kzread.info/dash/bejne/enWc2NOkg6vQcqg.html

upgrade your homes insulation, get external insulation, get 3 pane windows before you get solar or AC. You can get your own solar installed with no Grid Tie Capability but with Grid Assist (solar+ grid for powering items) for 1/4 the Price. You can get solar + battery to power your home on a sub panel if you want. Bypassing anything to do with the power company.

@leebrendalee

2 ай бұрын

Would love to know more and who does it

Many of realtors said that solar panels doesn’t increase the property value by 3-4%. They asked me “in all honesty would you pay more or be that much more attracted to a house because it had solar panels? Nobody in market asks for houses with solar panels… in fact if it’s aged, people are concerned about servicing it”

Great video!

@murray_wall

6 ай бұрын

Thanks Dillan!

I am just 10 minutes south of Calgary and I have almost the same solar set up and looks like I have the same 5k Fronius inverter. I have 18 panels of 360 watts = 6.480 kWh of output. I managed 7.68 mWh of production. Your bar graph looks almost identical to mine except that I never went over 1000 kWh in May, June or August. My highest monthly total 960 kWh in July

Great videos. It seems like you got a very good price for your install which helps with the payback.

@murray_wall

3 ай бұрын

Alberta is one of the most affordable places in Canada so that helps. Also the greener homes grant knocking of 5 grand def helps as well. Hopefully they bring something similar in the future.

Great videos on solar in Alberta. One correction for both, while the transmission fees are completely variable, only a part of the distribution fees on your bill are variable. The UCA Helps website lists a cost breakdown of your bill, with FortisAlberta customers paying $0.99/day fixed and $0.0319/kWh variable distribution fees, Lethbridge customers paying $0.89/day fixed and $0.02/kWh variable distribution fees. Doesn’t mean you can’t lower or eliminate your bill by using your own solar power to cut the variable transmission and distribution fees! Just wanted to point out that there will always be that fixed distribution charge of ~$30/month you’ll be charged.

@murray_wall

6 ай бұрын

Good catch! I guess you can't get rid of the fixed distribution fee without going completely off-grid. Of course, I make enough selling my electricity back to the grid to cover the cost (at least in the summer). I still think my AC hack is worth it because in Alberta I would be paying ~$0.30/kWh to pull from the grid because that is what the high rate is.

@damienkis91

6 ай бұрын

Completely agree, great point. Have to commit to shifting your consumption habits to sunny times to maximize returns.

We are frustrated by the cost 40k idiotic, frustrating,

Ideally for us in alberta A combine solar and wind home would be the only way to do it

@murray_wall

5 ай бұрын

Definitely! I’ve been keeping my eye on options for residential wind turbines. There are some promising concepts out there.

@sebas9248

5 ай бұрын

@murray_wall i agree I reached out a few places around ( i live in Cochrane ) Basically, I've been told by the county . They won't let me do it ... and it's not because its "big" a very good 7kwh turbine is 45cm x 50cm It would be ideal and allow people to produce power 24/7 event in the dark winter months

You mentioned your electricity was zero, but did account for the delivery charges, thats fixed, the amount they pay you does not pay you that delivery fee, I have a cottage in Northern Ontario and my Del fee per month is 80 per month , Im on net metering and they pay me 10 cents a kw, though my system cost me only about 1800, I find even at that price was not worth it.

@murray_wall

Ай бұрын

With my provider in Alberta it covers everything. And after it covers everything and I hold a negative balance of 250 or more in my account for more than a month they literally direct deposit the cash into my account bank account. I’ve had payments into my account of $400+ in the summer months.

Those numbers look very good. We are thinking about installing solar panels in a few months. What company did you use to install your panels?

@redgreenbeambih

8 күн бұрын

Are you still looking?

@miguebarraga

6 күн бұрын

@@redgreenbeambih I found a company already

Wow am really learning alot from your video I never new in Alberta that u can get paid while using a solar

@murray_wall

6 ай бұрын

Yeah! I thought it was the same in all of Canada but it seems that we have it best here in Alberta.

@ergosum5260

6 ай бұрын

Politicians can tale that away from you at any time.

@murray_wall

6 ай бұрын

@@ergosum5260 In Alberta all utility companies are privately owned but yeah I would be a fool to think they don’t have the politicians in their back pocket. My rate it technically locked in until 2027 but with the way the world is going if they cracked down on renewables there would be a massive class action lawsuit coming their way.

Net metering here is a fairly horrible trade off, you sell @.32 then have to buy back your production @.32 plus admin fees. A battery is on my list of upgrades. Also on my list is some of that de-iceing cord. Hopefully to help melt snow. My panels can melt snow very quickly as soon as just a bit of the panel is getting direct sun. However when they are fully blanketed it will take a long time to melt.

@murray_wall

6 ай бұрын

That is why you only switch to the high rate when you are a net exporter of electricity. For example in May I only pulled 146kWh from the grid but I produced/ exported much more than that. A tesla powerwall is over $10k so for me it would increase my payback period quite substantially because I generally do not use a lot of power at night time.

@user-jh5mw8xb7o

6 ай бұрын

Ya man, switch to the lower rate in the winter. Get 30¢ when you are selling more, and 8¢ when you are buying more.

Net Metering is 1:1. It's called Net Feed-in tariff if it's not 1:1. MB has a 65% Net Feed-in Tariff. SK is about 50% last I checked.

@damienkis91

6 ай бұрын

Interesting. Makes me wonder how long we’ll get to keep these solar club rates in Alberta knowing other provinces have mechanisms to negatively affect solar producers.

@user-jh5mw8xb7o

6 ай бұрын

@@damienkis91 Net metering and tariffs will eventually disappear. First of all, look at Australia because they are far ahead of us in adoption. They are saturated (almost everyone has solar) and there is no net metering or tariff anymore. Not for new people at least. Only those locked in with a contract. Then second of all. The utility only buys excess energy if their "feeder" equipment is capable of transferring it. I've already had, in MB a couple of very rural people whose feeders are at capacity (because their neighbours all have solar) and MB Hydro won't permit the feedback.

I ran numbers in Excel with a year's power bills to see if solar was worth "investing" in. My household already has ultra low consumption due to LEDs, small house, etc. so I can't really do much more. I Excelled it and the payback period was longer than the lifespan of the panels and would ONLY make the electrical consumption parts of my power bill drop. So instead, for about half the cost of a solar system I bought shares in a Canadian Bank with a ~4-5% dividend yield. That was several years ago so with dividend hikes the bank pays me more than my power bills, I have no extra weight on my roof, no maintenance, and no replacement costs when the panels eventually start dying. Different way of solving the problem but I have no electricity costs for less sunk cost and if I want my money back I could sell it for a capital gain in a few seconds.

@murray_wall

6 ай бұрын

Wow that is crazy how much times have changed. Have you got a solar quote recently? I just looked it up solar panels in 2014 were 3 times more expensive than they are now. So that makes sense. With the greener homes interest free loan and grant I can assure you it's not going to take anywhere close to 25 years to pay off the panel now. My panels are giving me basically a 13% ROI every year.

@Langhorstiness

6 ай бұрын

@@murray_wall Solar costs have come down so it's better now but I pulled some numbers from my shares for food for thought. Bought in spring 2017 at ~$95/share when dividend was $3.64/year. Today the shares have gone up ~40% to $132.47 and pay out $5.52/year. A solar system would be depreciating and rooftop solar panels last 25-30 years so you need to factor in replacing panels in the array every few decades. I'm not trying to take a dump on your video or ideas, just that there are other ways to live lightly on the land and keep your own operating costs down. If I sell my house, my shares and dividends can will keep paying my bills at my new place. Solar panels would be bolted to whatever house you put them on and may or may not be appreciated by others. Everybody's math will work out a bit different for various reasons but for me, this was a surprise that I haven't regretted.

@user-jh5mw8xb7o

6 ай бұрын

@@Langhorstiness you're missing several points. First, the money you pay to the utility is essentially going in the garbage, but the money you pay towards solar goes towards an asset that values your home. You have to pay this money anyways, would you rather throw it in the garbage or put it in a savings account on your roof? Second you don't have to replace the panels after 25-30 years. That's just when the warranty runs out. They are still producing over 80% at that point. Third they don't depreciate like a normal asset. They retain their value. Fourth, you can use the Greener Homes Loan interest free to just swap your monthly payments over from the wasteful power company to the loan where your payments are going towards you instead of them, making you wealthier by redirecting money you are already spending. Lastly, I think you missed in your spreadsheet the fact that your savings increases by 4% every year because the power company raises their rates by 4% every year, protecting you from power inflation. The Greener Homes Grant is ending in a month. Better get on it.

@MitchOfCanada

4 ай бұрын

I have my own DIY 900 watt solar for $1.5k that powers my 5k BTU AC, cools my 2 story home just fine. Retail solar is 5x the cost of what it actually costs. If you are willing to learn and do the work yourself, Solar Payback is 3-4 Years, with about 10 hour battery backup. For Canadian Winters, Get a wood or pellet stove.

@Langhorstiness

4 ай бұрын

​@@MitchOfCanada I live in the mountains and have no need for AC. My house is passive solar so even my winter heating bills are microscopic. Not sure how the solar PV can create natural gas to run my furnace. Also, adding a fireplace jacks up your annual home insurance by ~10%, or more depending on emergency response location relative to your building,so that's not always a winning bet either. Your suggestions are great but I already have a zero cost zero maintenance system via dividends.

My wife and I are considering solar. We're fromm Edmonton area. As a Real Estate agent, are you seeing an increase in resale values with a home with solar, or the same, or negative due to it being somewhat unsightly. Thank you for this. Most solar videos are based out of the USA with very different rates, sun, and incentives.

@murray_wall

5 ай бұрын

Yeah I have seen a couple homes with solar installed. I haven’t heard many concerns over them being unsightly. (You can’t see them from inside anyways.) I would say they increase your homes value but not above and beyond what the install is worth. Although there are some people that do not see the value in them. Coordinating with your agent and sending them a years worth of electricity bills should go a long way because you should be able to prove they actually do work. Or better yet send potential buyers my video lol

@aelbj

5 ай бұрын

@@murray_wall Thank you for your response and your incites. The solar compnay we are most closely looking at wants to install 12K on our roof. So, even though the back of our house faces South, in order to get a full 12k, some panels need to be on the front, accessing morning / eastern sun.

What company did you use to install your solar in lethbridge? My quotes have gone up substantially since last year. Unfortunately, my max size is 4kwh. I dont know how people eat so much power, its crazy that people need 10kwh+

@murray_wall

5 ай бұрын

I used Terralta out of Medicine Hat.

My electric bill is about $125/m in Ontario. What's the payback period for solar panels, batteries, installation, and maintenance? Batteries and panels will need replacement before that happens.

@murray_wall

6 ай бұрын

It would cost more for your install so you would probably be looking closer to 15 years I guess? You can take your yearly cost and divide it by what your solar install quote comes back at. Every solar company should give you a free quote so take a look at 2 or 3 different places.

@murray_wall

6 ай бұрын

Without the greener homes grant my install would have cost me $18000 so my payback period would have been closer to 10.5 years. The grant ends at the end of Feb but they might bring in something similar in the coming years.

I’m in Vulcan we want to get so expensive how big is your house

@murray_wall

2 ай бұрын

It doesnt really matter how big your house is it more depends on how much electricity you use per year. For me, I got 16 panels but could easily fit another 16. 16 is enough for me to entirely offset my yearly usage. If you were quoted 40K look at your last years worth of electricity bills and times by 10 years. If the number is more I would say go for it but if its less than get another quote. My system is 7.2 Kw and cost $18,000 installed in 2022 by terralta.

@leebrendalee

2 ай бұрын

@murray_wall that's awesome. I booked the assessment for June 10th . We don't understand any of this but our gas bill is around 300 we can't figure out why, so I'm looking to upgrade the furnace to electric,..Anyway the rebate is coming back hint hint so hoping we can get that too..we are watching all your videos to try and understand. our yearly electric is around 1200 and gas 2300 so crazy. I'm thinking electric wall heaters too.....