“I used to dread opening those monthly energy bills,” says Bob Monroe, a retiree who lives with his wife Sandy in a quiet residential neighborhood in Winston-Salem, N.C. Every month, he pulled the bills out of his mailbox and bristled at the cost, anywhere from $150 to $250 a month for electricity and natural gas. He knew something had to give.
“I’ve always been interested in renewable energy for a lot of reasons, but mainly because traditional energy costs are just going to keep going up,” Monroe says. “I saw this as an opportunity to get in on the ground floor and offset some of my costs.”
So a few years ago, the Monroes installed solar panels (18 initially with another 15 added a few years later). “My panels created a lot of interest; people would be out on walks and stop me to ask about them,” Monroe says. “I try not to sell the neighbors too much and let them make their own decisions, but they are certainly interested in the savings that resulted from having them.”
In early 2023, the Monroes augmented their solar panels with the Home 8 Energy Storage System (ESS) from LG Electronics. Although the solar panels are on the back slope of the roof and the Home 8 ESS is installed comfortably in the garage, the neighbors continue to take notice of the Monroes’ steps to do their part for the environment, as well as the benefits of cutting energy costs and boosting energy savings opportunities.
Those benefits? For the Monroes, their electric bill. The homeowner reports that, as of July 2023, his monthly electric bill now hovers around $16 per month.
Although Monroe’s cost savings are tied to his specific energy-saving efforts and personal usage, homeowners can also benefit from taking steps to reduce their environmental footprint. For example, installing solar panels, like the Monroes, will convert sunlight into electricity and supplementing those panels with Home 8 ESS can store that energy to be used when electrical power is needed the most.
Rebates, like the 30 percent rebate the Monroes qualified for on the cost of their Home 8 installation, may also be available as part of the Residential Clean Energy Credit in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Monroe says that his LG Home 8 ESS provides value beyond his checkbook and what the neighbors might see.
“Since we had the ESS installed, the power has gone off a few times, but the Home 8’s response is so quick we didn’t even notice,” he explains. “I believe in having backup energy and had a generator for years. I’m so glad that it is gone. The generator would run once a week by itself and was noisy and honestly, a bit of an eyesore. The Home 8 is in my garage and it looks great.”
If Monroe needs to show the neighbors how the ESS is performing, he certainly can.
“I love looking at the ThinQ app that shows the amount of wattage the panels are contributing, how much the utility company is contributing, and how much wattage I’m using,” Monroe says.
Although Monroe is primarily using the Home 8 for backup power currently, he recognizes that he can turn on more functionality when needed.
“With natural gas prices rising, we’re more apt to use electric heaters than turn on our gas heat this winter,” he adds. “And when the times comes to get an electric vehicle, we’ll be in good shape to charge it at home by using stored energy from the Home 8.”
More than anything else, Monroe says that the Home 8 ESS from LG Electronics furthers his goal to reduce his carbon footprint.
“My wife and I feel good about it—that we’re doing our part for the environment. I tend to want the best, and the Home 8 is a better option for us than anything else that’s out there,” he says.
