My Geo went online end of May, and with a the separate HeatSmart meter nicely carving out the HVAC portion of the electric, I have some preliminary cost comparisons from this summer's usage.
For the past few summers, A/C would add around $200-250/mo during the peak 2-3 months of the season. This summer, the HeatSmart meter is giving me an average of $65/mo for the past three months.
Now, there's a lot that's squishy about the numbers:
- Given the single metering years past, I've had to estimate A/C based on winter vs summer average bills.
- This summer was noticably cooler than most, although the geo did run quite a bit to dehumidify. Even so, that is probably skewing the costs lower than average.
- On the flip side, the HeatSmart meter includes the hot water tank (previously was propane), which skews the costs higher---unclear by how much. And as it turns out the valves on the DSH loop were shut off most of the summer by mistake, so I wasn't getting that savings for much of the time.
- The HeatSmart rate is less than the standard rate, but at $65 of usage, the $8/mo meter charge more or less normalizes that.
But even with the above caveats, that's still a very significant drop. Will be very interesting to see what transpires over the winter.