More PSE&G Confusion

July 19, 2004 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Solar Energy 

On Friday, July 9 I called PSE&G to inquire what had happened to our June bill. They responded that they had to generate one.

They did generate one. It was postmarked July 14, received on July 15, and a second copy received on July 16 postmarked July 14 with a different postmark. Both copies were due July 19 (2 business days later!). The bill had only a partial month for June – it ended with the last meter reading of the old meter on June 10 when it should have run until June 20 or so.

So, I ended up paying a partial month for June. I suspect that the July bill will make up for the difference, assuming it’s mailed on time. Given that I only paid the bill and mailed it today, I’ll probably look past-due.

They really need to work on this.

One MegaWattHour

July 11, 2004 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Solar Energy 

Today, our solar electric system finished generating it’s first MegaWattHour (MWh). That happened in about a month, given that we turned the panels on for real on June 14 and they had run in test for one week.

Of course, that’s ideal performance. We haven’t had many rainy or cloudy days in the last month and these are the longest days of the year. I’m sure this will be balanced by days where the panels are snow-covered in the winter. However, it’s looking good!

PSE&G Confusion

July 11, 2004 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Solar Energy 

Our new meter was read on June 21, 2004. When last Friday (July 9) had come without a bill, I got suspicious.

I called PSE&G customer service. It seems that in the change of meters, the system never generated a monthly bill for us. The customer service representative said he’d get one generated.

Moral of the story – watch your utility like a hawk after installing solar panels.