Since our solar installation, and our live commissioning of our net metering with Alectra Utilities, our last payment to Alectra was in May, 2022. Since then, we have not paid a dime to Alectra, but instead we are sitting on a nice credit as the attached snapshot of our bill showed:
As the above bill indicates, we created 372 kWh during the 30 days of this last bill that we received. I was also surprised by the fact that during the summer months, we were still able to generate excess while running our AC without compromising our comfort requirements. The extended summer days and the higher angle of sun’s elevation were very conducive to solar production.
I also noticed our natural gas prices increased by 110% from the same time last year. Below is directly from the Ontario Energy Board (OEB):
Our goal now is to try to switch our heating source from natural gas to electric, so that we can use our excess electricity for this winter’s heating needs. This makes total sense, since our electricity is almost free, while natural gas is not!
There are reports out there saying the rate increase is significantly less. This is because they are comparing against the July, 2022 rates and not the October, 2021 rates, so read carefully.
I went on Amazon and purchased three of these electric based heaters.
At time of purchase, they were $219 CAD each. We tried the cheaper ones, but their fans were simply too loud. These ones are nice and quiet with a very user friendly interface.
The master plan is to set the house thermostat to 18ºC, so that it acts as a backup heating source. While these electric panels will try to heat the house during most of the winter days. We will see how this plan goes. I would consider this to be a win if we can reduce our natural gas consumption this winter by more than 50%, which will effectively normalize the rate increase. In the end, these electric heaters may not be enough. Time will tell.
I also investigated the possibility of installing a centralized heat pump, but current technology is limited to -20ºC outside temperature. I decided to table this for now until the technology matures a bit more. I want a solution that can transfer heat from -30ºC outside to indoors.
Our next plan is to research our water heating needs and to see if there are any electric based tankless solutions out there.
Wish us luck and I’ll keep everyone updated!
Update: November 14, 2022
Previously I got the rates from the Enbridge web site. Below is an actual excerpt from my Enbridge bills. However you compare, the increase is significant.
Update: November 26, 2022
Found this CTV article.