That’s a great question
Two questions: pay online, solar output
Q: Does it cost a fee to pay online?
Thanks for your question. The answer is no, there is no fee when you use your checking account to pay your PGE bill on our website. It’s a fast, easy and secure option we offer for the convenience of our customers.
You can pay once or sign up for automatic monthly payments. To make bill paying super easy, you can also enroll in our Paperless Bill option and receive your bill online, too.
You also have the option of paying online by credit card or debit card. Those payments are processed by BillMatrix, an outside vendor, which charges a $3.95 service fee.
Q: What kind of results do residential customers here in Portland get from solar panels?
With all the gray days and rain we get here, you might be surprised to learn that the Pacific Northwest gets as much solar energy as Germany, the world leader in solar output. In fact, the sun delivers as much solar energy to western Oregon as the national average. During the course of year, an Oregon solar electric system can produce as much energy as the same system installed in Florida.
So how much electricity are we talking about? It will vary, of course, depending on the size of the system and how much sun a home’s system receives during the day, unobstructed by shading. But the average residential solar electric system in the PGE service area is 3.45 kilowatts (kW) DC. You can expect a good system — installed by a solar professional and qualifying for Energy Trust of Oregon cash incentives — to produce 1,000-kilowatt hours (kWh) for each
1 kW DC. In other words, the typical system produces about
3,450 kWh annually, or slightly less than one-third of the power the average PGE residential customer uses.
Larger systems can produce more power, but the size in residential applications is restricted by available area (roof- or ground-mount) that’s free of shading.
Interestingly, Portland’s generally moderate summers actually help the productivity of solar panels. The panels produce power most efficiently around 75 degrees; higher temperatures create conditions that reduce productivity.
If you want to know if solar pencils out for your home, try the solar calculator on the Energy Trust website. It can give you a rough estimate on cost to install a solar electric system for your home as well as how much electricity you can expect to produce. See our Go Solar section for additional information.