August 2018 – Solar Income
August 2018 – Solar Income
The end of the month always brings with it another deposit in our account from Hydro One. We get a cheque for power our solar system generated the month before. July seemed full of sunny days if I recall right. Time has just flown by these days though and I could be wrong. The system didn’t produce like the previous 2 months have, but they did predict the monthly production would peak in June.
What is the microfit program?
Our solar panel system is part of the microfit program.
The microfit program was introduced in Ontario for smaller renewable energy systems under the 10kw size. It’s part of the fit (feed in tariff) program to promote the use of renewable energy, increase investment into this space and create new green jobs.
We bought our solar system outright and installed it on the roof of our house. Its a 9.75 kw system, 10 Panels facing the south and 20 Panels facing south-west. 2017 was the last year of the program and we signed a contract to sell the hydro generated to Hydro One. In return they would pay us 28.8 cents per kwh for the next 20 years. After 20 years we can sign a new contract at most likely a higher rate (since hydro rates will likely be higher) or look into a battery system to power our house.
Show Me The Money.
In July we ended up producing 1,188 kwh of power. Since we get a income of 28.8 cents per kwh we ended up getting paid $342.14 this month. Sadly a little under the projected income of $359.86. That’s weather though, its unpredictable. The north of 400 bucks last month though, dam….. Haha!
As we can see last month started off Blazing! Quickly though those sunny days must of tapered off. The seasons are definitely changing… Its now dark at 8.30…. womp womp.
Question For All of You
Last month someone asked me if I can actually call these solar panels a passive income.
Since, you already invested 30k for the solar cells. Your income goes towards recouping this initial investment. Would you still consider it as a passive income? A parallel would be mortgage. Could rental income be considered passive income if all of it is allocated to mortgage?
To me, it definitely seems to be a passive income source. I also think the same about rental homes. Although I do always wonder what you would consider the passive income of a rental house. Just the free cash flow or also the portion that go’s towards the principal of that mortgage. It creates equity as well… (Personally I would lean to both)
If I were to buy a business for a nice chunk of change and didn’t work much at it, Id consider it a passive income source as well. It’s all about that cash flow and boosting your net worth.
I’m curious what are your thoughts on this?
Conclusion
This month’s income from the solar panels will likely be higher than my total dividends received this month. (These are my worst months for dividends) While the total power generated is lower than they predicted, its still pretty close. 350 still covers a bunch of bills.
Enjoy the upcoming long weekend! The kids go back to school after…. Haha
Cheers.
System Installed January 2018
Total System Cost ——–$32,396.46
Total Income Received ——–$1807.20
_____________________________________________
Amount to Breakeven —- $30,589.26
Hey I’m Rob, creator of Passive Canadian Income.
In 2011 me and my wife had almost $60,000 in debt and a negative $7,000 Net Worth. Through hard work and financial education we paid all that off. Now we are focusing on increasing our Passive Income Streams to make the money work for us. Feel Free to Follow along the Journey by clicking the Social Media links below or subscribing to get notified of new posts on the sidebar.
Nice job man!
Who cares if it’s technically passive income or not. (I say it is). Passive income is making money without doing anything basically(after an initial capital outlay). Sure you may still owe on the panels, but eventually it’ll all be gravy 🙂
Enjoy the long weekend. It’s almost hockey season 🙂
hey Jordan
I agree, thanks for your opinion.
Man am I excited for this year. Those leafs are going to be exciting. Didnt fix their defence issue but i guess they plan on just outscoring everyone!
cheers man!
Nice job Rob, I like the idea of generating your own electricity and also helping the planet a little. I definitly see solar panels (and rentals) as a form of passive income. It just takes time for your initial investment to get to that breakeven point. Nice numbers as well, north of $300 a month is not ‘nothing’!
DI
hey Dutch
Great to hear, The green aspects of the panels are definately huge. (Both the renewables and the dollars) I was fortunate enough to get into the program when it was around.
Cheers Dutch
I think the passivity would depend on how much maintenance is involved with the solar panels themselves, or maybe if you have to fight the company to get your payment. I have a feeling that there isn’t much maintenance, and that Hydro One pays you without issue.
And 28.8 cents per kwh is quite a large amount to be paid. I pay around 10 cents a kwh – and even though this is probably Canadian cents to American cents, the difference is huge.
hey Joe
For sure the difference is huge! We pay hydro one 18 cents per kwh for power at prime time. Im sure in 10 more years that price will be alot higher though and they will break even on the contract. But in 20 years I write a new contract as well(hopefully higher too) haha!
Right now (knock on wood) There has been no issues with the system, and hydro one has no issue at all paying me. Its as passive as it can get imo.
cheers Joe!
That’s a nice amount of PASSIVE solar income, Rob!
Receiving $342.14 worth of solar income for previously installed panels seems like passive income to me. I mean, if passive income is not considered passive because it requires an initial investment, I’m not sure what passive income is.
It seems like a legitimate additional income stream. Thanks for sharing.
hey Graham
Thanks man. I feel the same, even dividends require that initial investment
cheers
PCI –
Your yield is incredible. Think about it like this. You spend $32K on an investment. Each year, it may pay you over $2K. That’s over a 6% yield, eh? I love it.
-Lanny
hey Lanny
thanks man, hoping to average about a 8% rate of return on it. So far this year has returned 5.5%. Heres hoping!
cheers
It’s definitely a passive income! You don’t have to put any more work to make money from these solar panels. Nest month you should surpass $2K. You’re getting closer and closer to breakeven.
hey German
thanks, yeah that 2k mark will be a nice threshold to hit.
Have a good one!