PG&E E1, E-6, or EV-A with Solar

[sensij]

So it works the same way as SDG&E. In the sample bill, the customer pays $4.48/month minimum electric charge with the gas bill. At the true-up time, the total net consumption minus $4.48 * 12 is the final bill. If the total net consumption is less than $4.48 * 12, you pay nothing. The only difference is that SDG&E doesn't even collect the minimum charge until true-up time.

I'm not sure I would read "Total NEM Charges before taxes" as "total net consumption". If it works like SDG&E, the minimum monthly charges are included in the "Total NEM Charges", and without subtracting them out as PG&E does, you would be getting double charged. Again, the example shown doesn't provide enough information to know either way.

[sensij]

OK, here is an attachment that explains it more fully. Page 2 shows the breakout of where the charges come from. Based on this, I'll withdraw my point for PG&E... it is in fact possible to have just one or more heavy consumption months count towards the minimum charges for the entire year, even when the other months are net producers.

http://www.pge.com/includes/docs/pdfs/myhome/saveenergymoney/solarenergy/billing%20callouts-trueup.pdf

[cebury]

That is good news for the customer. You can pay that minimum usage fee, for net producing months, with your solar generated credit at peak rates. I'm sure pge hates that last part especially.

I've just read through what pge was proposing in July for existing and future nem customers and boy were they trying to stick it to solar folks, or keep the company afloat depending on which side you're on. And sdge with 9/kW charge! But I'm late to the party on that news.

[sensij]

I've just read through what pge was proposing in July for existing and future nem customers and boy were they trying to stick it to solar folks, or keep the company afloat depending on which side you're on. And sdge with 9/kW charge! But I'm late to the party on that news.

I don't think you are too late to the party, really. The CPUC proceeding is just starting to get interesting, and just the fact that you are aware of the proposal puts you ahead of most.

For me, the most frustrating thing is not what the utilities have proposed... the price signaling they want to move towards makes some sense, and while there are some ridiculous aspects to their proposals, there is a path to compromise on most of it. No, whats worse is that the representatives from the solar industry (CALSEIA, Joint Solar Alliance, etc) seem to have decided to put their heads in the sand and just beg the CPUC to allow net metering to continue for just a few more years, without really offering a good way to resolve the inherent unfairness to the existing NEM 1.0 approach. ORA seems to stand alone as a party actively looking for a workable compromise, a missed opportunity for the industry to get together and show that it really understands and is willing to fix the distortions caused by residential PV and net metering.

[cebury]

OK, here is an attachment that explains it more fully. Page 2 shows the breakout of where the charges come from. Based on this, I'll withdraw my point for PG&E... it is in fact possible to have just one or more heavy consumption months count towards the minimum charges for the entire year, even when the other months are net producers.

http://www.pge.com/includes/docs/pdf...uts-trueup.pdf

So combining this example with jq and solardreamer's posts, PG&E and SDG&E (probably all 3 CA majors) are the same:

It really isn't a monthly minimum, but an annual minimum calculation.

If your annual TrueUp bill is larger than approx. $+120 you don't pay anything "extra" but would be given a 120 credit because the minimum was being collected through your monthly gas bill as a pre-payment/monthly deposit. The annual minimum isn't 120, but a daily minimum * # days in ea/bill period * bills in trueup (12 months after first year).

[wwu123]

Just got my annual true-up with PG&E this week and finally understand the min charges and how they reconcile with the NEM metering thanks to this thread. For the year I was a net consumer of about 1200 kwh off-peak, but most was offset by peak TOU credits for a NEM true-up balance of $80.03. The monthly min charges were around $4.50/mo, but jumped to about $10 for the last 1.5 months, for total of $62.65, leaving me a annual true-up bill of $17.73. It does seem the min charges and trued-up annually and not monthly, as I did have four months where both net kwh and net $ were negative.

Next year the min charges will be closer to $120 for the year, but we'll be consuming slightly more with additional adults in the household, so for us our household consumption will likely make full use of the the higher min charges.

[solardreamer]

Just got my annual true-up with PG&E this week and finally understand the min charges and how they reconcile with the NEM metering thanks to this thread. For the year I was a net consumer of about 1200 kwh off-peak, but most was offset by peak TOU credits for a NEM true-up balance of $80.03. The monthly min charges were around $4.50/mo, but jumped to about $10 for the last 1.5 months, for total of $62.65, leaving me a annual true-up bill of $17.73. It does seem the min charges and trued-up annually and not monthly, as I did have four months where both net kwh and net $ were negative.

Next year the min charges will be closer to $120 for the year, but we'll be consuming slightly more with additional adults in the household, so for us our household consumption will likely make full use of the the higher min charges.

Thanks for sharing. What is your TOU rate plan with PG&E?

[wwu123]

Thanks for sharing. What is your TOU rate plan with PG&E?

Sorry for not clarifying that, though it was in my earlier post in the thread - I'm on E-6.