Updated 7.19.2023
Without owning your energy source, you are exposed to the risk of rising energy costs. Ameren Illinois utility customers saw an average increase of 86% of their electric supply rate in 2022. Considering that Ameren Illinois is proposing a $1.3 billion electric rate hike over the next 4 years, homeowners and businesses will need all the utility bill help they can get.
There is a solution available to defend against utility rate hikes: solar energy. It’s like owning a mini power plant on your roof (or property) that provides clean, local energy to your home or business. Your own solar PV system means securing your energy costs for decades and never having to fear the monthly utility bill.
In this article, we cover the top 4 ways solar energy for your home or business can protect against rising electricity bills.
A solar PV system generates energy over the typical 25-30 year life of the system. Over this timeframe, the cost of solar energy to your home is fixed, known as Levelized Cost of Energy. The cost of these solar-generated kilowatts are determined by the net cost of the system minus federal and state incentives (net cost), divided by the energy produced.
For instance, if your $11,300 system (after incentives) produces 9,800 kilowatt hours a year, the Levelized Cost of Energy would be 4.1 cents a kilowatt across 30 years. In many cases, the cost of self-generated energy is a fraction of what the utility charges to your home. Here’s the math.
A well-functioning solar array can reduce your home’s energy costs. When factoring in the annual cost savings from solar energy, an average array in Illinois can pay for itself in 8 to 12 years. The remaining life of the system is providing free energy to your home. That could be an additional 15 years of free energy!
Net metering is the exchange of energy between your solar PV system and the utility. When excess energy is generated during the day, your utility credits those kilowatts in your account for future use, such as nighttime. If you continue to produce more than you use, the utility will pay you for the extra energy sent to the grid either monthly or at the end of the year. Each utility has different net metering policies, and your StraightUp Solar Project Developer will clearly explain their rules. For more on net metering and how to read your bill see our blog post and videos for Illinois and Missouri net metering.
For homeowners, battery storage is another tool to capture and use your own energy. If you live in an area with time of use charges, you can use the energy stored from your battery during the day for nighttime use and save those net metering credits for another day.
Battery backup protects your home’s essential loads in times of power outages.
StraightUp Solar offers several solar and storage options, from powering a few appliances to whole home backup. Our engineers can create a custom solution for your home through our storage platforms: Tesla Powerwall and Enphase IQ Battery.
Find out more about Battery Storage.
