If you live in California, there’s a good chance that you’re a customer of Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E). This company, based in San Francisco, provides natural gas and electricity to about 16 million people throughout northern California, making it one of the largest utilities in the United States.
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One of the most common misconceptions about solar is that people who install panels no longer receive an electricity bill from their utility company. This isn’t true in most cases: the majority of solar panel systems in the U.S. are grid-tied, allowing customers to draw electricity from the grid when their solar panels aren’t producing enough electricity.
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There are two primary ways to reduce your electricity bills: 1) by generating your own electricity with solar energy and 2) by reducing the amount of electricity you use every month. These two methods of reducing bills go hand-in-hand: if you use less electricity every month, then a smaller (and less expensive) solar energy system will be able to meet your needs.
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For many, summer is the best season of all: beaches, vacations, and sunshine. But this season can also bring high temperatures and unbearable humidity, often creating widespread demand for air conditioning. Solar power is one way you can keep your electricity costs down as you’re blasting the air conditioner this summer. After all, you shouldn’t have to sacrifice on comfort just to save money on electricity.
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Not all appliances are made equal. Although every appliance in your home consumes energy, utilizing each one will have a different impact on your monthly electricity bill. Understanding which of your appliances use the most energy, as well as when they’re pulling power from the grid, can help you save substantially on your monthly utility bills.
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If you own a home, you’ve probably experienced the shock of opening your monthly electricity bill in the mail and seeing a dollar total that is higher than you expect. It’s a common part of home ownership, and one that you can hear homeowners lamenting as electricity rates increase – “Why is my electric bill so high? Why does it keep going up?”.
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If you’ve been thinking about your energy costs lately, you may be looking into energy efficiency upgrades for your home such as installing solar panels, adding smart thermostats or pursuing an EnergyStar home certification. And when comparing various energy solutions and the prices for new options, you’re going to hear one metric used incessantly: kilowatt-hour (kWh). So what exactly does a kWh mean and how does it differ from a kilowatt (kW)?
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If you pay an electric bill, then you have an electrical load. Understanding how to calculate electrical load helps to explain your monthly electric bill and provides actionable information that can help you reduce how much you spend on electricity each month. And in the age of innovative utility rate structures, such as demand charges and time-of-use rates, and increasing electrification of homes, with air source heat pumps and electric vehicles becoming more popular, knowing how to calculate your electrical load can you help you determine how much you could save from a solar or solar-plus-storage installation on your property.
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As electricity prices rise over time, finding ways to cut your electricity bill is increasingly important. Here are our top five tips to cut your electricity bill and see instant monthly savings.
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You probably think you already know how to read your electric bill, but if you’re like most Americans, you may actually be making several mistakes as you go through the document. If you’re looking for bill help, here are the top five things you need to know about reading your bill correctly.
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