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A practical home energy tool

See where your home’s electricity may be going.

Scan a room or an individual appliance in the app, then use your electric bill and appliance list to estimate daily household use.

Your pace, your choice

Get ready for solar, one step at a time

This checklist is a guide, not an eligibility test. You can start learning before you have any usage numbers.

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How to find a full year of electricity use
  1. Sign in to your electric utility’s website or app. Find Usage, Energy Use, or Green Button.
  2. Open billing or usage history and look for monthly kWh covering 12 consecutive months. A year-to-date total or one recent bill is not the same thing.
  3. If the portal offers a download, save the monthly usage report or Green Button data file. Availability and file formats vary by utility.
  4. If you can’t find it, call the number on your bill and ask: “Can you help me download my last 12 months of monthly electricity usage in kWh?”

You can continue without it. Keep the report private; don’t share your utility password. Only provide bills or usage data to a provider if you choose to and understand who will receive it.

1

Start with your electric bill

Enter the usage total and number of days shown on a recent bill.

Find kWh and billing days on your bill. If your bill has multiple rate periods, use the total kWh and leave the rate blank for now.

Already have solar? Grid imports or net billed kWh can leave out solar electricity used directly in your home. Use verified whole-home consumption for the same dates if available; otherwise treat this result as a grid-use estimate, not your total household use. Learn how solar production, imports and exports differ.

2

Add appliances to compare

Choose a common item, or open the room scanner to identify appliances. Estimate average hours used per day.

No appliances added yetChoose a common appliance above or add your own. The starter fields are blank so you can enter values that fit your home.

Scanner results are estimates

The live room scan identifies visible appliance categories and suggests typical wattages. Exact wattage is shown only when a model-specific source is found; otherwise review the estimate and adjust the appliance details yourself.

Use this checkup alongside the app

This website tool estimates household use from your bill and the appliances you add. The Home Solar Simplified app offers related usage tools and appliance scanning. The website and app save separate lists on this device; your entries do not sync between them, and you do not need to share utility credentials. Open the app.

Your entries stay on this deviceScanner images are sent for analysis and are not saved with your list. No utility credentials are needed.

Want to keep learning about solar?

Use your bill and questions as a starting point for an informed conversation.

Review homeowner questions