The Math on Electric Cars, Solar Panels, Electrical Supply Providers and ASHPs

The Math on Electric Cars

My family of 5 owns two electric cars and a hybrid truck that drives about 40 miles per gallon. 

To charge an electric car it costs about $0.34/kwh during winter and $0.27/kwh the rest of the year with National Grid. About 70kwh are needed to get you 265 miles (0.264 kwh/mile). In other words it costs about $0.09 per mile during the winter and $0.07 per mile during spring, summer and fall.

Just for simplicity let’s say it costs $0.08 per mile to drive an electric car.

On the other hand the gas for a 20 miles/gallon car would cost $0.15/mile assuming a gallon costs $3 and $0.075 for a 40 miles/gallon hybrid. Plus the cost of yearly oil and filter change for about $350 adds another $0.035 so a 20 mile/gallon car costs $0.185/mile and a 40 mile/gallon car costs about $0.11/mile to drive.

In other words the approximate cost to drive 10,000 miles is as follows:

Electric car $800

Hybrid car $1100

Regular gas car $1850

Also electric cars are the cheapest new cars you can get in 2024-25. A Chevy Bolt costs $30,000 minus the $7500 federal tax credit and the $3500 MA check you get, final price $19,000. The Chevy Equinox LT1 EV is $35,000 minus the same deductions (which now you can get directly at the dealership when you buy it) will cost you $24,000. My dealer also gave me another $2500 because I have another electric car.

So you are not only saving about $1,000/yr in fuel and oil costs assuming you drive about 10,000 miles a year but it also costs you less to buy it!

All you need to have is your electrician install an electric range 240V outlet in your garage and you get 265 miles overnight in the case of the Bolt and 330 miles in the case of the Equinox. There are also GM-to-Tesla adapters for $230 which give you access to all Tesla Charging stations. You never need to charge your electric car outside your house even though they also give you a $500 pre-paid charge card for most non-Tesla stations which is good for 3 years. Looks like mine will expire because I almost never need to charge them outside my home. And National Grid will reimburse you up to $2000 for that outlet or service upgrade installation.

TILITY	INCENTIVE	OFFER	PROGRAM WEBSITE
Unitil	$700 – $1,700	Home or business EV charger installation.	Ready2Charge
Eversource	$700	Home wiring upgrades for single-family homes, with additional rebates for qualifying customers.	Home EV Charging
National Grid	$700 – $2,000	Incentives for up to 100% of the cost to install a L2 charger at home for eligible customers.	Turnkey EV Charging Installation Program
National Grid	$700 – $2,000	Rebates for home wiring upgrades for single-family homes, with additional rebates for 2-4 units.	EV Charging Upgrade Program
National Grid	$50 one-time incentive and ongoing bill savings	Enroll and earn monthly rebates for charging during designated Off Peak hours.	Off-Peak Charging Program

 

I know that building and disposal of electric batteries requires fossil fuels but that is more than offset by the 10-15 years of driving the car without fossil fuels. In other words, electric cars may not be perfect for the environment but they are better than gas cars, much better because the manufacturing and disposal of the electric battery cost to the environment is offset the first several years after purchase. 

And electric cars become even more attractive if you install solar panels where you get the electricity not from some utility company but for free directly from our star – the Sun.

 

The Math on Solar Panels

I have solar panels on 3 buildings. On one of them I installed 34 panels in 2017 and they have a very neat app that tells me that so far I have saved 128,238 lbs of CO2 (that’s 64 tons!)  which is the equivalent of 969 trees planted. Last year and this year I installed 26 panels on another building (7.2 tons of CO2 prevented from getting into the atmosphere equivalent of 121 trees planted) and 12 panels on a 3^rd building (4.8 tons of CO2, 80 trees).

The panels installed on a building can not only pay for the electricity used by that building but also pay for the electricity used by other buildings served by National Grid or your utility company even if they don’t have any solar panels on them.

Simply said when all the costs and credits (30% off the cost of the solar panels install and any electrical or roof upgrades at tax time plus $1000 off the cost by MA for owner-occupied installs) are taken into account you will continue to pay the same amount of money that you have paid prior to the install of the solar panels for the next 8-9-10 years except the amounts payable are not going to be to your Utility Company but towards paying off the amount you spent on the solar panels install. But after you pay off that investment, for 30 years after that your electricity is free!

Sometimes in order to install electric panels you need to upgrade your 100amp service to 200amp as you need a 50amp breaker at least for the panels and sometimes you need to install a new roof prior to installing the panels in which case it might take you 11 years to pay for the whole project. In most cases depending if you are able to find an installer with reasonable rates it will take you 8 or 9 yrs to pay them off. Just for simplicity let’s say it’ll take you 10 yr to pay off the investment.

So the 10-30 math is simple – 10 yrs to pay off the solar panels install and then 30 years of free electricity guaranteed by the manufacturer. In fact they guarantee that at the end of 30 yrs your solar panels would have degraded their production by only about 18%. In other words they will be at about 82% capacity so no one knows how long after 30 yrs they will last but it’s looking good so far.

Remember the 10-30 rule – 10yr to pay off and the 30yr after that free electricity. Some solar companies guarantee only for 25 years but I found a Canadian company – Silfab Solar which has panels guaranteed for 30 yrs.

One problem with solar panels is that if your solar panels produce more electricity than you need then the excess accumulates as credits on your bill and you cannot currently cash or transfer those credits. The way the system should work is each utility account should be like a bank account – if you want to transfer some cash from one account to pay off another you should be allowed to log in and do so online.

Also the accounting on the actual National Grid bills showing the solar amounts transferred each month is currently a math mess which needs to be fixed. And the best way to fix it, again, is to treat these solar accounts similar to bank accounts where the customer has the option to configure an account to be auto-paid by an account with a Net Meter (a solar meter) provided there is enough money in it to pay it off. That way we don’t have to guess transfer percentages to each account in advance and all this math nonsense currently on the bills will disappear.

Why not just create a system where solar accounts are like checking accounts – the customer can login and transfer accumulated dollars in energy from it to other accounts they have with the utility company and pay them with these transfers? The customers should be able to do this 24/7.

They should leave it up to the customer to decide month by month which other accounts if any to pay in full with transfers from the main solar account and give the customer the option of auto pay.

For example, if you have a solar production net credit of $300 (in other words the utility owes you $300) and a bill on another account of $100, you should be able to log into the $300 account and transfer $100 to pay that bill or better yet configure an auto-pay so that the $100 automatically gets paid.

 

The Math On The Electrical Supply Providers in MA

National Grid (and the other utility companies in MA) are required to deliver the electricity but not to supply it. I don’t understand the difference but in MA you can hire other companies to supply the electricity at much lower rates than your Utility Company.

The state has a website that allows you to compare their rates and to hire them. The process is very simple. It takes 5 minutes to hire a different supplier. It takes 1 or 2 billing cycles for them to start and to stop.

The web site is EnergySwitchMA.gov.

Remember, the shorter period of fixed rate you select the more you save. For example National Grid charges $0.18/kwh and much more in the winter while you could get $0.13/kwh and even sometimes $0.10/kwh for 6 or 9  months fixed.

For example if you use, let’s say, 300 kwh a month and the difference between your utility company and the new supplier is $0.08/kwh you’ll be saving $24/month. 

Very important – create an entry in your calendar that about a month or two prior to the expiration of the lower rate to check that web site again and select another Supplier with the best fixed rate for the next 6, 8 or 9 months because these Supplier companies seem to have the tendency to sell you variable rates after their fixed contract is over which rates can be much higher than what National Grid or your utility company charges!

 

The math on Air Source Heat Pumps or How to get $10000 (sometimes even up to $16,000 if your tenant is low income) towards the cost of installing Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs) aka Ductless MiniSplit Heat Pumps.

Why install ASHPs?

1. the state pays for them (well, at least until Trump hears about it (: -),
2. they are much more efficient than electric baseboard heat and even gas heat, I am getting reports from my tenants that their electric bill is 50%-80% less than baseboard electric.
3. they are also air-conditioners in the summer and
4. they are good for the environment, Global Warming, etc because they are very efficient and use less energy.

All my tenants pay their utilities but I have converted about 20 apartments to ASHPs so far to save them money and decrease turnover.

How to do it:

1. Call MassSave to come and perform an energy assessment. If they find Knob and Tube old electrical wiring during the inspection, they will give you a form called the Weatherization Barrier Incentive Form for your electrician to sign. You need to hire an electrician to remove your old knob and tube wiring from all exterior walls, basements and attics. MassSave will rebate you $250 per apartment for the knob and tube removal (MassSave might cover 100% of the cost if your income is low.) Send that form signed by your electrician to the agent who did the energy assessment proving that knob and tube in the outside walls, basements and attics where insulation will be blown in has been removed. They want this proof because with knob and tube they will not weatherize as they are afraid of fires.

You will need the Utility Company Account Number and billing rate whether it’s National Grid R-1 or R-2 for each tenant. Sometimes if half or more of the building has R-2 low income rating or if your building is 5 or more units MassSave refers you to a different company which does the weatherization and the install of the Air Source Heat Pumps. If half or more than half of your tenants are on the low income R-2 rate then depending on your zip code these organizations will do the whole building for free but be warned that they are very slow. Delays of 6 months and more are common and voice mails and emails are rarely returned. If less than 50% of the building is low-income they are technically supposed to still do them but they will give you a hard time and refuse to do them. In those cases you are better off to ask them to send to MassSave (or CleaResult) a letter called a Program Exception Letter. They know how to do it internally. CleaResult won’t accept this letter if you send it to them. It has to be done internally between these organizations and them. If your building is 5-unit or more then a completely different organization gets involved. The whole thing related to low income or fuel assisted tenants or buildings 5-unit and over is a big mess and it needs to be streamlined better. Some of these organizations have weatherized and installed Air Source Heat Pumps in some of my apartments but it was a big pain. Some of them make you sign contracts that for 5 yrs you cannot raise the rent for any reason plus a lot of other difficult to agree to clauses. I have also gotten Program Exception Letters and gone directly with MassSave. Getting those Letters was a big pain too and I am not sure which is worse. In fact as I write this I am trying to get a letter like this and I can’t because MOC is sending it to CleaResult and they are not getting it and CleaResult is making a request for that letter from their end and are not getting it so right now there is not a good way to get those letters which is unfortunate because R-2 tenants are the ones that most need these AHSPs and they are not getting them because they are stuck in some bureaucratic hole. 

All of my buildings have been weatherized.

Out of my 45 tenants only one refused to provide her account number and rate type so there was some drama there. A housing court judge who seems to not like me personally because of my history with his court declared that a tenant is not required to share this information and the landlord cannot evict them because of it. I took it the Appellate Court which refused to address this question because by the time the case reached them, the tenant had moved out so the Appellate Court declared the case moot.

As the saying goes – no good deed goes unpunished. I was trying to save the tenant money and instead I got a whole lot of drama.

2. MassSave maintains a list of all authorized Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) installers with their phone numbers and emails. I buy the equipment directly from Senville.com (just be careful not to buy something that is not authorized by MassSave, consult their list of authorized equipment first, for example in 2024 I am not sure but I think they rebate Senville 2-zone and 3-zone units but not 4-zone and it changes every year). In 2024 the 2-zone Senville SENA-18HF-MOB and the 3-zone SENA-28HF-MOB were fine by MassSave. If you do your homework and pick the right installers you can install ASHPs in all sizes of apartments for less than $10,000 including your electrician’s cost to connect them. If they cost you more there are more rebates from the Alternative Energy Certificates Aggregators in MA. And if that’s not enough to fully cover your expenses then, check with your accountant, but I think you’d be entitled to the 30% off your whole project federal energy improvements tax credit which should cover any remaining un-rebated expenses up to $2000. More information about the Biden/ Kamala Harris Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 tax credits can be found here. 

From the MassSave web site: “To qualify for a Federal 25C Energy Efficient Home Improvement Credit, the installed heat pump system must meet the Consortium for Energy Efficiency’s (CEE) highest non-“advanced” tier. Also note that the 25C Tax Credit is equal to 30% of the heat pump install cost after the Mass Save rebate is applied up to a total of $2,000 annually. An annual credit up to $600 is also available under the 25C Tax Credit for 30% of the cost of electrical panel upgrades if they are installed in conjunction with a heat pump or heat pump water heater.”

Cost Example

Below are cost examples of installing a whole-home heat pump.

Important – the cost of the equipment and the labor/materials of the installers and the electrician need to be on the installers invoice. MassSave does not accept one invoice from your installer and another from your electrician. I learned that the hard way. Also the installer needs to sign a form called 2024 Whole Home Heat Pump Verification form which changes every year. The thermostats of the old heating system need to be disabled. In the 2023 version of the form you could use the old heating only for emergencies.

3. Fill online at MassSave.com a rebate request. Important – in order for you to do that it is required that you know the tenant’s utility account. Attach:

• The Weatherization Report (not to be older than 10 years) if weatherization needed was less than $1000 or the Certificate of Completion (not to be older than 10 years) if the weatherization needed exceeded $1000,
• The ASHP Installer’s Invoice which needs to contain their and your name, number, address, the location of the install, the type of equipment, the costs, the model numbers and that everything has been paid in full.
• The signed by you and the installer Whole Home Heat Pump Verification Form.

4. In about two-three months you’ll get your rebate check in the mail.

You also need to find your equipment on the https://www.ahridirectory.org/# and provide the AHRI number to MassSave. Be careful because a typo will delay your rebate.

Sometimes MassSave might ask you for a Manual J if they suspect that the heat pumps you installed were not enough for the space. Your installer knows how to proceed.

And sometimes MassSave randomly sends a third party (CMC Energy Services) to personally audit the install onsite or virtually with Facetime after it’s done to make sure the ASHPs were actually installed. That will slow down the rebate check with another 2-4 weeks.

 

Bonus: The Math on Induction Stoves.

Induction stoves are great. They are electric. They heat/cook much faster. They have a flat top which does not heat like coils. In fact you can touch the flat top while the pan is boiling so they are safer for children. Many pots and pans won’t work with them. The way you test one is to use a fridge magnet and if it sticks to the bottom of it it’ll work.  Plus the stove won’t start if the cookware is incompatible. Also they are cheaper to operate and safer than gas because they cannot produce carbon monoxide or asthma inducing particles. There is recent scientific research showing that gas stoves are not only worse for the environment and global warming but also they spread all kind of stuff bad for our lungs especially for children. An induction stove costs about $1300 at Home Depot and MassSave sends you $500 as a rebate. They just want to see a recent Energy Assessment, a picture of your receipt and pictures in your kitchen of the old gas stove being detached and the new induction stove being connected. Enjoy!

Electric cars, Solar Panels, Inductions Stoves, Less Expensive Electricity Suppliers, Air Source Heat Pumps (aka Ductless Mini Split Heat Pumps) are things we all should be doing not just for the environment but also for our wallet.

Again, now that Trump, The Stable Genius, is going to be President again, all these rebates and tax credits might dry out because he doesn’t believe in socialist handouts like these plus in his very scientific mind Global Warming is a hoax. He has promised to repeal the Inflation Act of 2022 of those communists Biden and Harris which Act funds these rebates. Today Reuters published that Trump Plans to End the $7500 EV credit and that’s with support by Tesla’s Elon Musk! But Trump voters, I am sure you don’t have any use for any of these rebates so take your time. I am fascinated by Republican logic –  “free” public schools, police, fire dept, post office, libraries and highways is acceptable socialism but “free” college education and health care like in Europe and rebates like these is too much socialism. (: