4000 kWh usage per month

Okay, I'm still new to this whole solar thing. But I don't think I can fully run my house on solar. Ever...

I've built an array, got some storage and have some real numbers now to use. Right now with 6 400 Watt panels I'm pulling in about 10 KWH/day (been lots of sunny days). That is using 1/2 of 1 side of my garage roof. My main roof can hold about 20 panels per side of the same size. These would all be east facing. I don't have numbers for the west side yet but I'm guessing it'll be about the same? So if I use all available space, and have perfect weather, always, I can pull in about 2200 KWH/month. But my electric bill is 4000 KWH/month (even higher during really cold or really hot months)!

Now, this house is oldish, 2 story 4 bedroom. Colonial build in 1975. So there is probably quite a bit of heat/cooling loss. Windows all leak, etc. And everything is electric. Electric stove, cloths dryer, heat pump and hot water heater. But I believe the average usage per house in my state is 1000 KWH/month. Does that sound right?

I guess my question is: Is my consumption really that far outside the norm? Or am I doing something wrong?

best bet is to start with an Emporia Vue monitor system. You need to figure out where exactly all that power is going. they are pretty easy to install, does not require an electrician.

I'd say it is on the high side. People knew about insulation in the 70's, but that did not mean good energy reducing practices were used in your house.
Most time you see more savings from fixing the energy hogs than making more power.
Get an inexpensive thermal camera (or one that mounts to your cell phone) and look/fix hot/cold spots and gaps around doors/windows/attic.
Make sure the windows are latched to pull them together.
See if you can easily add attic insulation.
Take 1 appliance per year and replace it. Electric stove/clothes dryer being last as they are not much more efficient. HW heat pump maybe a good idea, but a heat pump HVAC can save big bucks.

For comparison purposes, here in Phoenix, our 2300 sq ft home from the mid 80s can consume as much as 120kWh/day in the worst months of summer where a 5 ton A/C is running most of the day. FWIW, we've blown in about another 10" of insulation in the attic.

That extrapolates to about 3600kWh/month, so I would say your usage is very, very high and $ would be better spent improving efficiency rather than trying to brute force it with solar.

Lastly, average U.S. household consumption across all home types is around 30kWh/day or about 900kWh/month.

Going to solar is typically a wake up call for how much energy we use.
Folks that decide to go off grid completely, always underestimate.

Your useage seems high to me but its all relative. Then buying all your electricity at 1 time (whole home solar) is sticker shock.

Pulled from my utility:

sunshine_eggo said:

Pulled from my utility:

View attachment 203848

Click to expand...

Wow, okay. So I'm about 25% higher on average (during the not so hot or cold months). But not nearly as bas as 400% above norm as I had originally thought.

Thanks!

Texican said:

best bet is to start with an Emporia Vue monitor system. You need to figure out where exactly all that power is going. they are pretty easy to install, does not require an electrician.

Click to expand...

Oh, I have never seen one of these. I'm going to get one. Thanks!

Stephen InGeorgia said:

I'd say it is on the high side. People knew about insulation in the 70's, but that did not mean good energy reducing practices were used in your house.
Most time you see more savings from fixing the energy hogs than making more power.
Get an inexpensive thermal camera (or one that mounts to your cell phone) and look/fix hot/cold spots and gaps around doors/windows/attic.
Make sure the windows are latched to pull them together.
See if you can easily add attic insulation.
Take 1 appliance per year and replace it. Electric stove/clothes dryer being last as they are not much more efficient. HW heat pump maybe a good idea, but a heat pump HVAC can save big bucks.

Click to expand...

I believe the house settled a bit and no one bothered to fix the windows. None of them fully shut but there isn't a draft. So I bet there is quite a bit of savings there. And a thermal camera is a great idea! Between that and the energy monitor, I'll find the culprit!

Sunshine Eggo is far from normal. You are using about four time the power an “average” household uses.

aragonx said:

I believe the house settled a bit and no one bothered to fix the windows. None of them fully shut but there isn't a draft. So I bet there is quite a bit of savings there. And a thermal camera is a great idea! Between that and the energy monitor, I'll find the culprit!

Click to expand...

I like my little Flir that plugs into my USB C phone port. Find a neighbor and rent it to them for 50$. Do that for 6 neighbors and they just purchased it for you!

update: shoot, they be 200$ now : https://www.amazon.com/FLIR-One-The...&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584001427598854&th=1

2000 square foot home in Texas. I get this kind of usage in summer

Sennen said:

2000 square foot home in Texas. I get this kind of usage in summer

Click to expand...

August in Texas has to be the highest energy consuming month right? I guess it's time I showed my bill:


That estimate was a little high (I think I only used 10,000 KWH) but...

aragonx said:

Okay, I'm still new to this whole solar thing. But I don't think I can fully run my house on solar. Ever...

I've built an array, got some storage and have some real numbers now to use. Right now with 6 400 Watt panels I'm pulling in about 10 KWH/day (been lots of sunny days). That is using 1/2 of 1 side of my garage roof. My main roof can hold about 20 panels per side of the same size. These would all be east facing. I don't have numbers for the west side yet but I'm guessing it'll be about the same? So if I use all available space, and have perfect weather, always, I can pull in about 2200 KWH/month. But my electric bill is 4000 KWH/month (even higher during really cold or really hot months)!

Now, this house is oldish, 2 story 4 bedroom. Colonial build in 1975. So there is probably quite a bit of heat/cooling loss. Windows all leak, etc. And everything is electric. Electric stove, cloths dryer, heat pump and hot water heater. But I believe the average usage per house in my state is 1000 KWH/month. Does that sound right?

Click to expand...

2 biggest users there are clothes dryer and heat pump. Heat pump will be the highest. Start with the heat pump, any idea on SEER? Clothes dryer could possibly be changed to hybrid heat pump style- I've been contemplating one for some time. The use an electric element and a heat pump, ventless so no makeup air. The water heater can be changed out to a hybrid heat pump unit, this gains you a COP of 3 to 4 over the resistive heat elements but if demand is high you can use the hybrid heat pump resistive element.

The heat pump and water heater qualify for 30% tax credit. Take advantage of it, when the government is handing out money, take it. It reduces the term of ROI.

Insulation, windows, etc. all qualify for tax credit of 30%. Stagger the improvements so you use up close to limit each year. That means replacing worst windows first or insulating one year, then the next some windows. Again, the government is handing out money, take it.

Start developing a plan to be energy efficient, budget for it and stick to it. In the process, start researching solar so once you get efficiency gains done you are ready to add solar. This all needs to be done by 2033 so get started.

aragonx said:

I guess my question is: Is my consumption really that far outside the norm? Or am I doing something wrong?

Click to expand...

aragonx said:

Okay, I'm still new to this whole solar thing. But I don't think I can fully run my house on solar. Ever...

I've built an array, got some storage and have some real numbers now to use. Right now with 6 400 Watt panels I'm pulling in about 10 KWH/day (been lots of sunny days). That is using 1/2 of 1 side of my garage roof. My main roof can hold about 20 panels per side of the same size. These would all be east facing. I don't have numbers for the west side yet but I'm guessing it'll be about the same? So if I use all available space, and have perfect weather, always, I can pull in about 2200 KWH/month. But my electric bill is 4000 KWH/month (even higher during really cold or really hot months)!

Now, this house is oldish, 2 story 4 bedroom. Colonial build in 1975. So there is probably quite a bit of heat/cooling loss. Windows all leak, etc. And everything is electric. Electric stove, cloths dryer, heat pump and hot water heater. But I believe the average usage per house in my state is 1000 KWH/month. Does that sound right?

I guess my question is: Is my consumption really that far outside the norm? Or am I doing something wrong?

Click to expand...

4000 KWH a month is outrageous compared to my house.... House is half the size but it only uses 1300 KWH at the worst month.

It’s not completely insane, but it is very high. I thought I used a lot of power (avg 60 KWHR/day) but that’s twice that.

Yeah, do the survey first, get your insulation and power use under control, and then you’ll know what kind of solar power system you need.

You can’t control what you can’t measure.

I use the power of necromancy to bring this thread back to life. Just posting an update. I might have figured out why my electric bill was so high. I climbed up into the attic a few days ago to see if I had a power vent. And to my surprise, I found that the duct had fell off the blower. So I was mainly conditioning my attic space! With that resolved, my heat pump is not running 24x7 now. It's only been a couple of days, but that MIGHT just have been a big part of my problem.

aragonx said:

I use the power of necromancy to bring this thread back to life. Just posting an update. I might have figured out why my electric bill was so high. I climbed up into the attic a few days ago to see if I had a power vent. And to my surprise, I found that the duct had fell off the blower. So I was mainly conditioning my attic space! With that resolved, my heat pump is not running 24x7 now. It's only been a couple of days, but that MIGHT just have been a big part of my problem.

Click to expand...

Good to hear!!

Reminds me of a time, must have been april or so, went into the basement. It was chilly and I was going to be down there for a couple hours...Turned on oil space heater. Finished business, shut off heater.

Next power bill seemed high...
Next power bill was even higher!

Turns out the switch on the space heater broke as I tried to turn it off. So it was on for 3 months before I figured it out lol

aragonx said:

I use the power of necromancy to bring this thread back to life. Just posting an update. I might have figured out why my electric bill was so high. I climbed up into the attic a few days ago to see if I had a power vent. And to my surprise, I found that the duct had fell off the blower. So I was mainly conditioning my attic space! With that resolved, my heat pump is not running 24x7 now. It's only been a couple of days, but that MIGHT just have been a big part of my problem.

Click to expand...

That'll do it, good catch! Interested to hear what your daily consumption is like.

aragonx said:

Okay, I'm still new to this whole solar thing. But I don't think I can fully run my house on solar. Ever...

I've built an array, got some storage and have some real numbers now to use. Right now with 6 400 Watt panels I'm pulling in about 10 KWH/day (been lots of sunny days). That is using 1/2 of 1 side of my garage roof. My main roof can hold about 20 panels per side of the same size. These would all be east facing. I don't have numbers for the west side yet but I'm guessing it'll be about the same? So if I use all available space, and have perfect weather, always, I can pull in about 2200 KWH/month. But my electric bill is 4000 KWH/month (even higher during really cold or really hot months)!

Now, this house is oldish, 2 story 4 bedroom. Colonial build in 1975. So there is probably quite a bit of heat/cooling loss. Windows all leak, etc. And everything is electric. Electric stove, cloths dryer, heat pump and hot water heater. But I believe the average usage per house in my state is 1000 KWH/month. Does that sound right?

I guess my question is: Is my consumption really that far outside the norm? Or am I doing something wrong?

Click to expand...

How big is this house? My 1154 square feet 2 bedroom 2 bath house built in 1940 (added onto in the 60's and 80's) never exceeds 1500kWh in the summer. There is no insulation in the walls in the original part of the house. Here's the last two years of usage (Jul-Dec 2024, I am estimating).

OMG... I can't believe that usage... looks like a large warehouse rather than a home....

I'm about $200+ in the summer months here in DC with my home built in 1948, brick construction with 0 insulation in all the exterior walls. Windows have been replaced about 10-20 years ago and are still quite leaky. Roof has 24" of insulation which is good but that doesn't help much in the summer... Drywall walls get warm to the touch in the summer and ice cold in the winter.... master bath walls sweat profusely after a shower when the ambient temp is anything below 50F.... It's bad but it looks like it could be way worse... Just replaced the HVAC system and it was 20+ years old on the old unit. I still use around 50-75KW per day when its 90F+ out....

Yeah. Hope that fixed part of the problem. There is def something wrong. Maybe a lot wrong.

I had a 3000 Square Foot Capecod design house, built Late 80's with proper insulation etc (for that time frame). It did not have any special features (passive or otherwise) and was of the A-Typical construction of the day with fiberglass batt insulation etc. That monstrosity used a MAX of 10kWh per day (when electric heat was on) but so low because we usually had a fire going in winter which used up about 8 Cord of hardwood.

Dumped that shack and built my current home, smaller but highly efficient and I use between 3.5-4.2 kWh per day "year round". I rarely put the woodstove on as it overheats the house far to easily.

Efficient Appliances & Devices are Essential.
Good Insulation + Fresh Air Exchange (w/ heat recovery) also goes a long way for winter comforts. Also Good Insulation helps keep the exterior heat OUT in summer as well (for some reason many miss THAT important point, never occurs to some).

4000kWh hours ! = 4,000,000 Wh !
For a residence that is LUDICROUS !
Get back to the Calculator, Go look at your power bills (heaviest months) and verify the actual kWh used !
Sit down with spouse & ask what can we upgrade/update to cut our energy usage !!!
That Fridge you inherited from Grandma that keeps your beer cold HAS TO GO !
Appreciate also that there are MANY things that qualify for Rebates/Incentives & Cash Back so look into it.

RULE 1 OF SOLAR !!!
Conservation is FAR CHEAPER than Generation & Storage !