Solar Net Metering

Sample of electricity bill with solar net metering.

Solar net metering.

Credits at a wholesale rather than retail rate. Because in every state there are different type of electricity departments or power distribution companies. In most cases staying connected to the electric grid is your best option while home solar battery systems can account for hour by hour variations in solar electricity. Net metering is a solar incentive that requires your utility to purchase excess solar electricity that your solar panels produce at the full retail value of electricity.

Net metering or net energy metering nem is an electricity billing mechanism that allows consumers who generate some or all of their own electricity to use that electricity anytime instead of when it is generated this is particularly important with renewable energy sources like wind and solar which are non dispatchable when not coupled to storage. This is the standard electricity bill with solar net metering. Most net metering agreements use one meter to track net energy consumption energy used minus energy generated from solar and bill everything at a uniform rate. Net metering allows residential and commercial customers who generate their own electricity from solar power to sell the electricity they aren t using back into the grid.

If you install an energy storage system to take your home off the grid you won t have access to the benefits of net metering. Net metering updates may factor in such things as a more accurate valuation of the solar energy flowing into the distribution grid. In other words when your solar panels produce more electricity than your home needs that excess power will be sent to the power grid. Under a feed in tariff the utility installs two meters.

So rebates and method of calculation for solar net metering bill may differ as per your state. Today the solar industry employs more than 250 000 american workers in large part due to strong state net metering policies which have allowed the solar industry to thrive. In essence net metering is like having the grid serve as a giant solar battery. Rate structures that charge more for electricity at certain times of the day or night or look at where on the grid the excess electricity is being generated.

Net metering increases demand for solar energy which in turn creates jobs for the installers electricians and manufacturers who work in the solar supply chain. Solar net metering is a concept that allows producers who are also consumers of electricity to add the excess energy that they have produced back to the grid for distribution.