Electricity rate comparison

[Swedishchef]

The regular rate here is about 11 cents. But thanks to a time-of-day rate, I now pay about 5 cents most of the time, and about 30 cents on weekdays from 6-11am in winter and 1-5pm in summer. This might not work so well for some people, but I have a rather odd diurnal cycle, typically sleeping 3am - Noon. So the peak hours are a complete non-issue in winter, and not much of one in summer, because I like to keep the house pretty cool overnight, so when I wake up, I simply turn the thermostat up and the A/C does not come on until the peak period is over. As a result, I use about one kwh per day during the peak hours, which is basically my "basal metabolism" of 150-200 watts, probably mostly due to an old refrigerator.

I think your schedule helps immensely. That $0.05 /kWh is also quite a cheap rate! BUt then there's the 30 cents..that is EXPENSIVE. $0,30/kWh???? Wow.

Andrew

 

[RustyShackleford]

My HPWH still uses a hefty 1500 kWh/yr, and is just as good a battery (if I had TOU and put it on a timer).

Oh yeah, of course - it doesn't have to be ERWH for this "battery" notion to work. But another argument for ERWH, that I read here or elsewhere, is that the quite substantial dollar savings (over a fancy one like HPWH or condensing gas) can be put towards PV solar, which is on a cost curve that Jeremy Grantham compared to Moore's Law. Wasn't really an issue for me as I just didn't have a place in the house where the noise of HPWH wouldn't be bothersome, plus I really wanted the thing in the crawlspace, and there's no such thing (yet) as a lowboy-style HPWH.

 

[woodgeek]

Sure, HPWH are not for every application. Versus PV, hmmmm. My HPWH was $1200 more than a decent ERWH, after rebates, and uses ~2000 kWh/yr less. I would need a 1.5 kW PV array to make that much energy, so PV would need to cost 1200/1500 = $0.80/W installed, after rebates to be a better energy deal. If my WH has half the life of a PV array, I guess we can double that, but I still haven't seen a lot of installs <$1.60/W.

But my rooftop solar resource is ~50% shaded by trees not on my property. I don't have enough sun to grow vegetables.

Couldn't you do an airtap with a lowboy marathon?

 

[RustyShackleford]

But my rooftop solar resource is ~50% shaded by trees not on my property. I don't have enough sun to grow vegetables.

I feel your pain.

Couldn't you do an airtap with a lowboy marathon?

I don't understand what you mean.

 

[woodgeek]

For a while I wanted a HPWH in a 44" high space....my plan was a regular, insulated tank, like a marathon brand lowboy tank, and an external HP compressor like the airtap or geyser brand.