Brian McGowan says he spent about $150 (€130) on electricity at his home in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, last year. And since installing additional solar panels in the fall, they hope their bills will be even lower this year.
Normally he would have to buy more than $2000 a year on electricity, about $1000 on gas and more than $2000 worth of heating oil.
“I have an EV, so I’m not buying gas, which is rising rapidly at the moment. I have a mini split heat pump, which keeps the house warm most of the time, so I’m not burning heating oil,” the engineering technician told DW.
What started small with a few solar panels providing enough energy to run a kettle, coffee machine and emergency lighting during power outages has grown into a full system that includes battery storage and a heat pump, among other things.
And he is not the only one who is leaving his home like this.
John Spezia, a retired college professor who lives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, installed solar panels about 13 years ago and recently added a heat pump to heat his home, allowing him to run off his gas supply.
“As we saw recently, the price of natural gas is going to go up, so we are adding that to our savings,” he told DW. “It’s probably $400, $500 and there’s no monthly base rate.”
There are times during the year when he and his wife generate more electricity than they can use, so the excess electricity goes into the grid. “But we’re allowed bank hours, so we get loans in the cooler times of the year.”
Power outage? not in this house
McGowan runs two systems in Pennsylvania – an off-grid system that he relies on for long periods of time when central power is out, and a grid-tied system consisting of 30 rooftop solar panels that are also connected to batteries.
“When I got this system on, we had our first power outage and my wife saw a flicker and she said, ‘What was that?’ And I looked out the window, and the whole neighborhood was dark. And I said ‘This is what a blackout looks like for us now. It’s just a flicker and we still have power.”
He says the area where he lives is affected by about three or four power outages a year, some of which last for a few days. But he expects more issues to arise as energy demand from data centers increases.
US Energy Information AdministrationThe report said that in 2024, electricity customers experienced an average of 11 hours of interruption – almost double the annual average recorded over the past decade.
A Studied at Stanford University, CaliforniaThe focus was on how homeowners can use solar and battery storage to help avoid power outages. One of the authors, Tao Sun, of Stanford’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, found that 60% of households would also benefit financially.
However, it included the now eliminated federal tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act.
How much money can homeowners save by generating their own electricity?
Many factors affect savings and earning potential, including:
- How much electricity can be generated at the place where the panels are installed and what is the capacity of the panels installed?
- How much does it cost to install a system, including labor, permits, solar panels, and batteries
- How much a provider charges per kilowatt hour and how a solar producer is reimbursed for feeding into the grid.
“It’s different state by state, so that makes a difference, too,” Sun said.
Under what is known as a net metering scheme, the utility company will credit all electricity sent back into the grid at exactly the same rate the household pays them. That is the retail electricity rate. Net billing credit, on the other hand, refers to the wholesale rate, so what the utility company pays for electricity is credited to households.
“In California, it’s about 25% of the retail price,” Sun said. “If I were a homeowner with solar power and I was in a net billing situation, it would obviously make more sense for me to have my own battery storage so that I could consume my own [energy]”
How long it will take for an investment to pay off also varies greatly, says Ben Dellman, who works for Solar United Neighbors,A non-profit organization that provides advice to anyone interested in solar energy.
He says that’s anywhere from 2 to 5 years in states with strong solar renewable energy credits and 7 to 11 years in states with no or less expensive electricity markets.
“Your payment is greatly influenced by how much you’re already paying for electricity,” he said.
Nearly 5 million American homes now have metered rooftop solar power – that’s close to one in 30 residential homes, according to one Environment America Research and Policy Center report.
“This has really become a 50-state phenomenon, where in every state across the country, we’ve seen dramatic increases in rooftop solar adoption,” said Johanna Newman, senior director of the Center for 100% Renewable Energy Campaign.
“And I think part of it is the environmental benefits, but I think for a lot of people it’s just the energy stability that comes with controlling how you get your power,” Newman said.
So where to start with solar power at home?
Despite U.S. President Donald Trump rolling back tax breaks for residential homes, Newman says, “many states still offer tax credits for people to be able to adopt solar energy.” Financing may also be available through local banks, and in some cases, leasing may be an option.
In recent years, Newman says, states like Indiana and California have rolled back policies that once compensated residents fairly for excess power supplied to the grid.
“Some states are charging solar customers an extra $50 a month just for solar energy. So at that point, these people are deciding, ‘Okay, I’m going to get batteries and I’m going to disconnect from the grid,’ and that’s where they’re going,” McGowan said.
“For anyone who is going to do this, make sure you have added batteries to the system,” he said.
He says he’s done a lot of things to make his home more energy-efficient, like installing a drain water heat exchanger that recovers heat from drain water. With the heat pump, McGowan says he’s now using a fraction of the energy he used for hot water.
“Have an energy audit of your home, plug all leaks and make it as efficient as possible and make sure all your appliances and heaters are electric,” advises Spezia to homeowners interested in generating their own electricity.
And Sun says consider both the economic benefits as well as how resilient it makes homes during power outages.
“How much will you pay for your uninterrupted service of electricity?”
Edited by: Tamsin Walker