Frequently Asked Questions

• How long will it take to pay for itself?

  That’s a common question. Electric rates in the Kansas City area have gone up nearly 30% in just the past three years!  And unfortunately, rates are only expected to go up even further.  With a conservative estimate of an increase of 5% per year, it would take a Kansas resident about 10 years to recover their costs—and even quicker in Missouri.  Another thing to take into account is property resale value, which increases dramatically when a solar or wind energy system is installed.

• How long will the equipment last?

  The technology that solar power systems uses has been around for decades—powering much of the equipment that goes into space!  The Hubble Space Telescope, as well as satellites that provide communication, television and weather information are all powered by photovoltaic systems.  Most panels come with a 25 year warranty, and our Enphase inverters have a 15 year warranty, giving you peace of mind for many years to come.

• What is net metering?

  “Net-metering” is a simplified method of metering the energy consumed and produced at a home or business that has its own renewable energy generator, such as a wind turbine. Under net metering, excess electricity produced by the wind turbine will spin the existing home or business electricity meter backwards, effectively banking the electricity until it is needed by the customer. This provides the customer with full retail value for all the electricity produced. All utilities in Missouri are required to offer Net Metering. In Kansas only investor owned utilities are required to do so. If you are in Kansas and you are on a co-op or municipal utility, you need to contact your provider and ask if they participate in Net Metering. In Kansas Co-ops and municipal utilities are only required to offer Net Billing.

• Why is net metering important?

  There are three reasons net metering is important. First, because solar and wind energy is an intermittent resource, customers may not be using power as it is being generated, and net metering allows them to receive full value for the electricity they produce without installing expensive battery storage systems. This is important because it directly affects the economics and pay-back period for the investment. Second, net-metering reduces the installation costs for the customer by eliminating the need for a second energy meter. Third, net metering provides a simple, inexpensive, and easily-administered mechanism for encouraging the use of small-scale wind energy systems, which provide important local, national, and global benefits to the environment and the economy.

• What is net billing?

  Under existing federal law (PURPA, Section 210) utility customers can use the electricity they generate with a wind turbine to supply their own lights and appliances, offsetting electricity they would otherwise have to purchase from the utility at the retail price. But if the customer produces any excess electricity (beyond what is needed to meet the customer’s own needs) and net metering is not allowed, the utility purchases that excess electricity at the wholesale or ‘avoided cost’ price, which is much lower than the retail price. The excess energy is metered using an additional meter that must be installed at the customer’s expense. Net metering simplifies this arrangement by allowing the customer to use any excess electricity to offset electricity used at other times during the billing period. In other words, the customer is billed only for the net energy consumed during the billing period.

• What are the benefits and costs of net metering?

  Net metering provides a variety of benefits for both utilities and consumers. Utilities benefit by avoiding the administrative and accounting costs of metering and purchasing the small amounts of excess electricity produced by small-scale wind energy facilities. Consumers benefit by getting greater value for some of the electricity they generate and by being able to interconnect with the utility using their existing meter.
  The only cost associated with net metering is indirect: the customer is buying less electricity from the utility, which means the utility is collecting less revenue from the customer. That’s because any excess electricity that would have been sold to the utility at the wholesale or ‘avoided cost’ price is instead being used to offset electricity the customer would have purchased at the retail price. In most cases, the revenue loss is comparable to having the customer reducing electricity use by investing in energy efficiency measures, such as compact fluorescent lighting, efficient heating and cooling equipment, or other highly-efficient appliances.
  The bill savings for the customer (and corresponding revenue loss to the utility) will depend on a variety of factors, particularly the amount of excess electricity produced. In most circumstances, however, the difference will be between $10-40 a month for a 10 kilowatt residential wind energy system.
  Moreover, any utility revenue losses associated with net metering are at least partially offset by administrative and accounting savings, which are not included in the above figures. These savings can exceed $25 a month because, absent net metering, utilities have to separately process the accounts of customers with wind turbines and issue the monthly checks. In practice, these checks can be for as little as 5 cents.

• Can I use my existing meter to take advantage of net metering?

  The standard kilowatt-hour meter used for most residential and small commercial customers accurately registers the flow of electricity in either direction. This means the ‘netting’ process associated with net metering happens automatically — the meter spins forward (in the normal direction) when the customer needs more electricity than is being produced, and spins backward when the customer is producing more electricity than is needed in the home or building. The meter registers the net amount of energy produced or consumed during the billing period.

• How is electricity billed and how do I know how much I use?

  Electrical power is normally measured in watts (W), kilowatt (kW or 1000 watts) Megawatt (MW or 1 million watts), etc.. A kilowatt hour or KWH as it appears on your bill is energy per unit of time. You are billed per KWH. For example, if you use 100 watts of power for 10 hours you would be billed for 1 KWH. The amount of kilowatt hours you have used is listed on your electric bill. In addition, most bills have an abbreviated history of past amounts you have used per month. For additional detail, contact your utility.