SCE baseline credit showing up as a charge

[loungelizard]

Good morning and Happy New Year to all. As I'm new to solar (installed end of Sept) and I'm getting familiar with my monthly statements.

I think I'm understand this baseline credit showing as a charge when I over produce (which doesn't seem fair, but whatever). I've taken in my mother who has medical issues. As such, we now get a medical baseline for her stuff. Since this baseline (which is higher with medical) shows up as a charge every month, is this something that I want?

The way I think this will play out is that I will overproduce some every month but the summer months out here in the desert and I'm wondering if this medical baseline will cost me more in the long run.

[J.P.M.]

While most power companies are known to be less than helpful when it comes to explaining how tariffs and billing procedures impact customers, I'd still call SCE and ask them the questions. What you'll get here has a pretty good probability of being well intentioned but most likely with a lower probability of being as accurate as what you'll get from SCE.

But, before you do that I'd suggest you consider Googling "SCE + baseline medical allowance". I just did so and it looks like the medical baseline provides or boosts the daily baseline allowance by 16.5 kWh/day or 6,023 kWh/yr.

You may now ask: "So what?" So, you'll also be well served to investigate just what a daily baseline allowance is, how it's calculated and how it becomes a billing period allowance (which changes with every billing period) before you call SCE. Billing periods are, BTW approx. 30 days +/- a day or two and change every year. Saying "monthly bill" is close but can be misleading and lead to errors.

A little background homework on your part may help avoid some frustration that can come when SCE talks about terms necessary to answer your question - terms you may currently be ignorant about but may well need to know if you're going to understand the answers you get when you call SCE.

I'm not in SCE territory. No guarantees here, but if their medical billing adjustment works same/similar to my POCO's (SDG & E), what the medical baseline allowance will do is increase something called your "Tier 1" billing period allowance.

Whether you're on tiered or T.O.U. rates, a larger Tier 1 will generally mean your bills will be less because more of what you use will be billed at the lower Tier 1 rates with a correspondingly lower quantity of what you use being billed at the higher rates.

In a backhanded sort of way, that billing reduction can have an adverse effect on residential PV system cost effectiveness. Reason: With a larger tier one, it's likely - because the Tier 2 and higher tier quantities are now smaller - that less of what the PV system produces will be offsetting as much of the higher tier electricity now, that is, before the medical baseline allowance, in effect, reduced the amount of higher tier electricity you use.

Looked at another way, the medical baseline allowance is a way to perhaps recognize a need and attempt to soften some of the blow. It was around long before PV or T.O.U. billing. I'd guess it wasn't initiated on the largess of the POCOs.

I'd do some homework about how your bill is calculated and put together, and then call SCE with well informed questions about what appears on your bill. The above is deemed no more than informational.

[loungelizard]

Thanks, JPM. All good points. I've been hunting around this but need to do some more. I saw that it's another 16.5 kWh/day for baseline, which in theory, would seem to helpful.

I've got some more reading to do and will most certainly give SCE a ring about this.

[J.P.M.]

Thanks, JPM. All good points. I've been hunting around this but need to do some more. I saw that it's another 16.5 kWh/day for baseline, which in theory, would seem to helpful.

I've got some more reading to do and will most certainly give SCE a ring about this.

You're welcome. I'd be interested to read what you find out.

BTW, welcome to the neighborhood.

[loungelizard]

You're welcome. I'd be interested to read what you find out.

BTW, welcome to the neighborhood.

Yes, I'm very excited to be part of this neighborhood. Took me long enough, but I got there.