Why did my Pepco bill double this month?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:time to go solar

I don’t have $30k for solar panels (or a spare $1200/ month to finance them)

This is the rub

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you noticed your utility bill has gone up this summer, you're not alone. On average, electricity costs are 5.5% higher today than they were a year ago, according to the latest federal data, and natural gas is up 13.8%.

Nearly 60 utility companies are set to increase electricity rates this year by more than $38 billion, affecting more than 57 million Americans.

Bill increases could be significant (up to 24%) due to the effects of the PJM capacity auction for the 2025/26 delivery year.

The auction was crazy, in part due to Increased demand on the energy grid, partly driven by the expansion of data centers and other energy-intensive technologies, requires more capacity. The focus on fossil fuels and abandonment of wind farms and solar has made it more $$$.

Welcome to the trump admin.

Yep, welcome to the Trump Administration, thanks to all who voted for that utter garbage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:time to go solar

I don’t have $30k for solar panels (or a spare $1200/ month to finance them)

This is the rub

Solar in DC is the greatest deal for the SRECs. My electric bill for August went up compared to last year but we are talking it was $140 vs $120.

My bills average around $40 per month with an 8MW system and I make around $3000 per year selling the SRECs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:time to go solar

I don’t have $30k for solar panels (or a spare $1200/ month to finance them)

This is the rub

Solar in DC is the greatest deal for the SRECs. My electric bill for August went up compared to last year but we are talking it was $140 vs $120.

My bills average around $40 per month with an 8MW system and I make around $3000 per year selling the SRECs.

Who did your install and who does your repairs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you noticed your utility bill has gone up this summer, you're not alone. On average, electricity costs are 5.5% higher today than they were a year ago, according to the latest federal data, and natural gas is up 13.8%.

Nearly 60 utility companies are set to increase electricity rates this year by more than $38 billion, affecting more than 57 million Americans.

Bill increases could be significant (up to 24%) due to the effects of the PJM capacity auction for the 2025/26 delivery year.

The auction was crazy, in part due to Increased demand on the energy grid, partly driven by the expansion of data centers and other energy-intensive technologies, requires more capacity. The focus on fossil fuels and abandonment of wind farms and solar has made it more $$$.

Welcome to the trump admin.

Wind farms and solar make no real meaningful difference to people's bills. You're just looking for an excuse to blame Trump for anything.

In Baltimore suburbs. Bill for August also went up noticeably. Note that one week of August had mild weather, mild enough that I turned off the AC for a week. We were warned for a while that electricity costs would be going up for a variety of reasons, and even a new state regulation plays a role. State did pass a temporary rebate program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you noticed your utility bill has gone up this summer, you're not alone. On average, electricity costs are 5.5% higher today than they were a year ago, according to the latest federal data, and natural gas is up 13.8%.

Nearly 60 utility companies are set to increase electricity rates this year by more than $38 billion, affecting more than 57 million Americans.

Bill increases could be significant (up to 24%) due to the effects of the PJM capacity auction for the 2025/26 delivery year.

The auction was crazy, in part due to Increased demand on the energy grid, partly driven by the expansion of data centers and other energy-intensive technologies, requires more capacity. The focus on fossil fuels and abandonment of wind farms and solar has made it more $$$.

Welcome to the trump admin.

Wind farms and solar make no real meaningful difference to people's bills. You're just looking for an excuse to blame Trump for anything.

In Baltimore suburbs. Bill for August also went up noticeably. Note that one week of August had mild weather, mild enough that I turned off the AC for a week. We were warned for a while that electricity costs would be going up for a variety of reasons, and even a new state regulation plays a role. State did pass a temporary rebate program.

Trump promised that he was going to lower energy costs by 50% in year #1. Four months to go. How do you assess his chance for success?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:time to go solar

I bought a house with solar panels in 2019. My electric bill has never exceeded $160. And it only recently increased slightly because I installed a heat pump (cutting my heating oil bill by $100/month — I now pay $130 monthly on the budget plan).

This is Dominion though, not Pepco.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:time to go solar

I don’t have $30k for solar panels (or a spare $1200/ month to finance them)

This is the rub

Solar in DC is the greatest deal for the SRECs. My electric bill for August went up compared to last year but we are talking it was $140 vs $120.

My bills average around $40 per month with an 8MW system and I make around $3000 per year selling the SRECs.

And how did you pay for
Your $30,000 worth of solar panels? Did you have that sitting around in your checking account?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:time to go solar

I don’t have $30k for solar panels (or a spare $1200/ month to finance them)

This is the rub

Solar in DC is the greatest deal for the SRECs. My electric bill for August went up compared to last year but we are talking it was $140 vs $120.

My bills average around $40 per month with an 8MW system and I make around $3000 per year selling the SRECs.

And how did you pay for
Your $30,000 worth of solar panels? Did you have that sitting around in your checking account?

NP here: yeah, we did. Actually we used SolarSolution DC and they gave us a one-year interest-free loan to pay for our $28K system so long as they can auto-debit the payment every month. Mine will be paid off at the end of this month.

My electricity bill has been $22 each month this summer (that's the minimum base charge for interconnection to the grid). Net metering allows me to generate credits with Pepco in cooler months that I then "spend down" in the summer months. But August was unseasonablt cooler than usual and even in that month I still exported net positive electricity to the grid (276kWh). We always keep our house set to 71 degrees year round. Further, the solar panels on our rowhouse roof keep our house cooler.

In July 2025 alone, my solar panel system put $750 dollars in my pocket:
1.3mWh produced x $400 per SREC clean energy credit = $520 of cash
July 2024 bill was $250 - $22 July 2025 bill for interconnection = $230 saved
$520 + $230 = $750 of cash in bank account

I already took the 30% tax credit last year, which reduced the cost of my system by $8400.

I'll have fully paid back my solar system within 3 years, tops.

[Anonymous]

The tax credit for installing solar is going away on December 31 of this year. We also got the 30% tax credit when we installed ours back in 2021. We only pay the 8.00 a month hookup fee as we have a 12kwh system (even with charging an EV). However we still have gas for heating (no heat pump). We make about 1500 a year through an aggregator. We have net metering in Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:time to go solar

I don’t have $30k for solar panels (or a spare $1200/ month to finance them)

This is the rub

Solar in DC is the greatest deal for the SRECs. My electric bill for August went up compared to last year but we are talking it was $140 vs $120.

My bills average around $40 per month with an 8MW system and I make around $3000 per year selling the SRECs.

Who did your install and who does your repairs?

Revolution Solar did the install…no repairs needed (4 years in), but they are contracted to do them if needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:time to go solar

I don’t have $30k for solar panels (or a spare $1200/ month to finance them)

This is the rub

Solar in DC is the greatest deal for the SRECs. My electric bill for August went up compared to last year but we are talking it was $140 vs $120.

My bills average around $40 per month with an 8MW system and I make around $3000 per year selling the SRECs.

And how did you pay for
Your $30,000 worth of solar panels? Did you have that sitting around in your checking account?

8 MW system was only $20k and then there was a 28% tax credit, so received a little more than $5k back on taxes.

Yes, I paid from my checking account…but my Pepco bill dropped by $1200 per year and I make $3000 in SRECs, so the payback period was less than 4 years and now all of this is profit.

[Anonymous]

We have a 12MW solar system installed by Maryland Solar Solutions Inc (MSSI) in 2020. Cost was $25k and we paid cash. We got about 8k back in tax refunds and a $2k property tax credit from our county. One of the reasons we got solar was that I was reading how electricity rates were predicted to increase by a significant amount in the next 10 yrs. That’s turned out to be very accurate.

[Anonymous]

Our bill got up by about 10 to 15 percent looking at the cents per kwt. Vs. 6 months ago. Quick search online talks about huge increase in power consumption from AI data centers and distortions from google apple and Amazon being in power generation business now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pepco sent a notice that they were raising rates starting in July 2025…they said the average bill would increase 8%.

It was a hotter July/August (until the last week of August) this year vs last.

They are lying. I compared with the same period last year, same amount of electricity(KWH) used, but the July/August bill this year was 40% more. I looked at both their distribution and supply costs per KWH on my bills, and they both went up to the 40% range.