#French broad emc bill pay for free#
#French broad emc bill pay full#

If you generate more than you are using during those sun hours, FBEMC buys those excess kWhs from you for 5.5¢/kwh.

#French broad emc bill pay for free#

You can use those generated kWhs in your home for free during the exact times that they are being generated by the solar system. The system is connected to your home’s electric meter. How it works: Your solar system generates electricity (kWhs) while the sun is shining. If you’d like to avoid an explanation of the mechanics of these rates and just want some basic advice on making the decision, skip to the “Three payback profiles” section.įrench Broad EMC’s three renewable generation rates Each has pros and cons, and your best payoff might be a system that’s smaller than your needs. There are three different rate structures offered by French Broad for such systems. For that type of system, your payback depends a lot on how FBEMC pays you for the extra electricity you generate and put on their grid.

#French broad emc bill pay full#

This article, though, is about the payback of having a system connected to the FBEMC grid without batteries, where FBEMC still sells you electricity during the times when your solar system isn’t carrying your full load. And if you want electricity at night or on cloudy days, batteries will be necessary if you are off-grid. Yes, I’m getting there in more detail below, but for now, basically: 25-30 years (3-4%) without the tax credit, and 12-25 years (4-8%) with the tax credit.ĭo I need to build a system that generates all of my electricity? If you do not owe $6,000 in a single year of taxes, you can carry over the credit to future years. So if you installed that 8 KW system for $20,000, you would be eligible for a $6,000 credit (not a deduction) toward your federal taxes owed. The Federal tax credit (30% of system cost) is available through 2019 (and then drops some percentage points each year for a few years after). Or call us about grant funding for farm/business systems that are not tied to a residence.Īren’t there tax credits for solar, or are those gone? Many residential installations opt for smaller systems that do not offset the home’s entire electricity use.įinancing: Contact Carolina Farm Credit or Self-Help Credit Union in Asheville to ask about Solar loans. (A list of area installers can be found on our installers page.) So for that 8 KW system mentioned above, the cost would be around $20,000-$24,000 (8 KW x 1,000 Watts/KW x $2.50-$3.00/Watt). As of May 2017, $2.50-$3.00 per installed Watt is a competitive installation cost to expect from an installer in our area. But much cheaper than even a few years ago, and still falling. How much does a solar system cost these days? I will discuss that later, but for now, let’s think about that 8 KW system and how much it would cost to install. You still have to think about how the utility pays and charges you for all the electrons flowing different ways. Just because you sized a system to match your full use doesn’t mean you’ll get all your energy for free from then on. Keep in mind that your ideal grid-connected system (from an economic payback perspective) may not be one that generates 100% of your use. That system would consist of about 30 panels. (assuming an installation roughly south-facing and in full sun from 9AM-3PM.) In western North Carolina, it would take an 8 KW system to generate that number of kWhs over a year. home uses ~11,000 kWh/year of electric energy (~$115/month on FBEMC) If you would like to see FBEMC offer similar programs, check out Appalachian Voices’ efforts to bring this energy savings solution to FBEMC.Ĭampaign for On-Bill Financing for French Broad EMCįirst, for some practice with throwing around watts and KWs (power units, kind of like water pressure) and kilowatt-hours (kWhs, energy units, like the gallons of water), let’s look at the numbers for a residential solar system that would produce the amount of energy consumed by the average U.S. Other utilities in Appalachia have successfully added things like insulation and HVAC improvements to their on-bill financing programs. įBEMC currently offers on-bill financing only for mini-split heat pumps, meaning FBEMC pays for the installation and the homeowner pays it back on their monthly bill (which is lower due to the energy savings).

Solar’s new and neat, but it shouldn’t always be Marsha, Marsha, Marsha. Plus, if you do decide to go solar, the system you’ll need will be much smaller and less expensive once your home is more energy efficient.

Insulation measures, air sealing, energy efficient appliances and behaviors make an immediate impact and pay themselves back much more quickly than a solar system. Remember that having a more energy efficient home should be the first step to lower energy costs and lowering your carbon footprint. A quick plug for energy efficiency, the Jan Brady of home energy investments: