Learn · Read Your Bill
There are two or three numbers on your bill that actually tell you something about your home. The rest is filler. Here's what to look for — in plain English — before any vendor (us included) gets in the conversation.
Why this matters
Every solar, battery, and heat pump quote you'll ever get starts with the same input: how much electricity does your house use, and what does it cost you? If those two numbers are wrong — even slightly — the system someone designs for you is wrong. Too big. Too small. The wrong battery for your loads. Solar that overproduces and gets clipped.
The good news: you don't need to be an electrical engineer to get the numbers right. You need two minutes with your bill and a calculator. Here's how.
The three numbers that matter
Look for a 12-month usage chart or a number labeled "annual usage," "12-month total," or "year-to-date kWh." Most utility bills include this. If yours doesn't, log into your account portal — it's almost always there. This single number is the basis of every solar and battery quote you'll ever see.
Typical New England single-family: 6,000–12,000 kWh/year. Bigger if you have electric heat, an EV, or a pool. Smaller if you have a heat source that's not electric.
Divide your total monthly charge (supply + delivery + every fee) by the total kWh you used that month. That's your real cost per kWh. Most homeowners we talk to are surprised — it's usually higher than the rate quoted on their supply contract.
Typical 2026 rates: MA: 28–34¢/kWh · NH: 22–28¢/kWh · VT: 19–23¢/kWh · ME: 23–30¢/kWh. If you're well above your state's range, something on your bill is worth questioning.
Look at the 12-month usage chart and find your highest and lowest months. The ratio matters. If summer is twice winter, you probably have AC and not much electric heat. If winter is twice summer, you've got electric heat or a heat pump already — and your sizing math is going to be different.
Why we care: Solar panels make more in summer. A house with winter-heavy load needs a battery (or net metering) to bank summer credits for winter use. A house with summer-heavy load is easier to offset month-to-month.
The two numbers that don't matter as much
Vendors often quote your "supply rate" and use it to compute savings. But supply is only half the bill — delivery, transmission, and fees are the other half, and they keep rising. Real savings math uses your effective rate (above), not the supply rate.
A single bad month — January cold snap, August heat dome — isn't a good basis for sizing anything. We always start with 12 months of data. If a vendor sizes a system off your last bill alone, that's a flag.
What your bill looks like
Different utilities format their bills differently. Here's where to look on the most common ones in our service area.
kWh: "Usage" section, look for the 13-month bar chart.
Rate: Add Supply + Delivery on first page, divide by usage.
Trap: Their supplier rates change in November and June — 12-month average smooths this.
kWh: Right side of page 1 in the usage history graph.
Rate: "Total Current Charges" ÷ "Total kWh used this period."
Trap: Their tiered rate gets fuzzier as your usage rises — use total cost, not the marginal rate.
kWh: "Usage and Costs" panel.
Rate: Divide "Total amount due" by "kWh used."
Trap: Distribution charges are unusually high — they account for a large share of the effective rate.
kWh: "Energy use history" graph.
Rate: Add supply (often a competitive supplier) + standard offer + delivery.
Trap: Stranded cost charges can blur the math — always use the bottom-line total.
When you're ready
When you book a remote consultation with us, we'll ask for these three numbers on the call — or we'll look them up together in your utility portal. The conversation gets dramatically more useful once we're working from your real data instead of a generic "average house in your zip code" model.
If you're not ready for a consult yet, that's fine. Get your numbers, sit with them for a week, and try our Energy Plan Builder — it uses these same inputs to show you what's likely to fit your house.
Ready to Talk?
Book a free remote consultation — a video call where we share our screen, look at your real bill together, and walk you through what your house actually needs. No site visit, no sales pitch.