From our E-News August 2013 edition: The Dog Days of Summer
Hi to Everyone at Mendocino Solar Service,
I was waiting to get this month’s bill to send you this note, as this is the first month since our true up period in January that we have had to pay anything: a whopping $2.73! Make sure you saw the decimal in there!
We had our solar system installed in 2006. The job was very professionally done and you have been great about helping us understand the operation and care of the system. During our first year, there was an electricity outage on our Lane that lasted over a week, but we had battery backup, so had power! PG&E gave us all a $100 rebate because of the length of the outage. Our averaged energy cost was $8.09 per month, so we came out ahead by $2.92 for our first year! Since then, our averaged monthly costs, which are mostly for distribution, have been:
2008—$7.41
2009—$4.48
2010—$4.50
2011—$2.92
2012—$2.54
Yes, it will take a while to cover the initial costs, but we are well on the way to doing that. I figured out that we are generating approximately $560.00 in savings per year. This is one of the best investments we have ever made, not just to save money, but also to benefit the environment by getting our power in a more sustainable way. Thank you for your service to our community and the planet!