Before You Go Solar: Why Knowing Your Actual Usage Changes Everything

You've Been Thinking About Solar. Now What?

Getting a solar panel quote is harder than it should be. You call a few installers, they ask for your electricity bill, and a week later you get back three different system sizes at three different prices — with no clear explanation of why they differ.

The honest answer is that most quotes are educated guesses. Your monthly bill tells installers roughly how much electricity you use, but not when you use it, how high your peaks get, or how your usage changes between weekdays and weekends. All of that matters enormously when designing a system that actually fits your home.

There is a better way to start.

Understand Your Home First

The Shelly Pro 3EM is a small device that clips onto your electricity meter — no rewiring, no disruption. Once it is set up, it records how much electricity your home uses every single minute and stores that data in the cloud. After a few weeks, you have a detailed picture of your electricity habits that no bill can provide.

Here is what that looks like in practice:

• When do you use the most power? Morning showers, evening cooking, overnight EV charging — these show up clearly and tell you whether a battery would actually be worth having.

• What is your base load? The electricity your home uses when everyone is asleep. This sets the minimum battery size needed to keep you going through the night.

• How different are your weekends? If you work from home on some days, your pattern looks very different from when the house is empty. A properly sized system accounts for this.

What You Can Do with This Information

Once you have your usage data, you are in a much stronger position:

• Get quotes based on your actual needs — not on a rough estimate from a bill. Any competent installer can take your data and produce a precise system design.

• Compare quotes fairly — when all installers are working from the same numbers, differences in proposals become much clearer to evaluate.

• Decide between system types — a small plug-in balcony system might cover a meaningful portion of your daytime usage. A full home system with battery backup is a bigger investment but could eliminate most of your grid dependence. Your usage data tells you which makes sense.

• Keep the device — after your solar system is installed, the Shelly Pro 3EM can stay and continue showing you exactly how much solar you are generating versus what you are pulling from the grid.

Is Solar Right for Me?

That depends on your situation, but real data helps you find out honestly. Some things to consider:

Getting Started

The profiling kit — the Shelly Pro 3EM device plus a Shelly Premium cloud subscription — is all you need. Setup takes about 20 minutes and can be done by any electrician. After two to four weeks of data collection, you will have everything you need to make an informed decision about solar — on your terms, not on an installer's estimate.