Got my first Net Metering bill today, it also came with a list of Q&A's concerning my bill etc.

Turns out there is a fee of .17 per day for residental customers on the DR rate. What the heck is a DR rate? I will call Monday and ask them.

Do you guys in California and Florida have some type of fee you pay?


Fred

Florida doesn't have true net-metering ... it upto the electric company you use to how you are metered. Most citys/area's require dual meters and only pay wholesale , like 3 cents kwhr, I just happen to live in a city that is locally owned and support solar and allow true netmetering .. its an old mechanical meter , I push power out, I get credit, use more It spins back the other way, end of the month I pay or its a zero bill with the kwh manually set the same ( I'm told I break the billing system if I have a true credit for the month )

This is a primary reason Florida is mostly void of PV .. even with the 4.00 watt rebate!

Our Rebate is only 2.60 per watt and thats going to go down next year. Net-metering in San Diego is an annual billing cycle, we get a separate monthly bill that we don't have to pay each month. I now get a separate Gas bill that I do have to pay monthly. We get to bank our output or overages and can use that towards months we were in the negative, but at the end of the Annual Billing Cycle it starts all over.

We use the same old meters, I love watching it spin backward very fast:




Fred

I'm in Los Angeles, CA, and have the old style, mechanical meter like Solar Guppy & Wennfred have. SCE has me on a year long averaging plan, and at the end of the year, I settle up if I owe, or they say "Thanks for the Freebie" if they owe. However, on my bill a few months ago, all SCE customers started getting a surcharge to "cover the cost of new digital meters"

Edison unveiled the name selected for the utility’s advanced meter program – "Edison SmartConnect™" new meters: http://www.sce.com/PowerandEnvironment/ami/
NPR report about it. (MP3)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=6937688

Remote Capability will be by ZigBee radio protocol. (Another wi-fi jammer) and new meters will default to TOU billing.
Meter will be commanded to control "smart thermostats" and motors in new construction and remodels.
SCE anticipates that all AMI meters for electric service of 200 amps or less will have an integrated remote
connect/disconnect switch.

California already requires fluorescent light fixtures in new const & remodels. Fixtures will have integral ballast for snap in tubes. Screw base fixtures not allowed except 1 in bathroom and if dimmer control in bedroom and hall.

SCE residential rate info
http://www.sce.com/SC3/CustomerService/ ... tialRates/

For Northern California, PG&E has the following rates:

http://www.pge.com/tariffs/ERS.SHTML

For most of us residential users, the basic rate plans are (note, not an expert--possible errors in my summary--but I think the basics are correct):

E1--plain residential (flat rate all year long)
E6--New time of use plan (replaces E7). Run higher charges into late night (not good for solar).
E7--Time of Use, varies by time, day, season. Good rate plan for solar (noon-6pm is peak charge)
E9--Time of Use intended for recharging electric cars at night--very low late night rates.

I have E7 TOU. It was killed for new customers, and reopened again because it was so good for solar Grid Tied systems.

1 year net metered. If meter runs backwards, retail rate charge goes into "bank". If meter runs forward, money comes from bank or you write a check. Approximately 300 kWhr per month base line rate (lowest rates). Peak rates after ~1,000 kWhrs per month (E7 peak rate over $0.52 per kWhr, lowest off peak baseline is around $0.09 per kWhr). (if you have electric hot water/heat, baseline usage can be higher, also baseline varies by climate where billed).

When I signed up, you could buy your meter for $277, or you could rent it for about $3.50 per month (now, rental only option).

There is also a minimum charge of $0.14 per day (about $4.50 per month) for electricity. These minimum charges must be paid every month regardless if how much energy you use or generate.

The "bank" amount--you can either pay your power used per month or wait until the end of the year to pay-up any monthly charges (over minimum usage) that you have accumulated. If you have generated more money (bank) than you have used, your "bank balanced" is zero-ed at the end of the 1 year cycle.

3.5kWatts STC, 3kWatt Xantrex GT 3.0, and the first year I was about $275 credit in the bank. (natural gas for major appliances, no AC, Central Heat, Energy Star Appliances including 2nd freezer, CFL's everywhere, and turn off lights/TV/wall-worts/etc. with power strip if not used).

Several notes on TOU with PG&E.

About everyone's first bill is badly screwed up (I got a ~$400 bill for my first week on solar). Turned out that after I had all my approvals and connected my GT, the old E1 meter turned backwards and the billing computer assumed that the "meter reader" read our meter wrong and "made an adjustment". Needless to say, my wife was not very thrilled with solar at first.

Also, the TOU billing is under constant regulatory pressure by utilities and government--Things have been changing from year to year--So, cannot guarantee that TOU billing (and net metering) won't change dramatically in the future.

But, so far, the "positive regulatory environment" (not saying that this is good for the utilities and customers) has already installed solar PV up to the first approved levels (0.5% of total utility generation/grid capacity, if I remember correctly). New law passed that allowed more solar PV to be installed).

If that plug-in hybrid (or decently priced around town electric car) becomes available, I am all set (and assuming that there are still no "electric fuel road taxes").

-Bill

PS: E8 rate to E9 (correct rate for electric vehicle charging).

BB, Thats great info as I will have to call to see if I am renting my meter or to see if I can buy it. Also, for me it looks like I will handle all fees at the end of the Annual billing cycle, including the minimum charge of $0.17 per day.


Thanks for posting.


Fred

I should also mention another possible problem with TOU and Baseline/Tiered Rate Plans...

The basic tiered plans where--use more than 300 kWhrs per month, you would pay higher rates (on that amount over 300 kWhrs) as you consumed more power.

With Time Of Use and Solar generation--that became a lot more complicated and was constantly being changed (usually in favor of the utility, of course).

A rough example:

E7 (noon-6pm peak weekdays, everything else off-peak).

You generate 300 kWhrs peak, and use 600 kWhrs off peak (just an example). One would think that your baseline tiered rate would be based on 0-300 kWhours of usage (600 kwh used - 300 kwh generated = 300 kWhrs billed).

Nooooo. Instead, your usage is based on 900 kWhrs of usage, and 33% of the over baseline usage is assigned to your peak plan (where you generated the power) and 66% of your usage is allocated toward your off peak plan.

So... The money supplied to the bank was slightly increased (because of the 33% that was billed at higher than baseline tier). But your off-peak is now way higher because 1/2 of your off peak usage was way over baseline.

I still don't understand the details of how this is actually calculated (I am an engineer). It is not in their rate plans. Also, it impacts those that use a second meter (such as E9 EV charger) as they both (I think) share 1 baseline amount per residence.

From what I have heard, many folks have gotten rid of the second E9 meter because of the adding of all kWhrs for calculating baseline usages and billing.

I have also heard that there have been changes and people meeting with PG&E to change the way this is all done--but I do not know the details or the results.

So--be careful with TOU, BaseLine, and 2nd meters. In many cases (for PG&E), if you can't get E7 rates (choice is E6 or E1)--you may be just better off getting the E1 rates if you use significantly more power than baseline. And, that second E9 meter--because it never turns backwards--is always adding to your baseline totals--increasing all of your tiered charges (whereas with a simple E1 meter, baseline charges are "wound back" during the day--with solar grid tie--whereas with separate meters, this "unwinding of usage" does not happen).

I don't use (or generate) that much power, so I have not had fun this fun with my billing--but this is my rough understanding of the issue.

I know that the baseline/tiered billing changed again recently--so, if you use a lot of power, check with the utility to see if there are any hidden problems with tiered usages and billing.

-Bill

PS: There was also another small issue with the new daylight savings start end dates... The utility did not have a way of changing the TOU meters to respect the new dates--so for 3 weeks before and 2 weeks after--they are billing your with the non-daylight savings times during daylight savings time. Thank you government for making life more complicated (with, more than likely, zero positive results). -BB