The 13.6kw system is made up of 57 panels and 2 inverters. It was purchased as a 20yr lease (in March 2013) and would have to be transferred. The monthly lease payment is $141.20. The fee to be connected to TEP is roughly $20. And like so many things keeps going up a little at a time. Once a year (usually October) TEP refunds your excess KW (at wholesale rate). Which can be applied to your future TEP Fees. I use lots of power and am still ahead. My guess is a ‘normal’ household will have much more in excess and probably get many months of connect fees covered.

If you are looking at the above image, and wondering what you are looking at , you are looking at the Billed Usage Chart for the past year. However, the chart seems empty. Which is correct, because there wasn’t any.

I created a custom Analytic spreadsheet where I log my daily readings. This data allows me to see exactly what is going on. Visit the Analytic page for more info.

The solar system is ‘on grid’ which means it is connected to a power provider, TEP in this case. As it is connected, there are a few facts to mention that are important. First off, the solar system is only ENABLED (generating power) when connected and live. This means, that if there is a power outage (TEP) the solar system will NOT supply power. This is both for a technical and largely safety reasons. So, to provide back-up power, I have added a generator backup system.

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