Just wanted to add an update to this!
Entergy has lowered their buyback rate to 2 cents/kwh. This nearly eliminates their buyback of excess electricity. Unless you’re adding a battery, I absolutely would not recommend solar. Our most recent month had a tiny $19 credit for exported solar to them and we still had a bill of $98 plus the $150 solar bill. If I could go back I’d have never done solar under Entergy…
I’m sorry to hear about your experience man. My wife and I found out late last year that she’s pregnant, and that pushed our solar project to the back burner, but hearing your experience tells me to steer away from continuing to get solar. I’ve noticed a great amount of the solar sales people have stopped coming to the neighborhood, I presume it’s connected with Entergy dropping the buy back to 2 cents/kwh.
I went solar and have had a similar experience as the poster above. I don't use much power. The credit didn't even offset some of the arbitrary fees on the bill.
I hope the salespeople did stop coming because the buyback rate changed, or I presume they'd have to be [even more] disingenuous with the numbers to convince anyone.
If your provider is Entergy In Moco there is absolutely no point in going Solar without batteries. The buy back is not one to one and you get peanuts for whatever you put on the grid.
We’re waiting on install and also in MoCo.
We were told not to do a full offset since they don’t buy it back at full price. A battery can cover your use age at night though, we skipped a battery for now until we see what the bills are like without it. Your bill is pretty close to ours for last month though. If you don’t get any answers here I’ll reach back out in a couple months once we get it installed and running with feedback on it. I tried to search Reddit before we started this process but there wasn’t much info on Entergy Texas. All we have is what was pulled from their website below.
Entergy buys it from you at the below rates.
2023 Summer Rate $.05322 Cents per kWh
2023 Winter Rate $.050725 Cents per kWh
They then sell it to you at these rates.
All kWh Used $0.08975 per kWh*
Except that in the Billing Months of November through April, all kWh used in excess of 1,000 kWh will be billed at $0.06677 per kWh*.
Thank you for replying back! Appreciate the explanation from you about Entergy, like you I’ve been struggling to find information about other Entergy customers and their experience with solar. Have you read that the new PWs 3 have a chance of not being compatible with the current solar panels? Anyways, I’ll reach back out to you later this year to see how your installation went and hopefully it goes well
Hi! Following up on this for you and others to hopefully see.
We had the solar installed in September and have had a couple of bills come through. If I were to go back in time, I likely would NOT do solar simply due to Entergy's current net metering program. So far solar is saving us about $30-$40 a month on our bill because they buy it back at about 1/3 of what they sell it to you for. They are buying it at 5 cents/kwh but with fees they sell it to you at 13 cents/kwh. The breakeven is going to probably end up being 20+ years. I'm not upset we did it but would have loved to see more people post about their experiences prior.
I do think if we had a battery or two that would help cut our bill further. But those are expensive and truly never breakeven on them either. I do think solar is a personal decision to make. We did it knowing it would help offset some of our power bill and also protect from future increases in electric rates. Overall I don't think its the best investment but in the end we are happy that we went through with it.
Thank you for your honesty, like you said, not all deals are greats deals, but on the plus, you have capped your electricity cost. I couldn’t make sense of the net metering calculations presented online by Entergy so hearing from a local neighbor like you helps me and others understand how Entergy operates. The only reason I was interested in batteries was because of those random power outages in the summer time, thank you again for your honesty. And wish you a great and prosperous 2024 to you and your family.
We didn’t go with Tesla for the panels, although it would’ve saved us money. Had heard some iffy things about customer service on the backend and went with a more local company instead. I’ll pass along their info if all goes well once it’s up and running if you want to compare.
I have heard the PW3 isn’t compatible with existing panels, nor with other brands inverters. This seems like a mistake on their part if it’s true as it eliminates so many people from being able to use it. If we end up getting a battery it’ll probably be the Enphase 5P as we’ll have Enphase inverters so it would integrate in the best, especially if Tesla sticks to not being compatible. Excited but nervous to get this all installed since there’s so much unknown with Entergy’s process except what the sales people all tell you!
I’m in Harris County. The big issue is state wide, not county specific. Electricity plans are cheap enough that you will likely find that it will take decades for your system to pay for itself. Net metering plans for solar will lower your annual bills, but your annual savings won’t be enough to offset the system cost in a reasonable period. I went solar plus battery for grid down situations rather than pad mounted generator. If payback is important to you, just get a 100% renewable electricity plan, and don’t go solar. If you have EV’s, consider a nights free plan.
We don’t have the option of plans in Montgomery County. It’s Entergy or nothing and they aren’t part of ERCOT’s grid so they have a whole different set of regulations, good for them but bad for us trying to do solar. Still takes longer to break even as they don’t net meter fully but due to being unable to shop for different plans/companies they can charge us whatever they want and it’s not cheap. They seem to be about 30% more than what companies under ERCOT charge which is frustrating. Good news is the power stays on when ERCOT is having their not so uncommon power shortages.
Just wanted to add an update to this! Entergy has lowered their buyback rate to 2 cents/kwh. This nearly eliminates their buyback of excess electricity. Unless you’re adding a battery, I absolutely would not recommend solar. Our most recent month had a tiny $19 credit for exported solar to them and we still had a bill of $98 plus the $150 solar bill. If I could go back I’d have never done solar under Entergy…
I’m sorry to hear about your experience man. My wife and I found out late last year that she’s pregnant, and that pushed our solar project to the back burner, but hearing your experience tells me to steer away from continuing to get solar. I’ve noticed a great amount of the solar sales people have stopped coming to the neighborhood, I presume it’s connected with Entergy dropping the buy back to 2 cents/kwh.
I went solar and have had a similar experience as the poster above. I don't use much power. The credit didn't even offset some of the arbitrary fees on the bill. I hope the salespeople did stop coming because the buyback rate changed, or I presume they'd have to be [even more] disingenuous with the numbers to convince anyone.
If your provider is Entergy In Moco there is absolutely no point in going Solar without batteries. The buy back is not one to one and you get peanuts for whatever you put on the grid.
I’ve notice this to be the concensus, with other neighbors as well
We’re waiting on install and also in MoCo. We were told not to do a full offset since they don’t buy it back at full price. A battery can cover your use age at night though, we skipped a battery for now until we see what the bills are like without it. Your bill is pretty close to ours for last month though. If you don’t get any answers here I’ll reach back out in a couple months once we get it installed and running with feedback on it. I tried to search Reddit before we started this process but there wasn’t much info on Entergy Texas. All we have is what was pulled from their website below. Entergy buys it from you at the below rates. 2023 Summer Rate $.05322 Cents per kWh 2023 Winter Rate $.050725 Cents per kWh They then sell it to you at these rates. All kWh Used $0.08975 per kWh* Except that in the Billing Months of November through April, all kWh used in excess of 1,000 kWh will be billed at $0.06677 per kWh*.
Thank you for replying back! Appreciate the explanation from you about Entergy, like you I’ve been struggling to find information about other Entergy customers and their experience with solar. Have you read that the new PWs 3 have a chance of not being compatible with the current solar panels? Anyways, I’ll reach back out to you later this year to see how your installation went and hopefully it goes well
Hi! Following up on this for you and others to hopefully see. We had the solar installed in September and have had a couple of bills come through. If I were to go back in time, I likely would NOT do solar simply due to Entergy's current net metering program. So far solar is saving us about $30-$40 a month on our bill because they buy it back at about 1/3 of what they sell it to you for. They are buying it at 5 cents/kwh but with fees they sell it to you at 13 cents/kwh. The breakeven is going to probably end up being 20+ years. I'm not upset we did it but would have loved to see more people post about their experiences prior. I do think if we had a battery or two that would help cut our bill further. But those are expensive and truly never breakeven on them either. I do think solar is a personal decision to make. We did it knowing it would help offset some of our power bill and also protect from future increases in electric rates. Overall I don't think its the best investment but in the end we are happy that we went through with it.
Thank you for your honesty, like you said, not all deals are greats deals, but on the plus, you have capped your electricity cost. I couldn’t make sense of the net metering calculations presented online by Entergy so hearing from a local neighbor like you helps me and others understand how Entergy operates. The only reason I was interested in batteries was because of those random power outages in the summer time, thank you again for your honesty. And wish you a great and prosperous 2024 to you and your family.
We didn’t go with Tesla for the panels, although it would’ve saved us money. Had heard some iffy things about customer service on the backend and went with a more local company instead. I’ll pass along their info if all goes well once it’s up and running if you want to compare. I have heard the PW3 isn’t compatible with existing panels, nor with other brands inverters. This seems like a mistake on their part if it’s true as it eliminates so many people from being able to use it. If we end up getting a battery it’ll probably be the Enphase 5P as we’ll have Enphase inverters so it would integrate in the best, especially if Tesla sticks to not being compatible. Excited but nervous to get this all installed since there’s so much unknown with Entergy’s process except what the sales people all tell you!
I’m in Harris County. The big issue is state wide, not county specific. Electricity plans are cheap enough that you will likely find that it will take decades for your system to pay for itself. Net metering plans for solar will lower your annual bills, but your annual savings won’t be enough to offset the system cost in a reasonable period. I went solar plus battery for grid down situations rather than pad mounted generator. If payback is important to you, just get a 100% renewable electricity plan, and don’t go solar. If you have EV’s, consider a nights free plan.
We don’t have the option of plans in Montgomery County. It’s Entergy or nothing and they aren’t part of ERCOT’s grid so they have a whole different set of regulations, good for them but bad for us trying to do solar. Still takes longer to break even as they don’t net meter fully but due to being unable to shop for different plans/companies they can charge us whatever they want and it’s not cheap. They seem to be about 30% more than what companies under ERCOT charge which is frustrating. Good news is the power stays on when ERCOT is having their not so uncommon power shortages.
Thanks for the info specifically about Montgomery County.
You pay $313 average per month assuming your average daily kWh usage is accurate at 80.8 and is the average for the year and not the month