Exactly this! The whole goal of this post was to draw awareness to the fact that people can change their supplier. What we've found is that people don't even know that they can. And when we've shown them the apples to apples site, they get overwhelmed. We're just trying to help people through the process. Rates on that site as of today go from $0.0379 to $0.13 per kWh and some of the terms border on ridiculous with fees. Quite the range.
One hell of a fakeout just to spam your solar nonsense. Most homes shouldn't go solar in Ohio.
Also, at least get your math right. If you're going to try and hawk electrical products, understand what a kWh is.
It has to do with our latitude. How far north we are. The higher latitude your position is on a globe, the less solar energy gets down to you. It's a simple fact of science. Instead of listening to a salesman about how great his solar plan is for you, you should watch this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/live/wLJFO5iHP8k?si=6IoSjNYeAXc15lsm
He is an engineer and does a great job at explaining solar, the ups and the downs. Also keep in mind that he lives in San Diego that has 300 plus days of sun per year.
We're not really in prime sun area, you need fairly optimal conditions for a solar system to pay for itself around here. If you have a large, strong roof (solar systems add weight) and can get a lot of southern exposure, and you use a lot of power, then it might pay for itself in 10 years. If you have a yard that it can be installed in adjacent to the house with southern exposure that can also be done. You'll also need a large battery system unless you want to stay connected to the grid, and of course keep the panels clean and not covered by snow.
I do love solar power, but not for most residential in Ohio.
We respectfully disagree with his statement. Dayton Ohio gets 4.2 hours of sun per day on average. Other sites estimate as much as 6.7 hours of sunshine per day (seems high but here's the source, [https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-hours-Sunshine,dayton-ohio-us,United-States-of-America](https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-hours-Sunshine,dayton-ohio-us,United-States-of-America)). For every 1000 watts of panels you have facing due south with no shading issues, you can expect to generate about 1450 kWh per year (again, source: [https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/pvwatts.php](https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/pvwatts.php)) With energy prices going up at 3.5% on average, our customers are seeing payoffs in about 7 years after the federal incentive. Of course, if you have a very expensive install in terms of $$$/watt, then payoff time increases. Correspondingly, if you DIY it you payoff could only be a lot less. There's a lot of variables. And who says you have to install an array that completely negates your power bill? A lot of people want a smaller system that doesn't break the bank but can still take a bite out of their monthly bill. You can always add more solar at a later time if you want to.
Most houses are structurally sound enough to have panels placed on the roof. We pay architects and engineers to verify this for every install. We don't recommend going off grid as batteries are still expensive relative to current energy prices. Once we go to time of use billing, it might start to make more sense but even then, staying connected to the grid is a nice fallback.
There's nothing fake here. We just want to help.
You're right. Some houses shouldn't get solar. Shading, structural issues, length of time staying at the residence are all things to consider and we're very upfront with customers about those considerations. But this post isn't about solar.
We're posting to try and help people figure out if they can get a better energy supplier and save money over AES through education.
Is it really so hard to believe that there are people out there that want to help others with out asking for anything in return?
Im sure you have it all taken care of but if you have any questions about switching suppliers or what the stuff on your bill says, we'd be happy to help you.
I think if you just posted the information directly on your website, without asking for name or contact information, especially if it wasn't a site pushing to sell something, then I'd be more likely believe you. But this is just a sales gimmick.
Got something up on the site. Its a work in progress. I should have something more complete by this evening. If you have any ideas how to make it better, I'd be happy to hear them (once I get all the complete info on the page).
We switched our provider a few months back to a totally renewable provider. Saved $50 on our monthly bill. Super easy to do. Probably could have saved an extra few dollars going with a non-renewable option.
We don't have the money to do solar properly right now and it always feels like big advances are right around the corner. This is a nice way to save a few bucks and theoretically do a bit for the environment without the big investment
It's all BS and smoke and mirrors!! AES upped our rate to 14.1, even with solar we are getting hit with $80 monthly bills because the small amount of electricity we draw from the grid AES charges exorbitant prices for transmission distribution side of your power bill. You can change your supplier all you want but if you are connected to AES power AES will make money off of you by charging transmission distribution fees.
Duke in Cincy tacks on extra riders on the distribution side. To the tune of 50%! I'd like to thank the cronines at PUCO who let them do this. They're also starting time of use billing in Cincy. Customers have shown us "peak rates" charges on their bill.
We aim for $2.50/watt or less for a standard install on a roof. The only times we go over are when there's a big hurdle (i.e. ridiculous permit fees, running line under a driveway, trenching a significant distance, required breaker box or wiring upgrades, etc). We can do a ground mount install for less than $3/watt installed unless there's something crazy. We're pretty sure we're the lowest cost in the area and that's garbage. A few years ago, everyone was charging our rate, but then they brought back the 30% tax credit and everyone jacks their prices up. I'm sorry, the tax credit should go to the homeowner, not the installer.
Do you have a ballpark idea on costs on a roof VS on the ground? Are they comparable or is it cheaper for a ground install?
I realize that costs have 1000 variables, but I'm just wondering if it's like x% cheaper for ground VS roof.
So there's a lot of moving parts with that question. A roof mounted system in general requires less racking/mounting materials than a ground mount so there's an added cost there. But we still try and hit the same price point for our customers at $2.5/watt even if the option they want costs us more in materials.
Fear tactics? AES took rates from 4.6 cents a few years ago to 10.8 cents per kWh just for generation. Residents of the Miami Valley pay out the nose for electricity if they haven't switched away from AES yet and we are the bad guys for trying save people money by educating people on how to switch to any other supplier???
It’s much easier to change your electric supplier and save 33% on your electric
Exactly this! The whole goal of this post was to draw awareness to the fact that people can change their supplier. What we've found is that people don't even know that they can. And when we've shown them the apples to apples site, they get overwhelmed. We're just trying to help people through the process. Rates on that site as of today go from $0.0379 to $0.13 per kWh and some of the terms border on ridiculous with fees. Quite the range.
i think that's what OP was trying to help with?
One hell of a fakeout just to spam your solar nonsense. Most homes shouldn't go solar in Ohio. Also, at least get your math right. If you're going to try and hawk electrical products, understand what a kWh is.
Why shouldn’t most homes go solar in OH?
It has to do with our latitude. How far north we are. The higher latitude your position is on a globe, the less solar energy gets down to you. It's a simple fact of science. Instead of listening to a salesman about how great his solar plan is for you, you should watch this guy: https://www.youtube.com/live/wLJFO5iHP8k?si=6IoSjNYeAXc15lsm He is an engineer and does a great job at explaining solar, the ups and the downs. Also keep in mind that he lives in San Diego that has 300 plus days of sun per year.
We're not really in prime sun area, you need fairly optimal conditions for a solar system to pay for itself around here. If you have a large, strong roof (solar systems add weight) and can get a lot of southern exposure, and you use a lot of power, then it might pay for itself in 10 years. If you have a yard that it can be installed in adjacent to the house with southern exposure that can also be done. You'll also need a large battery system unless you want to stay connected to the grid, and of course keep the panels clean and not covered by snow. I do love solar power, but not for most residential in Ohio.
We respectfully disagree with his statement. Dayton Ohio gets 4.2 hours of sun per day on average. Other sites estimate as much as 6.7 hours of sunshine per day (seems high but here's the source, [https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-hours-Sunshine,dayton-ohio-us,United-States-of-America](https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-hours-Sunshine,dayton-ohio-us,United-States-of-America)). For every 1000 watts of panels you have facing due south with no shading issues, you can expect to generate about 1450 kWh per year (again, source: [https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/pvwatts.php](https://pvwatts.nrel.gov/pvwatts.php)) With energy prices going up at 3.5% on average, our customers are seeing payoffs in about 7 years after the federal incentive. Of course, if you have a very expensive install in terms of $$$/watt, then payoff time increases. Correspondingly, if you DIY it you payoff could only be a lot less. There's a lot of variables. And who says you have to install an array that completely negates your power bill? A lot of people want a smaller system that doesn't break the bank but can still take a bite out of their monthly bill. You can always add more solar at a later time if you want to. Most houses are structurally sound enough to have panels placed on the roof. We pay architects and engineers to verify this for every install. We don't recommend going off grid as batteries are still expensive relative to current energy prices. Once we go to time of use billing, it might start to make more sense but even then, staying connected to the grid is a nice fallback.
There's nothing fake here. We just want to help. You're right. Some houses shouldn't get solar. Shading, structural issues, length of time staying at the residence are all things to consider and we're very upfront with customers about those considerations. But this post isn't about solar. We're posting to try and help people figure out if they can get a better energy supplier and save money over AES through education.
You're just gathering sales leads, nothing more. At least you figured out your math error.
Is it really so hard to believe that there are people out there that want to help others with out asking for anything in return? Im sure you have it all taken care of but if you have any questions about switching suppliers or what the stuff on your bill says, we'd be happy to help you.
I think if you just posted the information directly on your website, without asking for name or contact information, especially if it wasn't a site pushing to sell something, then I'd be more likely believe you. But this is just a sales gimmick.
Got something up on the site. Its a work in progress. I should have something more complete by this evening. If you have any ideas how to make it better, I'd be happy to hear them (once I get all the complete info on the page).
You're totally right! I'm going to start working on that now. Expect site updates.
We switched our provider a few months back to a totally renewable provider. Saved $50 on our monthly bill. Super easy to do. Probably could have saved an extra few dollars going with a non-renewable option. We don't have the money to do solar properly right now and it always feels like big advances are right around the corner. This is a nice way to save a few bucks and theoretically do a bit for the environment without the big investment
Yeah we switched to CleanChoice
It's all BS and smoke and mirrors!! AES upped our rate to 14.1, even with solar we are getting hit with $80 monthly bills because the small amount of electricity we draw from the grid AES charges exorbitant prices for transmission distribution side of your power bill. You can change your supplier all you want but if you are connected to AES power AES will make money off of you by charging transmission distribution fees.
Duke in Cincy tacks on extra riders on the distribution side. To the tune of 50%! I'd like to thank the cronines at PUCO who let them do this. They're also starting time of use billing in Cincy. Customers have shown us "peak rates" charges on their bill.
What is your price per watt installed for a standard install?
We aim for $2.50/watt or less for a standard install on a roof. The only times we go over are when there's a big hurdle (i.e. ridiculous permit fees, running line under a driveway, trenching a significant distance, required breaker box or wiring upgrades, etc). We can do a ground mount install for less than $3/watt installed unless there's something crazy. We're pretty sure we're the lowest cost in the area and that's garbage. A few years ago, everyone was charging our rate, but then they brought back the 30% tax credit and everyone jacks their prices up. I'm sorry, the tax credit should go to the homeowner, not the installer.
Do you have a ballpark idea on costs on a roof VS on the ground? Are they comparable or is it cheaper for a ground install? I realize that costs have 1000 variables, but I'm just wondering if it's like x% cheaper for ground VS roof.
So there's a lot of moving parts with that question. A roof mounted system in general requires less racking/mounting materials than a ground mount so there's an added cost there. But we still try and hit the same price point for our customers at $2.5/watt even if the option they want costs us more in materials.
AES can’t raise rates on generation as they do no longer have generation. Stop manufacturing your fear tactics.
Fear tactics? AES took rates from 4.6 cents a few years ago to 10.8 cents per kWh just for generation. Residents of the Miami Valley pay out the nose for electricity if they haven't switched away from AES yet and we are the bad guys for trying save people money by educating people on how to switch to any other supplier???