> Well I don't know if you've heard, but the price of gas here 
> has risen repeatedly recently (I haven't had two consecutive 
> bills with the same price/kWh for about a year) and it's 
> getting very expensive.  And because a lot of electricity is 
> generated by gas, that's rocketing too.  My most recent 
> electricity bill was about 30% more than the previous one, 
> with no change in usage pattern.  I'd say that home energy 
> costs are close to double what they were two years ago.

And continuing to rise.

> I am upping my commitment to using solar if I can - bought 
> some chunky batteries and a combined charger/inverter/solar 
> regulator recently, although I haven't managed to get it 
> working yet...

Best of luck. Please document what DOESN'T work for the rest of us? My guess
is that the batteries will be the major problem with the system. One nice
thing about my PV system is that it doesn't use batteries. Of course, I'm
dependant on the law that says the utility company must buy my generated
energy, during the day, at the same price they charge me for my use, at
night.
http://techref.massmind.org/techref/other/solar/case1.htm

---
James.
 

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