Buying the electric from the electric co is by far the cheapest option. Around here I know plenty of folks who are running 18,000 or more watts, the dude that runs our local hydro store told me his electric bill is $2200 a month! Mine is about 1200, maybe 1000 in the summer, and I have 14,000 watts. Why do you want to be off the grid? I guess if you have to a diesel generator is your only option. I looked at a Natural Gas one, and it was like 100 bucks a day to run it! Almost 3 times as expensive as buying the electric from the electric co.....
Wow, those are some fantastic rates. Are you sure you're not taking a commercial rate when you say you're running what adds up to several homes for less than $3K/mo?
Long before I ever started growing an average summer bill was approaching $1,000. That's just to run the household. That's why, despite numerous vigorous attempts by certain other growing friends to get me to go LARGE (they're all languishing in the hell of unmoved product now) I flat out refused. If our single family home, with three of the four bedrooms holding one person each and then one bedroom for my husband and I is resulting in power bills that are
starting out at well over $400/mo, then how would I, how can I then increase that exponentially?
If you were looking at bills even remotely close to mine, you would be singing a decidedly different tune, and probably looking for that bottle of Astraglide.
Hmm... let me think here, why do I want to get off grid?
1) Regular power outages put me off-grid anyway.
2) PG&E(vil) isn't getting any cheaper, in fact, it's the opposite.
3) What's worse is they want to tie me into a grid where they can more closely monitor my power usage and, if they feel it's necessary, adjust what I can use! I.e. they want to be able to turn off my AC or furnace should they feel it's necessary.
4) None of that feel good "they'll only do it when it's absolutely necessary" bullshit is making it through my radar.
5) Pay PG&E several hundreds of dollars a month (when I'm not growing anything indoors) in perpetuity, OR pay down a 15yr 0%APR loan that makes me and my home more self-sufficient--that's not much of a conundrum there for me.
6) This whole program goes far beyond installing solar and focuses on a 'total package', which addresses all areas of power consumption.
Maybe your neighbors haven't done it right, Bud, I don't know how they're set up. But, I
do know that right here in my county,
downcountry from us, there is a huge swathe of county that does not tie into the grid at all--no service whatsoever from PG&E or any other power provider. In other words, they have no choice in the matter--it's solar (self-generated power) or nothing. They all have solar.
What's even more interesting is that they're in what is considered the (Sierra) foothills, which is subject very regularly to heavy, heavy central valley fog. So now I find myself wondering, if your neighbors are waiting for a sunny day to get even the simplest of chores done, how are my neighbors doing it when it gets so foggy so often down there? (I'm at 2500' elevation, the folks I'm referring to are around 1000' and under.)