Arise Solar does not believe it is a good investment to replace all of your electrical needs with solar if you are grid-tied. (Unless that is you have an incurable disdain for your utility company or you just want to “put it to the establishment!). You can size the system to match your electricity needs and budget with the following advice. First, the average household in California uses about 6,500 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year which establishes a baseline usage. (This baseline amount is different per utility’s territory or region).
Normally, the cost for this baseline power is very low and does not make financial sense to replace this power with solar. However, the upper electrical tiers such as PG & E’s residential E-1 rate are very expensive. In fact, tiers 3-5 of this rate have gone up 247% since June of 2001. This is where replacing this cost with solar gives you a great return on your investment! Use the interface below to select the specific calculator that will determine the size of solar system needed: