Building Reserve and Using KWH

[bcroe]

Net Metering year 11 concluded, generated about 28,800 kWh.
Still running the original panels and inverters. With the relatively
warm and somewhat less cloudy winter, the surplus was around
5,600 kWh given as a gift to the PoCo. The only original wiring
is the 220 ft buried DC conductors between the combiner box
and the inverters. Bruce Roe

[Rade]

Those are very good numbers! So my question is; you said you gifted 5,600kW back to the PoCo. Did the PoCo wipe your credits to zero on your interconnect anniversary?

I'm coming up on my 1st anniversary on May 10; I'm kinda hesitant to celebrate for the moment. As I often complain, our house is a bit of a power hog and right now, I am at a 1,220kW deficit if we are going to break even next winter. But the weather is warming, the electric furnace has been turned off and our power meter is finally, consistently clicking downward (more power back to the grid than the house is using). >If< the weather continues to cooperate, we may make up that deficit by our anniversary. In May of last year, we generated 1,900kW of power (peak for the year).

And that brings me back to my question - Our anniversary is on May 10. I'm wondering if any credits I am (finally) generating will be zeroed out at that time? No one in any know seems to be able to answer that; our PoCo website only states that my credits will continue to accrue and then be used towards standard billing once we have to begin pulling from the grid. I guess I will find out on May 12 when the next statement comes in. We churned through our credits by February.

I think it was you who advised to just be patient; thank you! Yes, all in all, during the first 4 or so months, we had about a month total of new system configuration bugs that knocked our generation down during peak sun season. The bugs seem to have been worked out and our solar architecture has been running rather well for many months now. Looking forward to... not being so damn obsessive about power consumption.



Rade

[Mike 134]

Northern Illinois ComEd is the power company for me. If i have a surplus on my April bill it just goes POOF!!! Not even a thank you for the free KWHs from the power company. Then the "new year" starts again building credits (I hope).

[bcroe]

Those are very good numbers! So my question is; you
said you gifted 5,600kW back to the PoCo. Did the PoCo wipe your credits to
zero on your interconnect anniversary? Rade

I started out pretty obsessive about energy consumption
when I moved here in 2004. I tracked down every load on
some 60 circuits, and was eventually able to eliminate some
240W of Vampire loads, coming to some 2100 kWh a year.
Many of these loads were outside the house (garage door
opener, attic fan, etc), so they did not even contribute at an
inefficient level to heating the house. Many were reduced
from 4 or 15W, to well under 1W. All this was done before
going solar in 2013. In 2018 use of mini split heat pumps
allowed adding in without energy purchases, some items
previously not allowed, including frequent air circulation
thru my electronic air filter, a summer time dehumidifier,
and continuously warming a shop building.

I did not give the PoCo back 5600 kW, the most power I can
generate is 15kW. I did accumulate an energy surplus of
5600 kWHOURs by the (April 2) reset day, which means
starting the next Net Metering year at zero under my plan.
Surplus is a gift to the PoCo, not to worry as it cost me
nothing extra to generate. This is a zero carbon footprint,
zero energy purchase operation, not a for profit. Bruce Roe

[azdave]

And that brings me back to my question - Our anniversary is on May 10. I'm wondering if any credits I am (finally) generating will be zeroed out at that time? No one in any know seems to be able to answer that; our PoCo website only states that my credits will continue to accrue and then be used towards standard billing once we have to begin pulling from the grid. I guess I will find out on May 12 when the next statement comes in. We churned through our credits by February.

Don't you have a copy of the interconnect contract you signed? No one here will known that answer since we can't see what your agreement says. There is no "standard" grid-tie agreement that all POCO's use and many newer agreements are far less beneficial to the consumer.

I'm in the desert southwest so winter is when I build up reserve. My anniversary date is the end of April and the usual 2500-3000kWh excess I have banked around then is either paid out as cash or appears as a credit on my statement. I am not allowed to build up an unlimited amount of reserve kWh year after year but at least I get the wholesale value for it once per year. In the initial contract years, there was very little reserve to pay out but with the kids moving out and other lifestyle changes, I now receive enough credit in April to cover my monthly fixed connection fees for the next 12 months so I haven't sent a single payment to my POCO in almost 3 years. I reached ROI at just over 6 years and still have 11 years on that contract.

[Rade]

Don't you have a copy of the interconnect contract you signed? No one here will known that answer since we can't see what your agreement says. There is no "standard" grid-tie agreement that all POCO's use and many newer agreements are far less beneficial to the consumer.

My agreement only states that the credits will continue to accrue, and be used to offset grid usage when not producing sufficient energy. As I mentioned, we blew through last seasons credits by February and I've had three electric bills, though the last one was only $36.

[azdave]

My agreement only states that the credits will continue to accrue, and be used to offset grid usage when not producing sufficient energy. As I mentioned, we blew through last seasons credits by February and I've had three electric bills, though the last one was only $36.

I've heard there are some grid-tie contracts where the banked energy just continues to accumulate year after year. That would be better, in my opinion, as I would rather have the full value to use later as opposed to receiving a wholesale buyout annually.

[Rade]

azdave - I wholly agree! I am very interested to see what our May and June statements offer.

Other than what my interconnect agreement states ("...credits accrue until used"), I cannot get any more information. One thing about my solar architecture is that it was modeled on the worst month of electrical usage we had. We came online on May 10 2023 and June showed the first net credits. I suspect that the system will generate and bank enough power to deplete the credits by next April when we start to generate more than we are using.

[oregon_phil]

I am not a lawyer but RI law is available on line. Some great night time reading for Rhode Island Net Metering:

R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-26.4-3

My reading of it: 12 month annual true up recommended, but not required. It is up to the specific utility to define the exact plan. Blah, blah, blah, if you have too many credits they won't pay/credit you more than 25% over your actual annual usage.

One interesting line give the utility a way to change the plan with enough cause.

"Should there be a material change in circumstances at the eligible net-metering system site or associated accounts during the twelve-month (12) period, the estimates and credits may be adjusted by the electric distribution company during the reconciliation period."

This is pretty dense reading and really should be interpreted by the net metering liaison for your POCO.

I find it hard to believe a POCO can't give a customer the hard facts on how they will or won't be billed since somebody has to write the program to generate the bills. How do you write a program without having a spec?

Just my 2cents.

[J.P.M.]

Dave: Add my $0.02: Seems to me that POCO policies aren't written to be understandable by POCO customers - just the opposite - they're written in such a way so as to keep the POCO out of a lawsuit as well as be a roadblock to understanding.

Further, it also seems to me that any POCO's rules as they apply to net metering in particular are always written so as to be as difficult to understand as possible and also usually so that they favor the POCO in cases where interpretation is necessary.

Don't forget that PV and other distributed generation methods are a real PITA for POCOs.
Pardon the rhetorical question but If so, what incentive do they (the POCOs) have to be one iota more cooperative to PV system owners than they are required to be by law ? No surprises there.

[Rade]

I am not a lawyer but RI law is available on line. Some great night time reading for Rhode Island Net Metering:

R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-26.4-3

My reading of it: 12 month annual true up recommended, but not required. It is up to the specific utility to define the exact plan. Blah, blah, blah, if you have too many credits they won't pay/credit you more than 25% over your actual annual usage.

One interesting line give the utility a way to change the plan with enough cause.

"Should there be a material change in circumstances at the eligible net-metering system site or associated accounts during the twelve-month (12) period, the estimates and credits may be adjusted by the electric distribution company during the reconciliation period."

This is pretty dense reading and really should be interpreted by the net metering liaison for your POCO.

I find it hard to believe a POCO can't give a customer the hard facts on how they will or won't be billed since somebody has to write the program to generate the bills. How do you write a program without having a spec?

Just my 2cents.

Thanks for the information! Did not think to look at the RI statutes. I will look further into it. Rade