Phoenix SRP Demand Charge workaround
I had a presentation from PEP Solar last week. Interesting concept to work around the demand charge for SRP. Their model has you buy a somewhat small system to allow 1 large device (water heater, AC unit, dryer) to run during peak production. Once 5PM hits, you pretty much have to live like a hermit and not use any large appliances to stay under the 3Kw penalty. You might be able to run one appliance if you are getting marginal output from your solar array, but the risk/reward is scary.
For my 5600 square foot house with an average utility bill of $300 per month, they sized me at a 4.2Kw system. I assume they size everyone at that so you can run your one appliance on solar alone and the other 3Kw from the grid runs the TV, lights, radio.
They included a shut off device that would automatically only allow one AC unit to run at a time, and also would limit the dryer, etc. So you control the large appliances with software. The software also watched the 3Kw limit and managed what was on for you.
All said, they estimated I could save $150 per month.
Now they offered this for the tidy sum of $19k. I can DIY for around $10K with a larger array (6Kw). I am back-of-napkin guessing payback is 5-6 years.
Interesting to think about. Anyone else in SRP-land that has a deep understanding of their on-peak, off-peak, and demand charges want to weigh in?
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