Our first payment for generated electricity!

[DamonHD]

...and at 4.5p (~9c US) per kWh that should be a little over £3 ($6) for March's power.

If I cared about the money I could change purchasers and get about double that, but I'm happy to be making my green supplier a little greener!

Note that our generation is very roughly 30% of our gross consumption, so we'll go on being net consumers with imported power at 16p (32c) per kWh.

But it's a start.

(The annual cycle for renewables credits in the UK, from which we are being paid in effect, is 31st March to 31st March.)

Rgds

Damon

BTW, anyone fancy doing my new poll at http://www.earth.org.uk/

('Do' a poll, 'Take' and poll, 'Try' a poll: what is the verb?)

[electrondady1]

i think congratulations are in order .

[DamonHD]

Why, thank you.

>bows<

I think that it might just about be enough to buy a pint of beer a month on average!  B^>

Rgds

Damon

[TomW]

Damon;

I tend to think of anything "RE" that works as being part of the solution rather than just another part of the problem.

Just feels more warm n fuzzy, I guess mainly.

Bravo and congratulations on doing whats right despite not being a financial windfall.

It all adds up.

TomW

[vawtman]

Good Job Damon!

 But you may have to claim that has income on your taxes so maybe only 2/3 pint but better than nothing.:v)

[spinningmagnets]

Do Y'all have taxes over there in England?

Also, is it true that you drink beer warm to reduce electrical consumption? (what a great example for the rest of the world!)

Even if the numbers don't actually crunch out, I would think that bragging rights are worth something.

[DamonHD]

Hi,

I've made sure that the money is coming into my company (which paid for the PV system) not me so as not to be a taxable benefit.  After payroll taxes that £3 is about £1.50, which might buy me a pint of ale in the cheapest pub in town!  (And of course most of that £1.50 goes on sales tax (VAT) and duty.)

Rgds

Damon

[valterra]

I know many people, even ones who are friendly to Renewable Energy, that would snicker at your measly little 6 pounds.

Most people would say, "I'm won't go through all of that trouble for $12!"

But that's because people don't think it through.  I believe most people take their bills for granted.  To them, that $12 seems tiny.

However, true, honest accounting would have you subtracting your typical electric bill from the red side of the ledger as well.

In my case, my bill for last month was $91.  If I had produced $12, my honest "profit" that month would be $111.  I don't know about you guys, but I don't scoff at $111.

I'm not into this to save the earth.  Nor am I in it to make money.  (I'd love to sell some back, and DO wish they'd pay more) I'm personally in it so I don't feel so dependent on someone else.

But Damon, besides independence, you've also crossed over another line, if only slightly.  You have become a Producer.  We need more producers - Doers - in this world.

Congratulations!  

[DamonHD]

Well indeed, the >80% economy that we made in consumption first to make the PV's contribution noticable was probably the important bit in terms of money, shaving the whales, etc (maybe ~$2000/year saving on the electricity bill I think though it's late and I'm 98% asleep right now), but yes, the feeling of being to pump 1kW into the grid  at peak, and having a small independent off-grid system for lighting and cellphone charging is great!

I'm just putting in the post tomorrow an order for more loft insulation to bring us up to the recommended 270mm, and contacted yesterday my local council again to get started on permissions for the next round of improvements for next winter and the winter after.  Maybe none of those will end up producing for the grid (though I really hope that one or two will for the warm buzz if nothing else), but all will end up saving.

The next target is essentially to more than halve the amount of mains natural gas we import for heating (space and water) over the course of a year.  The money doesn't justify the cost, at least not yet, but getting close to carbon-neutral for most of every year may do.  And the warm buzz really helps.  Must try not to drive my partner to distraction though!

Rgds

Damon