Westin Homes, Cardiff Ranch, Solar Power, Energy Bills (Spring, Howe: how much, new home) - Houston - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

mrs. snarkypants · 09-20-2011, 12:47 PM

Good Afternoon,

I am curious about the Westin Homes in Cardiff Ranch, specifically if anyone has had the solar power panels installed during construction (I understand it may be rather expensive to do after the fact). Has it made a big difference in energy bills? If you have a Westin home and do not utilize the solar power panels, what are your energy bills like? I've been doing a bit of reading about this builder and the community in general, and if I am off the mark, please guide me.

Thanks in advance!

honycombe · 09-20-2011, 02:13 PM

I own a Westin home in Cardiff Ranch and we will be putting in solar panels in the future. FYI, no one has solar panels on their homes here, so you won't get any first hand info. However, the homes are pre-wired for them when they are built. Should you add panels later, it will be very easy to hook the panels up. This is much cheaper then buying solar panels and then having to have the house wired for it. We did not buy the solar panels through the builder because it was such a big chunk of change and there were other things we wanted to upgrade that could not be done later (3rd car garage, insulation, ect.). Also, my husband has been researching solar panels for about 3 years and they seem to regularly come out with better ones that last longer....so he's waiting until they seem to stablize. He doesn't want to spend all the money now, only for a better product to come out a year later. It will be very easy to have someone come out, hang solar panels on the house and hook it up.

In regards to the energy bill, I can only tell you that my electric bill for the month of August (reached 100 or higher every day) was $350. This also includes our pool. The back of the house faces east, the front, west...(we did tint the floor to ceiling windows in the living room). House is set to 74-75 degrees, ceiling fans run constantly. Sometimes I am cold in the house...if I am cleaning, I will turn it down a bit. However, I was thrilled with the electric bill. Add in solar panels, it will be interesting to see how much it goes down. Moving from a house that was 1100 sf ft. smaller, no pool and only 7 years old...this bill is only $50-75 more.

deckhanddavy · 09-20-2011, 03:10 PM

Our Bill was $90 for Aug. for a 3300 SQ home (2 story). There is only two of us, and we don't use much electricity to begin with. We also use fluorescent lighting throughout, and we keep the a/c at 76-78 degrees when we are in the house, and 80 when we are at work.

We locked in a rate of 8.3 cents through reliant for 6 months.

a_guerrajr · 09-20-2011, 03:24 PM

You are probably better asking the residents of Discovery @ Spring Trails. Might be a nice drive for you, but the homes there come with the panels. I would just ask the residents what they are averaging with the panels. Regardless I would invest in upgrade insulation and then have the panels done later on, you might get more capacity or longer lasting ones.

honycombe · 09-20-2011, 04:28 PM

deckhanddavy: Can we switch light bills? I like yours even better!!!!

davidrod8 · 09-20-2011, 06:04 PM

On the research that I have done, you can get the panels for about 50% off tha the price the construction company charges, and this is with the same company that they use. The problem I see is that right now electricity is very cheap, (cheapest its been in the last 5 years) and it is very hard to justify the expense. I think according to my calculations it would take you about 6-8 years to get your money back, and I'm not sure those panels would last that long.

Also, you cannot store the electricity you produce, so you have to sell it back to whatever company you get the service to begin with. The plans I have seen, the only buy back what you use every month at full price. Anything over that they buy at half...

I think if you want to be green its definitively I good thing to do, but money wise, the numbers don't add up just yet...

mrs. snarkypants · 09-21-2011, 07:01 AM

Thank you all! All very useful information!

a_guerrajr · 09-21-2011, 08:07 AM

Panels now a days last for quite a long time, much longer than 6-8 years for sure.

It would be cool if there was a way to store some of the energy. Or running on all your solar till you use it up, then kick to the company electricity.

davidrod8 · 09-22-2011, 07:41 AM

Heck! If I could store it I would be getting off the grid!!! I think eventually we'll get there, but we are still a long long way... imagine not having to run cables... transform electricity up and then down again... I'm sure the cost would be a lot less... and you wouldn't have blackouts.... you are responsible for your own consumption... I know... 100 years from now

deckhanddavy · 09-22-2011, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by honycombe

deckhanddavy: Can we switch light bills? I like yours even better!!!!

Ha! Yeah, the rates are pretty darn good. Would be nice to get some solar panels later down the road. We plan on doing this, but we can't justify the prices right now. I think in a few years, many new homes will be built with solar energy technology as builders have come a long way in terms of being green.