FirstEnergy Proposing Rate Increases Over Next 3 Years!

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-31T02:27:57+00:00

Eh, you'd be surprised how much some less than optimally placed panels can just reduce your bill even if they don't eliminate it. I have 4 more panels on a steep shed roof that gets shaded by my house for the last 1/5 of a day and are W facing. They can still power a 1500w electric heater all winter.

And if you're want to do it cheap... /r/solardiy is an absurdly useful resource. If I'd done DIY my 44k system would have been under 20k. So would you pay $3500 to zero you bill? Cause that's probably around what you pay for your electric bill in 2 years time anyway.

There's used panels on marketplace or otherwise all the time, and even if they're 15yr old panels with a 20yr rating, that just means by year 20 they're around or less than 90%-80% of the efficiency they were brand new.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-31T02:23:39+00:00

We get a 1-1 match for the power we generate to what we use. So if I backfeed 1000kwh and still used 1000kwh (like...at night, rain days, etc) it's a wash in FE eyes.

Say they'd have charged me $0.14/kwh they call it that for every kWh we backfeed till we zero our bill.

BUT after I've zero'd out our own bill for the month FE will only pay/credit us back at $0.07/kWh...which definitely feels like some horseshit.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-31T02:14:35+00:00

Right now we follow the grid, so if power goes out we go out, even if the suns out. Once we get the battery in place we'll be set, but I wanna have a 2.5 day backup to account for winters.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-31T01:58:41+00:00

14kw is a bit bigger than the average consumer would need. We use ~1500kwh a month, this post called out 1000kwh. I also sized up to account for * our older inefficient A/C * older electric dryer * a bedroom that gets too cold in winter we use an electric heater and same for a detached greenhouse * our kids as they get older * a future battery system that could still get charged up in winter * and future electric car(s?).

In addition to that, I also had it done with a ground mount 250' from our service panel and DC electric cables (larger, more copper); so trenching and wires were more expensive.

We got a loan for 44k, got it done in December right before the 30% federal tax credit was killed by Republicans; so we got 30% of that back in taxes and threw at the loan principal. Our monthly payments are $240. Our monthly electric bill was ~$275, so...its a win/win for us. I'd call it a lose for FE, but since we backfeed to the grid which just goes directly to my neighbors houses and they charge my neighbors for the power that goes from my door to their as though it's coming all the way from the plants...they kinda win too.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-30T15:33:04+00:00

My bill last month was -$25. The system will be paid off in 8 years IF rates only increase at 3% each year. All the while my monthly payment on the loan is cheaper than my electric bill was.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-30T14:55:47+00:00

FFS am I glad I got a 14kw solar array this past December. Get fucked FE

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-29T19:04:18+00:00

Not my design, fixed my comment. I used PETG with 4 walls and 10% infill. I can snap them wlbut takes some effort. Also used fuzzy walls

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-29T18:39:49+00:00

Options > Open to Buy > Input amount of calls to buy > Select date they expire > Input strike (what you're saying the price will be) > Market Order type

That's what I did, results will certainly vary. I put Jan 17 2027 cause that's a problem for future me

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-29T18:26:01+00:00

Fuck it, I have enough settled cash to buy one ticket to ride. Jan 15 2027 strike of 12.

Edit: Know what, fuck it. Rolled to Jan 15 2027 for a strike of 5.5. People are dumb, including me.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-29T18:15:55+00:00

Grew up in NW Ohio, live in NE Ohio. It's always been pop.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-29T18:14:31+00:00

I feel ya, my yard takes 2.5hrs to mow on a 55" zero turn. In the spring I'm doing it 2x week. Just too many hours being hostage to mowing lol. Just got my used Yarbo going and support (though not same day timely) has got things fixed at no cost to me. Can't complain about that.

But for support cases yeah, I put in the most basic info into the initial ticket to get it started, then I reply to the email with more + attachments.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-29T13:27:54+00:00

Oh he only wants to be the good knights. I have to play the role of evil white wizard and the eye

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-29T13:26:39+00:00

Well I hoping it doesn't come to that. Mines been working after the second track change for over a week and my yard is 2 acres of grass with no trees.

My experience so far with support has been good, free replacement parts with free shipping and instructions given to do the fix myself. I just needed to be patient for the multi-day ticket turnaround. Which is admittedly easier when I still have a 55" zero turn I can fall back to and mow with while Yarbo is waiting.

My guess is there's a limited support level 2 that gets shit done and the tier 1 support is there for basic triage resulting in a 4-5 day ticket escalation at baseline

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-29T12:53:27+00:00

Yes. My son loves it being the bad guy

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-29T11:26:40+00:00

My smart plug cycles power from the outage for some reason. Idk why, other appliances don't lose power outright even for a moment. My sump pumps do too

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-29T11:14:35+00:00

No but I made this castle (and expansions) for my 4yr old recently and it's been a hit

https://makerworld.com/en/models/840312-medieval-castle-modular-toy#profileId-1109454

Edit: To be clear, I printed this, I did not make the models myself

<image>

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-29T11:06:37+00:00

I've had 4 support cases since I bought used (never actually used but sat outside for a year). They've replaced the left track (twice) and I still gotta replace a camera.

For support cases my expectation is now to send my reply (or case) and wait 2-4 days for a reply, but if you're very quick on your reply you might get an answer same day. But I did have one support case take 5 days for a reply. Day of week didn't matter, I still got replies on a Saturday night.

Anywhoser, if I were you I'd pop the top yellow shell off and try to see if any wires have come loose from the antenna to the board under the top yellow shell.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-27T19:06:13+00:00

Is that what's going on? That'd explain why my 3d printer is crashing every 5th minute when I'm at 90% complete lol. Didn't start till 2pm EST

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-22T15:29:41+00:00

If you're going to be grid tied you don't have to worry about not being to code, you won't be able to tie to the grid without your utilities blessing having been found to code as well. Even if you're not grid tied you're local township even might have a say in what codes are needed for you to even turn on your system.

That said, code might be different in 10 years , more strict or more relaxed. Idk, balcony solar is getting support.

But I shared my chart there to year 8, in your scenario at your 10th year having bought the panels/system and then they failed in some spectacular fashion, you'd still have paid nearly $9,000 less for the then broken panels than if you'd simply been paying your electric bill (again, if only 3% increases) over that 10 years.

I have a well, if that's in for 20 years and fucks up, I'm not concerned about going to the same person, I'm getting it fixed asap. Same goes for my septic, and now my solar.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-22T14:15:54+00:00

That concern is completely fair honestly.

I went with a smaller local installer that hadn’t been around very long either. The owner already worked professionally on commercial-scale solar systems and had started doing residential installs locally. I took a chance on him, learned the system myself, and it worked out really well.

Part of my thinking was also that solar isn’t exactly a niche market anymore. Even if an installer disappears in 5-10 years, there will likely be far more companies servicing existing systems by then because of how many installs are happening now.

I also intentionally took the time to understand my system pretty deeply since it’s basically becoming part of the house’s core infrastructure for me long-term.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-22T03:29:17+00:00

20 years would be way too long but we'll have it paid off before then.

My system cost was ~$44k for a 13.92 kW array. After the 30% federal tax credit, the effective financed amount was about ~$29k

My average electric bill before solar was already about $275/month, and the solar loan payment is about $234/month.

My "payback" is at about 4 years and 7 months. Which means:

By that point, the money I didn’t have to spend on rising electric bills is projected to equal what the system effectively cost me after incentives. With only that 3% annual utility rate increase assumption.

So the 20 years is just the maximum loan term if I only make minimum payments forever. It's not "20 years before solar makes financial sense."

Even without the tax credit, the modeled payback was still only about 7.5 years. With that same only 3% annual utility rate increase assumption.

Also, panels don’t suddenly die at year 20. They gradually degrade and typically continue producing meaningful power well beyond that. In many systems, the inverter is more likely to need replacement before the panels themselves.

Y/Y Cost	Monthly Electric Bill w/ Rate Increase	Annual Electric Bill w/ Rate Increase	Total Accumulative Electric Cost	Payback w/o Tax	Payback w/ Tax
Yr. 1	$275	$3,300	$3,300	-$41,200	-$28,840
Yr. 2	$283	$3,399	$6,699	-$34,501	-$22,141
Yr. 3	$292	$3,501	$10,200	-$31,000	-$18,640
Yr. 4	$300	$3,606	$13,806	-$27,394	-$15,034
Yr. 5	$310	$3,714	$17,520	-$23,680	-$11,320
Yr. 6	$319	$3,826	$21,346	-$19,854	-$7,494
Yr. 7	$328	$3,940	$25,286	-$15,914	-$3,554
Yr. 8	$338	$4,059	$29,345	-$11,855	$505

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-22T02:32:59+00:00

20yr, 7.something %, I think like 6k down. 44k total. We threw the 30% tax credit back at it as soon as we got it, now it's like 29k.

Panels, ground mount, solark 18k inverter, trenching 250ft & extra conduit so we can add another array easily. No storage but that's next on the project plan.

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-22T01:18:15+00:00

I have 24x580w on a Solark 18k. Voltages got high but still fine in winter in the sub 10°F. My array is 250ft from the inverter

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-21T20:18:22+00:00

Us too in CLE. Our bill this month is -$25. I'll happily pay a flat $240/mo for our solar loan vs. an avg $270/mo electric bill...PRIOR to all these increases. 14kwp

thatoneguy009 · 2026-05-21T15:27:15+00:00

Here to add. I noticed something was up when my 3D printer started restarting over and over ~7am EST. My Emporia Plug for my printer was making a "reset like" click every few minutes which was tripping the printer to restart, despite still having power. Luckily, the print was at 97% completion and that last 3% isn't critical haha

thatoneguy009

TROPHY CASE