Details and Agreements of Net-Metering

Solar Moves Bidirectional Meters

Most meters are the simple bidirectional meters that spin backward to record energy flowing from their system to the utility grid, and they are currently eligible for net metering. The basic version of these meters are referred to as "non-time-of-use meters" because they don’t record when electricity was used, only how much was used. Some utilities may want two meters for net energy metering, one to measure electricity going from the grid to your home or business, and one to measure surplus energy going from your system to the grid.

Time-of-use (TOU) meters are more sophisticated, recording when electricity is used and allowing the utility to charge different rates at different times of the day or week. These meters can work in your favor because many times you generate power in peak times of the day and send it back to them when they charge higher rates. Then at night when rates are less expensive, you use power from the grid.

At the end of each month, if you use more power than you generate, you pay the utility that bill, if you use less power, then those credits are carried over to the next month. At the end of the year, you will receive a “true-up” bill from your utility that shows how much power you generated, and how much you used. That leftover power can turn into cash with some utilities. They may pay you the wholesale rate they use when purchasing power from other power companies, but cash from the utility is a lot better than owing them money.

Net Energy Metering Agreement

Under a net metering agreement, your utility will continue to read your meter monthly and you will receive a monthly statement indicating the net amount of electricity you consumed or exported to the utility grid during that billing period. If you are a residential or small commercial customer, you have the option of paying the utility for your net consumption monthly or settling your account every 12 months.

You are eligible for net metering if you are a retail customer of an electric utility in California, you generate at least some of your electricity using solar or wind energy or other qualified generating technologies on your premise, and your generating system's peak capacity output is 1,000 kW or less.

Here is the actual copy of what SMUD the local Sacramento Utility says:

The net metering option applies to residential, commercial/industrial, and agricultural customers who have a solar or wind electrical generation facility, a hybrid system of both, or a biomass facility with a capacity of not more than 1000 kilowatts. The facility must be located on the customer's premises, operate in parallel with SMUD's transmission and distribution facilities, and must be intended primarily to offset part or all of the customer's own electrical requirements. For SMUD-supplied photovoltaic (PV) systems, an additional meter for PV generation will be supplied as part of the system package. (B) Large Commercial > 20 kW; Agricultural Customers > 30 kW SMUD will pay for and install a single meter, or an equivalent means of metering, capable of registering the flow of electricity in both directions. The customer may be required to pay the cost differential between standard metering and bi-directional metering.

Net-metering works for both residential and commercial use. It saves homeowners money every month, but an amazing unintended benefit of net metering is that on really hot days when the power grid is loaded, homes and businesses that feed electricity back into the grid help alleviate that load.

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