Ivy Resident Support Center

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How can we be assured opting in for Solar will result in savings?

Regardless of how and when you use electricity, you will never pay more for electricity with solar than you would have without solar. Ivy Energy calculates your solar bill using your unit’s energy consumption and the current electric utility rate, less your portion of solar savings. If you opt for solar and shift the majority of your usage to off-peak hours when time-of-use (TOU) utility rates are the lowest, that will only help you save more money. Keep reading to understand how.

How Your Ivy Solar Bill Works

Our Virtual Grid software is a third-party monitoring system that calculates your electric bill with respect to your virtually allocated solar power usage. First, we calculate the total utility cost without solar power. This includes taking into account the time of use and utilizing the appropriate time-of-use utility rate schedule to determine the gross electricity bill before solar savings. The software employs utility meter data in 15-minute intervals, similar to the utility company's approach, which enhances the accuracy and reliability of capturing detailed consumption patterns.

Next, we calculate the solar power used and apply it to your total utility costs as a discount. The higher the solar power used, the higher the discount and more electricity savings.

How to Increase Solar Power Use

Thus, the more you use solar power, the lower your utility bills. How do you ensure that you are using solar power? First, know that solar power comes in two forms you can use:

  • Live Solar - This is the form of solar power that you use right away. Live solar is the most valuable form of solar and provides the highest savings on your utility bill. To make sure that you are using as much live solar as you can, schedule the bulk of your electric use from 10 am to 3 pm on sunny days.
  • Solar Credit - This is a form of solar power that is unused during the day and sent to the utility company. The utility company provides credits for this surplus solar power, but generally at a lower rate than if you purchased that power from the utility company. Solar credit applies to offset usage when there is a low solar power supply. Solar credits are slightly less valuable than Live Solar, but they still provide utility savings.

Solar Hours vs. Peak Hours

Solar hours is the period during the day where live solar is the highest, typically 10 am to 3 pm. Peak hours is the period when there is high power demand, typically from 5 to 8 in the mornings and evenings. Electric rates are the cheapest during solar hours and the highest during peak hours. Therefore, you can enjoy more solar savings and lower utility rates if you use electricity more during solar hours and less during peak hours.

Monitoring and Calculating Power Use

From the data on your electric consumption patterns, our system can calculate the correct power cost based on the time-specific rate. Thus, we can accurately and reliably calculate the power used, whether live solar, solar credit, or power during peak or off-peak hours. These data and other power usage information will reflect on your utility bills once you go solar.

Opting for solar means energy savings and the power to control your energy rates. Contact your property management team to sign up for solar today!