The Future of Electric Bills

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF):

“The 4.3% increase in 2021 was the second largest increase in nominal electricity expenditures over the past decade.”

The U.S. Energy Information Administration has a lot of information on their website. A very enlightening article discusses some things that might be very important to those who use and pay for electricity.

“U.S. residential electricity expenditures increased by $5 per month in 2021”

https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=51958

This particular report shows a combination of both how much electricity is being used and how much that electricity costs to give a combined picture of how much residents across the states are paying.

Hawaii is interesting because it has the lowest average consumption rate of any other state but because of they also have the highest prices, they have the highest combined total expenditures.

The report explains:

“Despite having the lowest average residential consumption of any other state, residential customers in Hawaii had the highest state average monthly utility expenditures in 2021, at $178 per month. Hawaii’s electricity prices and expenditures are highest because the state's utilities use significant amounts of petroleum for electricity generation.”

One more interesting thing to note- everyone used less energy but paid more:

“The average U.S. residential electricity price paid to utilities rose 4.3%, from 13.2 cents per kilowatthour (kWh) in 2020 to 13.7 cents/kWh in 2021. Utility electricity consumption per residential customer averaged 892 kWh per month in 2021—a slight decrease from 893 kWh per month in 2020.”

For a homeowner, this is all food for thought…

It is clear energy prices are going up. Call it inflation or whatever, legacy oil and monopolistic utilities are going to continue to operate with obscene levels of profits- and their captive ‘customers’ will have no choice but to pay whatever new prices they can ram through.

As ‘inflation’ rises, so will energy prices.

More-
If my theory about ‘carbon tax’ comes true (meaning ‘they’ actually force the issue and get a carbon tax in place) then prices will sky rocket.

And there’s pretty much nothing anyone can do about it…

Currently there are only two realistic choices I can make for my home. I can submit to the monopolistic utility and just pay whatever rates they charge, or I can get a rooftop solar power system installed and generate my own electricity.

That’s it.

As far as rooftop solar systems are concerned, I generally feel like they only make sense when they are purchased by the homeowner as opposed to the leases or Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) type arrangements.

But in the view of what we can all see coming- fast rising electric bills- if a home owner can lock in a competitive rate for their electric bill, it might start to make a little sense to look at leases and PPAs.

As for me, the most sense seems to be:
Buy (cash or loan) a rooftop solar power system with a battery that is sized sufficiently not only for what is currently being used in the home but also big enough for future add-ons like electric cars.

Use that system in a way that allows the home to essentially operate ‘off-grid’ style.

Doing this will allow the home to avoid the coming price rises and carbon tax as well as insulate the home from some of the dangers of an ever aging grid.

To me, the writing is on the wall…
If you are curious about rooftop solar for your home, I have a book coming that you might want to check out. Click here to be notified when Tucson Solar Insider Desk Guide for Buying Solar is released.

Be Good!
Curtis