” electric bills are a nightmare to try to read and interpret so it is hard to say what portions of the whole system have contributed what to the drop. “
For two to four people just take the total bill and apportion it thus:
‘44% Heating and Cooling
33% Lighting and Appliances
14% Water Heating
9% Refrigerator ‘
Those numbers give a 7 year subsdized payback period for your HW heater (10 year unsubsidized).
$42/mo savings from HW heater; $66/mo from the 50% reduction in cooling costs (less annualized over the winter).
A longer payback than I’d risk, but reasonable.
I don’t think you’d see so much of a reduction in price without the subsidy, they have to make a profit.
I agree they have to make a profit but, a friend of mine who was looking at having a system installed, all the installers calculated everything based on the rebates he would receive. He decided to become certified to install and installed his own system and dramatically cut the price of everything. I look at like the Chevy volt, it is essentially the same platform as the Malibu which is like more than 10 grand less, they sell it based on the subsidies. I believe the price is built on the subsidy. If the subidy went away I doubt the price would be that much higher than a Malibu.