What is your Electric Bill like ?

Good record keeping Bob, I'm too lazy to go through all the bills to compile such a list.

Good news with your new A/C unit, while not sure the room size you are cooling perhaps the old one was under sized thus making it run full tilt all the time. Better to have the right sized unit or a little bigger and they work more efficiently. Enjoy the cool.

Cheers, Steve.

Fantastic Lenny, well done. You must have a big house to use that much power. here our old bill was 10 to 11K per month, We wanted a stand alone system with batteries (the most expensive bit in the equation) and sized to run 3 to 4 A/C units per day but still be able to go over to the grid if needed.

Looking at my app on the computer we are currently consuming/making around 50Kwh per day or over 600 pesos per day saved or equivalent to P 18/20K per month savings and no black outs as opposed to grid tied.

System has been working great now for 5/6 months and will be a 6/7 year ROI so around 15%. Better than money in an investment account.

Enjoy your savings Lenny.

Cheers, Steve.

I previously posted. . . . A little over a month ago I replaced my five year old inverter 1.5 hp to a 2.5 hp (dc inverter) air conditioner.The following is not scientific  analysis:

On my post #5 . . .       822 kwh,      P9.5 kwh,        Total Bill P7847

On my post #19 . . .     933 kwh,      P9.6 kwh,       Total Bill P8993

On my post#126 . . .    990 kwh,      P10.76 kwh,    Total Bill P10,764

On my post # 174 . . .  912 kwh,      P11.8 kwh,      Total Bill P10,101

On my post #242 . . .   952 kwh,      P11.16 kwh,    Total Bill P10626

On this post #277 . . .  692 kwh,     P12.5 kwh,       Total Bill P8654

With my previous 1.5 hp inverter the average consumption was 902 kwh, with my new 2.5 hp DC inverter my usage is 692 kwh, a reduction of 210 KWH for one month.

***************************

Update: Received my Meralco bill today. (Feb 24, 2024)

729 kwh,    P13.1 kwh,  Total Bill P9550.

What's new? In one month the cost per kwh went from P12.5 to P13.1

I'm running 1.5hp dual inverter in main room.

.75 hp inverter window type in bedroom.

Last three months my bill has been 8052-9025 per month. I'll take it.

**Also running two standup refers and a semi large deep freezer.

Ours here in Valencia (small 3 bedroom townhouse that we rent during the school year) is 3K/mo, and 4K when I am here. That additional 1K is the cost of my AC at night. During the day we mostly use fans and it's fine, but might need AC in the city where it's hotter.

It's about the same each month in the other home that we built in Cebu province, which doesn't need much AC as it is up high and gets a good breeze. Both homes have an inverter fridge, but AC is small non-inverter window units in bedrooms - when needed.

Seems the loads are mostly cooling for all of us - AC and refrigeration - the size of the bill is simply a reflection of how much space (and meat) you are cooling and local rates.

@pnwcyclist

What part of Cebu did you build in? I'm south outside of Argao not far from Cebu South Road and the little hospital. Only up the hill about 1km.

Thanks for sharing Bob. Yes the supply rate goes up and down, some time ago we used to pay around P10 per Kw hour and when the war started in Ukrane quickly jumped to P 18 per Kwh, last time we looked it was back to P 12.5.

Having Stand alone solar and batteries we still get a bill and for a few months was 2.8 pesos much to Luelcos disgust for the meter charge,,,,, looked at the recent bill and appears the meter charge is now called the supply charge and is now 5.6 pesos per month, thrilling and now paid online instead of lining up as they seemed to come into reality.

Looking at our system and the software monitoring, we used to spend 10/11K per month and now with this system nothing and telling us we are saving around 18/20K per month and that saving is from running 4 A/C units every day instead of one, running more lighting at night around the home and no black outs. For me that's a winner, others running generators we hear when the power dies, only notice if I go outside that the power has gone out.

Based on current figures will be a 6 to 7 year ROI and after That? Money in the bank.

Back to you Bob what are you going to do when the rates go up from 13.1 to 20 pesos per Kwh? The way our world is going it will get back there here, All over and money aside I consider the best thing is not having black outs twice a week, some times 3 times an hour or a day and crank up the gen set to keep the basics running.

Cheers, Steve.

    @pnwcyclistWhat part of Cebu did you build in? I'm south outside of Argao not far from Cebu South Road and the little hospital. Only up the hill about 1km.        -@Larry Fisher

A bit south of you, Larry. And maybe 3-4k up the mountain.

bigpearl asked me. . . .Back to you Bob what are you going to do when the rates go up from 13.1 to 20 pesos per Kwh? The way our world is going it will get back there here, All over and money aside I consider the best thing is not having black outs twice a week, some times 3 times an hour or a day and crank up the gen set to keep the basics running.

**************************

Solar presents a savings for you or others. In my case it not possible or practical.

(1) I cannot afford the investment.

(2) Our house (paid for) and is landlocked no front, side or rear yards.

(3) So roof access would be difficult.

(4) I would not live long enough for R.O.I.

So when the rates increase I'll just have to pay for it. Some people believe in saving the planet by reducing their carbon footprint by going solar, for me that is not a good enough reason.

(1) Some places want to outlaw gas & diesel trucks.

(2) Some places want to outlaw beef & dairy cows.

(3*) Will Larry Fisher eat plant based Wagyu Beef.

Since I left Jovy has had screens installed in the windows and isn't running the aircon in the daytime. She turns on the ground floor 1.5 hp unit at night and sleeps on the ground floor. The last bill was just over P7,000 at a P14 per Kwh rate. I just saw on FB that Bilico has lowered the rate to P12.7 so the bill should be reduced a little more.

Here in West Virginia the rate is 15 cents per Kwh. The December bill was over $10 a day running the heat pump at 70 F. I'm a HVAC guy so I set about fixing that problem. I found 2 of the return ducts were open ended sucking cold air from the basement. The house has very good metal ductwork, but it was uninsulated. After dealing with the open return ducts and insulating the supply trunk line my January bill was $8.60 a day and that included the arctic blast week when we had a couple below zero nights and the electric aux heat kicked in. I finished insulating the remaining ductwork a month ago and now with temperatures about the same as December I've brought it down to $3.60 a day which I'm happy with.

Copy Bob, yes it's a big long term investment. Many aspects involved for us including:

1/ As you mentioned a smaller carbon footprint. Being a pig most of my life with fossil fuels.

2/ For us the ability to run what we want when we want and not think about 20K bills and no black outs.

3/ The investment is better than money in the bank where we were getting 5% now 15 plus % in savings.

4/ Adding value to the property has to be considered also and I have not taken that into account with ROI.

5/ When I kick the bucket I will care little but at the moment know Ben will not have electricity bills and a higher valued home once sold.

6/ Choices Bob, we all make them based on reason for what we want/need and can afford ultimately.

We can afford a big flash EV but reality dictates not viable as we only drive 5/6K per year in our SUV (petrol)

We are also happy to live in a home at 24/5C when it's in the low to mid 30's outside,,,, well I am, doesn't seem to bother Ben but my retirement and enjoy it I will.

Cheers, Steve.

The plant based Wagyu could be interesting, look forward to that as the beef sold here is crappy

@Moon Dog

Got to laugh at the world, we here are cooling the home and you are heating. Well done with the upgrades and your savings.

Cheers, Steve.

Hi All my little bit of info to this topic. After Steve mentioned how well he ws doing with his solar system I was really concerned about our system not performing so gave it some thought and planning, relocated panels for a cost of P12K and now suddenly our system performs like yours Steve, by 12 pm we are 100 % on batteries that is after running a dishwasher, washing machine, water heater 5kw, borehole and RO 3 kw and at least two 1.5 HP AC running. This will be the first month of getting our new bill and looking forward which should be close to zero from the 10 to 13 K before solar.

I agree electircity rates will always inv=crease and maybe more as the world goes into supply shortages in the future. I think it's good to be more independent. Even our water is great quality with  the system we have installed, you can basically drink water out of any faucet in the house our outside. It was a worthwhile investment 15 months ago and to be honest in real terms not that expensive for the quality we have.

As for EV, not there yet I enjoy our SUV diesel and my 400 cc bike, contradicting my green approach, but must add our solar was not priority green but rather independence from the continious black outs and power fluctauations.

Well done aklokow, glad to hear you got that sorted out and now prospering.

Our system here is east and west with 14 panels each side, in the design phase we decided to split 7 panels each face (E/W) to feed the system and has paid off with up to 10Kwh in peak going into the system from 11.4 Kw of panels. generally 7 to 9 Kw but daily averaging 48 to 55 Kwh per day. No complaints here. Rare to get the batteries below 60% overnight and crank up the 2.5 hp A/C at 4/5 in the morning to get the batteries down from 70% to 60% before the sun comes up.

Interested to hear about your water system and cost aklokow.

Aside well done accomplishing self sufficiency as well as the savings, it pays off.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl Hi Steve, basically a 160 feet borehole, with big filters, resin for the sediment, activated carbon for smell and impurities, and multimedia for the basic water filtering, then 3 sediment inline filters into the 1000 liter supply tanks. After that I ran the water through a RO Plant, again sediment, and carbon filters into a the product tank. After that I have a bladder tank and pump to give pressure supplying the water heater 240 liter and the house cold water through a UV filter. So the water a filtered 8 times and disinfected for any bacteria through the UV filter.

Excluding the cost of the borehole we talking about 300 K for the system very rough as I did it in stages over 8 months, so could be even lower. But for us a worthwhile investment especially as we have a 3 year old daughter that just love playing in the water. We use the RO reject water for the inflatable pool, washing car and bike. water the garden and giving to the neighbors.

@aklokow

can anyone help me with what i need to set up solar on house inverter battery etc and cost

i want to set up when i come over also will i need an electrcian

@renegadesric529 From my experience not something you want to do yourself as you need to connect to the main utility supply and have ATS (Automatic Transfer Switch) and in our case we also have a diesel generator to sync all these maybe an experienced person, I am not an electrician maybe its simple but looks complicated to me.

Maybe Steve can add his experience here.

I would suggest to get a solar company to do the complete installation at least that way you have a bit of a warranty and performance service. The company we used is small but fantastic service especially given the pH environment of no customer service.

What we have is 16 solar panels of 545 W each giving is 8.7 KWH harvest, then we have 20 KW battery storage and a 8 KW inverter which the supplier will upgrade to 10 KW with no cost.

Total investment approx 900 K in our case, I know Steve is higher but he has a bigger system. For me it's worth is our highest bill was 14.5 K now it will down to zero and close to zero.

@renegadesric529

Firstly thanks to aklokow for the shared trust and experiences.

To you rene, firstly you need to size the system on current and projected needs. As aklo said he spent P900K and his system is now working perfectly, we spent P1.4M and have a system that works perfectly and banging out around 50Kwh per day, more really than we can use as the system is fully charged by 1 pm and throttles back to supply usage only.

You need to decide whether stand alone/grid tied or grid tied feed in/out. We opted for stand alone so switched off from the grid but can reconnect with 4 breakers in an emergency, say one or both invertors die, we have 2 weeks of bad weather, interestingly in that situation one uses less power as it's cooler so less A/C.

It really comes back to projected daily consumption to size the system correctly. We used to average around 22Kwh per day but me being a pig wanted to run more A/C and not think about switching off lights etc. Now we consume around 50Kwh per day or P 625 or around P 19K per month, most of our home is 25 C with A/C running.

You need to seriously consider usage/consumption and size the system accordingly to ascertain ROI.

Grid tied here with Luelco is a scam, you need to run extra cables to feed an extra meter and all the crap they put you through, then if I export 4Kw to them they give me back 1Kw  Big hearted aholes. I put the money into extra batteries and saved P 150K for the upgrade and a 6 month wait.

In Australia they have smart meters with no wait time, one form to fill out and gave 3 to 1 credit, no need to run extra underground cables etc. I spoke at length with our power companies engineer about this and when I mentioned smart meters he looked at me stupidly and asked what is that? Told him one meter to measure in and out using the same supply cables,,,,,, no sir I have never heard of that system and can't be done, you need separate feeds, thanked him for his time and moved on. We had a smart meter in Australia 15 years ago.

Again rene you need to size the system to suit your needs and weigh up the ROI.

Good luck and ask away.

Cheers, Steve

          Here in Santa, Ilocos Sur, we use an air conditioner in our bedroom at night, occasional fans other places in the house.  This month our bill is 1,500 pesos.  In 2020 when we used only fans, no air con, our bill was 3,000 pesos a month.  Hard to figure, do not believe the rates went down.  No brown outs the last three weeks, might be a record.

@mugteck

That's incredibly cheap given running an A/C overnight as well as the other power consumption 24/7. When we first moved here 5 years ago our bills were 4 to 5 K per month and back then it was around P 10 per Kwh and only running a 1 HP A/C around 15 hours in the master bedroom.

We took off back to Australia and left Bens Aunt and Uncle to look after the house for 6 weeks, they were supposed to live here but turns out the went home every day and never ran the A/C and probably little else, turns out they only came here every other day even though we were paying them to be here. Regardless the bill came in at P 1500 as no one was really here so just running a fridge, water pump and a few lights.

Off topic but when we purchased here 7 years ago the Uncle who lives 10 minutes away advised Ben that we need higher fences to keep thieves out, all the fencing was 4 ft high and he was a security guard for 40 odd years, one of the reasons why we employed him and his wife to live here and caretake, no body got in here even though for 6 weeks the house was empty two thirds of the time.

Back on topic, for me in my retirement years decided to install a stand alone system to a size that allows us to keep half the house that we live in at 24/25 C. I rarely go out in the middle of the day, while not so bad this time of year still warm and Ben calls me a girl but I want to enjoy what is left of my life, my time and no power bills,,,,, well P5.8 last bill,,,, funny as for years we asked Luelco (our power supplier) office why we can't pay online or with Gcash, no sir cash only. After we installed solar and the bills were 3 pesos for a couple of months the cashier told Ben how to pay it online and Gcash,,,,,, one wonders the cash payments for years.

Any way with a P 1 or 3 K bill I would never consider solar as an advantage.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

thank you my friend for the info i will certainly look at solar in the future

Was there in december for 2 weeks and a/c definitly required maybe 2 we have a shop so maybe a couple freezers for ice and meat then just standard household lighting and washing machine

thanks again

All good Rene, simply size your system to suit your needs, remember also that a 10Kw system will only deliver 80/85% for an average 5 hours a day so 40 Kwh per day and if no batteries for storage you will go back to drawing off the grid overnight.

We generally go back to 65/75% storage overnight but in bad weather (overcast) we might only charge to 90% and after a couple of days drop to 50% storage which is fine as apparently we can safely pull the batteries back to 10% capacity.

The trick Rene is to look at your current and past electricity bills. monthly and daily consumption then add the extra appliances like 1/2 extra A/C's extra fridge/freezer extra lighting that you want/need to service and then you can size your investment/system with accuracy but don't undersize.

For us we have 11.4 Kw of panels and average 50Kwh per day input to the batteries, never connected to the grid in 5/6 months and when the power goes out we only notice when the streets and houses are black and hear the distant humming of generators.

An exciting journey if you are prepared to walk it.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

im looking forward to the adventure in july

a little knowledge goes a long way for when im there

i can look into what materials i will need to set it up

    @bigpearl
im looking forward to the adventure in july
a little knowledge goes a long way for when im there
i can look into what materials i will need to set it up
   

    -@renegadesric529

Best to size the system then get the professionals in for pricing and installation, you will need an electrician, comes with the supplier.

Cheers, Steve. 

today 56Kw input or P700.

I heard the Mayors generator running last night when I went to lock up, black everywhere except the Mayors house and here.

Cheers, Steve.

Here averaging 25 KW harvest and we have overcast weather most days with consumption of approx 20 KW some days more and some days less. By 9 pm batteries at 85% and in the morning at 55 % so I am really happy with the performance, this whole month so far we took nothing from the utility supply, all self supplied.

I will definitly be going off grid save a few pesos

Fantastic aklokow, very glad you got on top of it and now prospering. We are probably lucky here especially this time of year as rarely a cloud and no real rain for 2/3 months but yes overcast certainly makes a difference with collection but also usage.

Being honest we are running a 1HP A/C 24/7, a 1H/P in the office 12 to 14 hours a day, a 2.5 HP A/C in the living area some 60M2 for at least 12 hours a day and another 1.5 HP unit in another area for 10 to 12 hours per day. My thinking is use it or lose it. I watch the graphs and the more we use through the day the better and a cool house.

Wet/overcast days are not so hot so less A/C needed, working well for us also aklokow.

Cheers, Steve.

@aklokow

Onto your water filtration can I ask why you are using a UV sterilizer if you are putting the water through an RO membrane?

Just curious as your bore is 160 ft deep have you ventured on a full analysis with a lab to see what you actually need? Water that deep is generally filtered through bedrock over thousands of years, most times better than bottled water. Only my experience with deep wells/bores.

Cheers, Steve. 

Hi Steve when we tested the water at the start we had a very high iron and manganese content that has now diminished because of the collapsing of the borehole surrounding soil and rock below. the water is now clear.

Why UV we are in the province and I guess a lot of pesticides, fertilizer from the farms, I have no proof, also human waste that possibly cause bacteria. We have a 3 year old and I thought it is a safe precaution for bacteria after my reserach. Again the tested water had no bacteria especially the bad ones like ecoli etc but I am rather safe than sorry. The cost for the UV system is not worth mentioning it is cheap. I replace the UV light UV every 6 months or so that is how long it last here.

I have built and run a few RO plants around the world and no need for UV sterilization but as you say better safe than sorry as who knows what happens with the stored water.

Cheers, Steve.

@bigpearl

what would be a ball park figure for a set up of solar i have a bungalow 3 bed thinking come off the grid

Hi,

May I know what Province are you living?

if you could send me the address , I might be able to help your Solar installation.

    @bigpearl
what would be a ball park figure for a set up of solar i have a bungalow 3 bed thinking come off the grid
   

    -@renegadesric529

As mentioned rene you need to work out your projected consumption and go from there.

Cheers, Steve.

@inqgoh

i am near burgos

@bigpearl

Hi Steve, I want to tap in your experience, would you recommend sending in the membrane for cleaning and then re-use? I have done it twice now but today I had to change the membrane and the one that came back from cleaning some months ago was blocked on the product delivery, everything went to waste and the pressure was running very high, I was concerned that I will burst a pipe or joint.

Anyway, I removed it and installed a new membrane, now working perfect. get a feel that the cleaning of membranes here in PH maybe is questionable and I should rather always use a new one.

My membrane lasts anything between 6 to 8 months before I need to change that was before our borehole water improved. Also 6 weeks ago changed all the media in the filters to have a fresh start.

I appreciate your valuable feedback.

Cheers, Andre

Hey Andre.

I'm probably not the best person to ask as I only commissioned and ran on a daily basis. The RO plant we used was in a 20ft shipping container and catered for up to 300 people using brackish creek water so high in salt and pretty dirty, the pumped water went through a very large bag filter to remove larger debris and required cleaning every day. The RO plant was virtually automatic and simply required monitoring and testing.

The RO membrane I never replaced as the system would backwash and send the water to waste. Not a cheap system by any means.

On the same site we also set up a water filtration plant, very similar to what you see in water filling stations but a lot larger and the water supply for that came from 2 wells and required the typical brine softener etc. That water went to the kitchens and a few onsite bathrooms.

I was thinking here to simply put 3 or 4 big blues in line  (20" x 4.5")  20 micron and a 5 micron pleated cartridge and a 1 or half micron carbon activated then UV sterilization (large) to service kitchen and 3 bathrooms, that are constantly used and the other 2 bathrooms and laundry leave as they are or cut in later if it works.

We don't drink the water but shower and brush teeth etc. and not had an issue in 5 years. There is a high calcium content from the well and tends to stain with a build up over time, If that doesn't work then maybe a softener in line but will try to avoid as we will avoid going RO, like you it could be an add on process until we get it right.

The bottled water here is cheap and that's what we drink.

Cheers, Steve.

Hey guys and gals... My solar guy here in Mindanao set me up, and I am EXTREMELY happy... as are a couple other expats here in the Dipolog area.  Sean travels around Phil setting up large systems for their local government(s), and in his spare time does personal system's for people... Sean Costello... From Texas... Electrical engineer.  Honest, and will set you up PROPERLY .

    Hey guys and gals... My solar guy here in Mindanao set me up, and I am EXTREMELY happy... as are a couple other expats here in the Dipolog area.  Sean travels around Phil setting up large systems for their local government(s), and in his spare time does personal system's for people... Sean Costello... From Texas... Electrical engineer.  Honest, and will set you up PROPERLY .
   

    -@Wellsfry

Can I ask what you KVA requirements are and what you paid for storage batteries?