I am not an academic, so I'll leave the formal stuff to others. However I have been running a residential dollar system for 2 years, and tracking the numbers, s

I am not an academic, so I'll leave the formal stuff to others. However I have been running a residential dollar system for 2 years, and tracking the numbers, so here's my data for what it's worth. Firstly, as a return on capital spent, I'm seeing a return of 16% per annum. As electricity prices increase, that trends up. Secondly we're purchasing about 66% less energy annually. In summer months around 85% of daily (electrical) energy use is self-generated. Most of our annual grid consumption occurs during 2 months in winter. (We still produce then, but not enough to run our electric heating.) Next year I'm switching to an EV, which can be charged from my current excess (unused) daytime generation for approx 9 months in the year. I can't speak to grid-scale costs, but for me anyway, generation cost is 0. (Capital cost was real, but return on capital is 16% and rising, which is better than my retirement account.) So, if you want to reduce your energy costs, self production is the best route. If you can't do that, then it's unlikely that you (as the consumer) will benefit much. The supplier will likely supply at market rates (set by the most expensive source) and the gap is their profit not yours. We may in future move to a pricing model that favors cheap electricity during the day, and more expensive at night, but at least where I am that's not a thing yet. So, generally speaking, it's a lot cheaper to use electric over gasoline for transport. Electric from solar is cheaper to produce than burning fossils. Whether that translates into cheaper for you though depends on market forces. If you're in the US, we'll, good luck with that. It seems to me that suppliers in the US price based on what the consumer will pay, and less on input cost. Of course all my numbers will vary a lot based on location. YMMV.