If you are a homeowner looking to have a solar installer put solar panels on your home you may be wondering how much money you can make on the power your solar panels make.
In 2022 BC Hydro pays homeowners with solar 2.85 cents per kilowatt hour every March 1st.
Although you can get paid money for excess it may not be a good idea to install an oversized system in an effort to profit off your solar power system.
How does BC Hydro pay you for solar energy
BC Hydro currently pays homeowners per kilowatt hour for the energy their solar system generates and puts back on the grid. This payout happens every March 1st and is for the balance of the power that is on your bill, essentially resetting your account for the next year.
Throughout the rest of the year your account fluctuates on a credit debit basis for the kilowatt hours your solar panel system generates and the power you use from the grid when your solar system is not generating electricity.
Why does BC Hydro pay so little for power
When the Net Metering program started BC Hydro used to pay homeowners 9.99 cents per kilowatt hour for the electricity their solar systems generated. Now only a few years later they are only paying homeowners 2.81 cents!
You can see the history of the BC Hydro Net Metering program here on their website.
BC Hydro pays so little for power because they are not in the business of reducing their carbon footprint or environmental impact, they are in the business of generating power and selling it to their customers. And yes, if everyone installed solar it would make a significant improvement on our environmental impact, but it would make big dams less important to our energy production.
Now this isn’t all bad for you the homeowner, it just means that we have to think about installing solar panel systems in a different frame. Thanks to the awesome Net Metering programs that BC Hydro provides, we can still benefit by getting power credits on our bill, so we just need to think about installing solar panels to offset our homes demand, not to make money from solar power.
Should you try to make money with your solar panel installation
The significant decreases in payouts for solar energy production make it clear that BC Hydro is not interested in paying homeowners for generating clean energy. The only thing this changes is that the mindset needs to change from making money, to saving money by offsetting your energy consumption. And this is essentially making money by putting these savings back into your pocket.
If you make excess energy you have paid for the extra solar panels to do so and you only make cents for doing so, but if you have a solar installer size your system to offset 100% of your energy consumption then your essentially making the cost of electricity back into your pocket, which in 2022 is approximately 13 cents per kilowatt hour.
Why the make money mindset is bad with solar
If you are planning on making money by selling your solar energy back to the grid you are facing a tough battle. The payout for solar energy is always decided by BC Hydro and the Utilities Commission so you will always be at the mercy of their best interests.
When you generate power up to 100 percent of your household electricity consumption you are essentially getting power at 13 cents (approximately) per kilowatt hour, this is 4.5x more!
What is net metering
Luckily enough we will have the advantages of the Net Metering program. Homes with solar installations that are grid tied have a 2 way electricity meter that keeps track of the solar power going to the grid and the electric power used by your home. This meter tracks this throughout the month and applies the balance to your bill.
Every month your bill comes out and if you have extra power it is saved on your bill to be used in later months.
Why this is great is because in most cases your solar panel system will generate more power then you need during summer months, and not enough renewable energy in the winter months so you can use this credit when you need more power from the grid. Think of it like a battery that you charge all summer and use during the winter.
How to get the most out of your home solar installation
With the way the payouts have decreased it is a clear sign that the electric companies are not interested in paying homeowners to help generate renewable energy for the community. All this means it’s that the best plan is to size your solar panel installation to cover as much of your home’s energy consumption as you can.
The money you will be saving on your electric bill will go towards paying off the initial investment you made to install your solar panels, and once your solar panel system is paid off you will be paying essentially $0 for your electricity bill all year.
Summary
The best way to get started with a solar installation is to get a quote from an experienced solar installer. They can help you determine how much your solar panel system will cost and how much it can offset your electricity bill. Most solar installation companies will even look at your electricity bills throughout the year to size the solar panel system perfectly to your houses needs.
Some solar installation companies -like us- even offer a free virtual quote with a solar energy consultant where you can go over the plan and get all the information from the comfort of your home over zoom. Check out how to get a virtual solar quote from a professional solar installer here on our website.
