Why is my electric bill so high? Imagine that you’ve been enjoying savings from your solar system for a long time. Gone is the dread that you used to feel every month when you opened your electric bill. But today was different, you opened your bill and saw a number that left you gobsmacked. That can be a sign that your solar system may need maintenance/troubleshooting. There are steps you can take to figure out if there is a problem with your solar system, and what you can do about it. You can avoid this surprise by regularly monitoring your system using your monitoring app.
Is your solar system underproducing?
The first step you need to take is to find out if your solar system’s production has actually dropped. If you have a solar system built by Freedom Forever, you can check the app that monitors your system’s production. Do you see a steep dropoff in power production? If so, that is a strong indicator that your solar system needs maintenance/troubleshooting.
Your utility bill can help you find out if your solar system may need maintenance/troubleshooting
Another thing to check is your past utility bills, some utility companies provide their customers with information about their past bills online. If yours does, then check to see if your solar production has dropped off, or if you had an increase in electricity demand. Appliances can have electrical problems that make them consume a lot of electricity. Another possible problem is that your household may have started using more electricity without you knowing it. Once you are sure that your electrical consumption isn’t the problem, then it’s time to take a look at your solar system.
Solar systems definitely don’t have it ‘made in the shade’
A common refrain that people use when things are going well is that they have it ‘made in the shade.’ The opposite is true of solar systems, shade is a sure sign that things aren’t going well for your solar system.
Your monitoring app can help you find out if you have a shade problem. Take a look at your system’s hourly production. If there is a mysterious dropoff at any point during the day, go out and take a look at your system to see if there is any shade covering any part of it. If that’s the case, you’ll want to remove the tree limbs (most of the time that’s the problem) or anything else that’s creating that shade.
Your overall production is low
If your solar monitoring app shows that your overall production is low, then check to see if your solar panels are dirty. If they are, clean them, or have them professionally cleaned, and then check to see if your production is increased. Keep in mind that hosing them off may not be enough. Dirt can get caked on so badly that hosing the panels won’t remove it. If that happens, the panels need to be scrubbed off. If you don’t want to do that yourself, you can hire a company to do it for you.
Your production is low and it’s not shade or dirt
By this point, you’ve ruled out shade and dirty panels. This is when it’s time to have someone troubleshoot your system. If you are a Freedom Forever customer, you’ll want to call us to come out and troubleshoot your system. If we find out that your underproduction was caused by something that was our fault, then you can file a production claim with us to get compensated for the underproduction. Regardless of what’s causing the problem, if there is a problem with your system, we will find and fix it.
Freedom Forever guarantees the amount of power your system will produce
Freedom Forever guarantees your solar system’s production for 25 years. If there’s ever a production shortfall due to a problem with your system, we’ll come out and fix it. If the shortfall was due to something we did, we will compensate you for that shortfall. The amount of compensation you receive will be listed in your contract with us.