We Installed Solar Panels. Then Came the Electric Bill

I have never been this excited about receiving an electricity bill. Usually, it's one of those things I'd rather not look at until I absolutely have to. But this month? I was actually waiting for Meralco to tell me how much we owed them.

And when the bill finally arrived, I had to look at the amount more than once.

₱187.57.

ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-SEVEN PESOS AND FIFTY-SEVEN CENTAVOS.

For electricity. For an entire billing period. In a house with two teenagers, several cats, and a mother who considers coffee an essential part of keeping the household functional.

I mean, pwede naman pala ganito?

But let me go back a little.

Having solar panels installed at home has been on our wish list for years. Jay and I had talked about it many times, but you know how it goes when you're raising a family. There's always something else that needs paying for, something more urgent, or an expense that somehow finds its way into the budget before the things you've been saving up for.

Solar was one of those dreams that kept getting moved to the someday column. Until my mother-in-law offered to help us make it happen. Thanks to her, we were finally able to have the system installed and paid for in full. No monthly installment to worry about on top of everything else. And I'm grateful, because without that help, we'd probably still be talking about getting solar panels instead of actually enjoying them.

We had the system running by late August, but our Meralco meter is read every 13th of the month. That meant the first bill after installation didn't cover a complete billing cycle with solar. It was encouraging, sure, but I wanted to see what would happen when the system had an entire month to do its thing.

Well, now I know. Before solar, our electricity bill usually hovered around ₱6,000 to ₱7,000 a month, sometimes higher during summer. And that was with us being careful. We had air conditioners, but using them always came with a little mental computation. Was it hot enough to justify turning one on? How many hours had it been running? Could we survive with electric fans instead?

Of course we could. We've lived in the Philippines long enough to know how to survive the heat. Whether we enjoyed it was another question entirely.

Even ordinary household chores came with their own little considerations. If something had been forgotten during ironing, we'd think twice about plugging the iron back in just for one piece of clothing. And as someone who drinks coffee several times a day, I was constantly reminded to use the thermos instead of boiling water in the electric kettle every time I wanted another cup.

Imagine having to negotiate with your own kettle over coffee. The disrespect.

Now, two months into having solar, the situation at home looks a little different. The air conditioners have been running for much of the day. The washing machine gets used almost daily. If something needs ironing, we iron it. If I want coffee, I boil water. The electric oven gets its share of attention, too.

We're not exactly running an industrial facility here, but compared with how carefully we used electricity before, I'd say we've become considerably more comfortable.

And despite all that, our first complete billing period with solar came to ₱187.57. Meralco recorded just 11 kWh of electricity consumption for that bill.

I'm still trying to get used to that number.

There's something oddly satisfying about looking at an electricity bill and not immediately wondering which appliance has been working overtime. For years, I've paid thousands of pesos every month while still trying to keep our consumption down. Now we're using more of the things we already own, and the amount we're paying Meralco has dropped to something I might spend on coffee and a snack.

Actually, depending on where I buy my coffee, ₱187 might not even cover both.

Our setup uses a Deye hybrid inverter with battery storage, so the electricity generated during the day can help power the house, with stored energy available when the sun isn't shining. I'm not going to turn this into a technical discussion about kilowatts and inverter settings, because I can already imagine half my readers quietly leaving. But I do appreciate being able to check the system and see how much electricity we're producing and using.

And then there's Jay, who managed to negotiate the installation cost to a little below the usual market price. I swear, that man has a talent for getting a better deal. We haven't even applied for Meralco's net metering program yet, which would allow us to earn bill credits for eligible excess electricity our system sends back to the grid. Apparently, there's another round of expenses, requirements, and paperwork involved, so we're leaving that adventure for another day. Imagine that, though. After years of paying Meralco thousands every month, we might eventually get credits for electricity we're supplying them. Oh, how the tables have turned.

Of course, the installation wasn't cheap, even with his negotiating skills. Solar is a substantial investment, and I don't want to pretend that one very small electric bill means we've already recovered what we spent. We're only two months in. There's still a long way to go before we can properly talk about the return on investment.

But the difference in our day-to-day life? That part is already noticeable.

And with everyone talking about the possibility of another El Niño and an extended stretch of hotter weather, I can't help feeling that we made this decision at a pretty good time.

We're not even at the point of the year when I start wanting warm water for bathing. Amihan season is still ahead of us, and the bathroom water heater hasn't had its seasonal comeback yet. But for once, I'm not particularly worried about what happens when we need to use it.

Hello, air conditioning. We meet again, this time without the financial guilt. Although, speaking of guilt, I've been thinking about something else. Just because we can now afford to run the air conditioners more often, does that mean we should?

I know solar energy is cleaner than electricity generated from fossil fuels, and producing our own power means we're relying less on the grid. That's one of the things I like about it. But I also know that air conditioners consume energy, refrigerants can contribute to warming if they leak, and making solar panels and batteries has an environmental footprint of its own.

So I do wonder about the irony of enjoying more air conditioning while the world keeps getting hotter. Am I helping by using renewable energy, or am I getting a little too enthusiastic about my newfound freedom to press the ON button?

Probably something worth keeping in mind.

I don't think the answer is to go back to sweating through afternoons just to prove I'm environmentally responsible. We live in a tropical country, and there are days when the heat is genuinely exhausting. Having a more affordable way to keep the house comfortable is a blessing, especially when you have a family to think about.

But perhaps there's still room for being sensible about it. Solar doesn't mean electricity has suddenly become an unlimited resource, and saving money shouldn't be the only thing we consider.

Still, I can't help thinking about how much potential we have here in the Philippines.

We complain about the heat, and understandably so. Some days, stepping outside feels like opening an oven to check whether the roast chicken is ready. But we're also fortunate to live somewhere with abundant sunshine for much of the year. If more households had the means to make use of that sunlight, imagine how much relief it could bring, particularly to families whose electricity bills take a painful chunk out of their monthly budget.

I know not everyone can afford solar panels, and I wish they were more accessible. It's easy to talk about long-term savings when you can manage the upfront expense. It's an entirely different conversation when you're already stretching your income to cover the electricity bill you have now.

We were fortunate to have help, and I'm not forgetting that.

For now, I'm just enjoying this little change in our household. The air conditioners are running, the laundry is getting done, and my electric kettle is finally free from the judgment it used to receive every time I reached for another cup of coffee.

And somewhere above our roof, Haring Araw is doing what he's always done. Only this time, we're getting a little more out of his efforts.

After years of ₱6,000 to ₱7,000 electric bills, seeing ₱187.57 on that statement still makes me ridiculously happy.

I might even print it and have it framed.