I always was wondering how much I actually save on my electrical bill after installing the PV system. Since my utility company is having a tier structure billing it was not as obvious as: well I produce 1/2 and my bill would have been 2x as high - it obviously would have been higher.
In any case for all of you out there who do not have an easy spreadsheet calculation I made a very simple application - by no means fancy but it does the calculation for you - free.
Just plug in your base allowance, and tier rates (assuming you have those) and enter your kWh you wanted to know the price for. It is accurate to about the last 10 cents or so.
Thought I share it and am willing to improve it - given your valuable feedback.
you can find it at:
http://www.simplescript.org/software/El ... index.html

UPDATED version!!!! 2011-01-16

It currenlty has the rate of San Diego's SDGE to select from and I'd like to add more - if you have your rate broken down in the same way, just send the Tier numbers to me and I'll include it.

Made a screenshot of the GUI:

That looks really spiffy ! Too bad I'm going off grid, and can't use it.

Mike

Good for you going off-grid.
But you can still use the software, take the total you are producing in a month and enter it (the sample shows 415kWh) and it will calculate what your bill would have been.
Not sure if you have the same rate where you are at as with SDG&E but should be pretty close.
Or if you'd like send me the numbers of your utility company as you'd enter it and I can make an update and add to the list - updating the list happens online, automatically.

Thanks for your feedback, I added a feature for the GUI to remember your numbers the next time you use EC.
Use the link on the first post to download.

That is pretty nifty software. Nothing is as cool as looking at how much money you are saving on your electric bill. I am also a big fan of standing outside and watching the meter spin backwards. My wife always makes fun of me for doing it but I get a big kick out of it.
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San Jose electrician