Green Real Estate Appraiser

Tesla Motors Stands Behind Its Battery With New Warrenty

Posted on May 11, 2013 | Leave a comment

Hoping to make drivers more comfortable with electric cars, Tesla Motors announced Friday that it will cover the cost of repairing the batteries on its Model S sedan in every situation other than a collision or owner tampering.

Elon Musk and the Model S

“As long as you don’t try to destroy it, it’s covered,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Musk also announced that the company would create a fleet of 100 “loaner” cars that Model S owners can drive while their own sedans are in the shop. The loaners will be the most expensive version of the Model S that Tesla makes, with the most features and best battery range. If a Model S owner likes the loaner better than his own car, he can trade in his original sedan and buy the loaner.

Will an at-home charging station add value to your home? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your value questions.

The loaners will sell at a slight discount to a new Model S Performance sedan, which starts at $94,900. Loaner prices will drop 1 percent for every month of age and $1 for every mile driven. A valet will deliver the loaner to a Model S owner and pick up the car that needs repair, part of what Musk called “better than invisible” service.

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SDG&E Rate Increase Approved; Bills To Go Up 11%

Posted on May 10, 2013 | Leave a comment

Utility bills will rise in September with approval Thursday of a four-year rate increase totaling more than $500 million for customers of San Diego Gas & Electric Co.

A typical household will see monthly gas and electric bills rise about 11 percent to $132.02, up from $118.52, according to the California Public Utilities Commission.

Does energy efficiency add value to your home? Contact the appraisers at www.scappraisals.com for your value questions.

The company was granted a 7.6 percent revenue increase starting in 2012. The hike will be collected retroactively, so many bills will rise by more than that percentage to catch up.

By a 5-0 vote, the utilities commission authorized an initial annual revenue increase for the utility company of $123 million, for a new total of $1.73 billion, for 2012. Subsequent annual increases of nearly 3 percent will be tied to the urban Consumer Price Index.

SDG&E had asked for an additional $116 million increase in the first year, so the company did not get the full amount it was seeking.

The rate increase will vary for gas and electric portions of the bill.

On the electric side, a typical customer will experience an increase of $9.95 per month, or 12.2 percent, according to the utilities commission. The natural gas portion of a typical bill will rise $3.55, or 9.6 percent. The estimates are for customers consuming 500 kilowatt hours and 33 therms of gas a month.

“Rates currently in effect, before this decision, were in fact lower than they otherwise would have been,” said Commissioner Mark Ferron, the one commissioner to oversee nearly three years of hearings and deliberations on the rate increase. “As new rates catch up to the higher revenue requirement, this magnifies the one-time impact.”

SDG&E, which serves 1.4 million electric and 845,000 gas customers in San Diego and southern Orange counties, argued its costs are being driven up by safety and reliability needs, new electric grid technologies, expanded environmental regulations and higher insurance costs for wildfire liability and employee health care.

As the utilities commission met Thursday in San Francisco, the only public comment came from an AARP representative who said the size of the increase was unwarranted, though consumer advocacy groups have spent years contesting SDG&E requests.

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Rebates and Efficiencies Help Residents Save Energy and Cash

Posted on May 9, 2013 | 1 comment

Save Energy

Mary Morris was wary when she had to pay for an energy audit of her single-family home in the North Park Hill to qualify for an Xcel rebate.

Twelve months later, she’s a convert. Since contractor Casey Staley from REenergizeCO completed an energy audit on her home, which was built in 1948, and performed subsequent improvements last spring, Morris has saved $438 on her energy bill. That’s in addition to Staley finding $1,100 in rebates for a $3,800 project.

Will energy efficiency add value to your home? Contact the appraiser at www.scappraisals.com for your value questions.

“For $2,700, we got the audit, our duct work in the attic sealed with flexible mastic, and I could sense an improvement in the air quality within 24 hours,” she says.

With that money Morris also insulated the attic as well as a 1,700-square-foot main floor that included a large sun room, and weatherized a nearly 1,500-square-foot “bomb bunker” basement, where Staley added a threshold to her energy-sucking boiler room. The money also went toward purchasing an energy-efficient dishwasher.

Staley, who’s a vetted contractor through Xcel and Denver Energy Challenge, works to make sure his clients receive all rebates possible. He says residents are often unaware of how much money they can save on up-front costs. He added that residents who performed home improvements saw additional savings in their tax returns this year through a federal credit.

“That tax credit is 10 percent,” he said. “If the work is $4,000, you’re getting $400 back from the (feds).”

Morris, who received around $300 back from the tax credit this year, looks forward to a summer where her air conditioner will keep her home at a comfortable 71 degrees. “My husband says the sign of a civilized life is when you’re warm in the winter and cool in the summer,” she says. “And I agree.”

Disclaimer: for information and entertainment purposes only

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Tagged energy savings, retrofitting, tax rebates

Tesla Motors Stands Behind Its Battery With New Warrenty

SDG&E Rate Increase Approved; Bills To Go Up 11%

Rebates and Efficiencies Help Residents Save Energy and Cash

Save Energy

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