud veteran owned
  organization founded by a group of partners, on
  the premise that everyone should have access to a
  clean, alternative-energy future. Proxima Solar
  Energy is the best solar company in Tampa and
  believes that your path to a clean energy future
  should not be difficult or complicated, so we
  seek to bring you simplified solar solutions that
  will benefit today and help to ensure a brighter
  tomorrow. If you are looking for solar installers
  in Tampa, look no further than Proxima Solar
  Energy. Get an instant ballpark solar estimate
  using satellites!