Net Metering - I hope my last electric bill is wrong

[DavidT]

My utility company (BGE) replaced my "smart meter" with a new net meter the day before my solar system went live. I've received two utility bills since then. The first one showed my usage while on the new net meter being several hundred kWhs. I knew that was a mistake, but figured it might have had to do with the meter transition. I didn't bother calling them since during this past month BGE's website was showing that my current estimated electric bill was going to be about -$40 (negative). That's right about what I expected given my current solar production plus the true up they'd owe me from that wrong reading.

I get my second bill and the meter reading has gone UP by almost 500 kWhs! So it's says that I owe them money instead of them owing me. That's way bogus according to my meter. My meter has spun backwards from zero by about 250 kWhs (99,750). 500 kWhs would be a bit less than half of what my pre-solar usage was during this time of year. My bill should be negative. My system is large enough that it produces more than I consume.

Did someone at BGE forget to flip a switch a check a box on a computer screen? BTW - That estimated bill function on BGE's site that I mentioned earlier was turned off about a week before I got my bill. Said it couldn't be calculated at that time. Anyone else have a similar experience when they first went live? I'll be calling BGE on Monday morning, but for now I've got to stew over this all weekend.

[DreInMD]

David,

I am in MD also and am getting my install finished this week. Wanted to say hello. Would have done so in a PM but I don't have enough posts to do so yet.

[rowow]

Call them...

You should really call them, I use one kwh, if your using hundredths of kwh then your bill has to be thousands of dollars, which again it shouldn't be, contact them and complain, test your system to make sure your panels are producing the right amount, if they are, put yourself off grid for a while, if your able to self sustain yourself and they wont do anything to change then just stay off grid

[Naptown]

My utility company (BGE) replaced my "smart meter" with a new net meter the day before my solar system went live. I've received two utility bills since then. The first one showed my usage while on the new net meter being several hundred kWhs. I knew that was a mistake, but figured it might have had to do with the meter transition. I didn't bother calling them since during this past month BGE's website was showing that my current estimated electric bill was going to be about -$40 (negative). That's right about what I expected given my current solar production plus the true up they'd owe me from that wrong reading.

I get my second bill and the meter reading has gone UP by almost 500 kWhs! So it's says that I owe them money instead of them owing me. That's way bogus according to my meter. My meter has spun backwards from zero by about 250 kWhs (99,750). 500 kWhs would be a bit less than half of what my pre-solar usage was during this time of year. My bill should be negative. My system is large enough that it produces more than I consume.

Did someone at BGE forget to flip a switch a check a box on a computer screen? BTW - That estimated bill function on BGE's site that I mentioned earlier was turned off about a week before I got my bill. Said it couldn't be calculated at that time. Anyone else have a similar experience when they first went live? I'll be calling BGE on Monday morning, but for now I've got to stew over this all weekend.

Contact both BGE and your dealer to make sure the system is online and working.
There may be a glitch with your net meter. They did have problems a few years ago.
If you heat with electric it has been unusually cold and may account for some of that.
If your meter is truly reading 99750 then you have a problem.
There was a problem with their net meters a while ago but it was resolved so I was told.

[DavidT]

David,

I am in MD also and am getting my install finished this week. Wanted to say hello. Would have done so in a PM but I don't have enough posts to do so yet.

Hello Dre. Welcome to the solar family!

[DavidT]

Contact both BGE and your dealer to make sure the system is online and working.
There may be a glitch with your net meter. They did have problems a few years ago.
If you heat with electric it has been unusually cold and may account for some of that.
If your meter is truly reading 99750 then you have a problem.
There was a problem with their net meters a while ago but it was resolved so I was told.

I do not heat with electric - have gas for the furnace, stove and water heater. This should be one of my lowest usage months. I have Enphase micro-inverters so I can track my system's performance online. It cranks very well. BGE's digital net enabled meter does count backwards during daytime solar production. I was expecting that the meter would read negative when it went backwards from zero, but it appear that instead is just counts down from 99,999 just like an analog meter would do. Is that not how your meter works?

Based on my Enphase readings, my meter readings and what I'd estimate my consumption to be, I'd say the system itself is working fine for solar production. Plus there's the fact that BGE's website had been estimating my bill to be -$40. The issue is the bogus "meter reading" on my actual bill. I checked with a neighbor and the meter reading on their bill does correlate to their actual meter. My hope is that BGE's system is confused at my meter reading such a "high" number (99K+) and that it's doing an estimate.

Naptown, I'm not sure if you're with BGE or Potomac. With BGE there's a once a year true up for net meter customers. After the April bill cycle is when they pay back customers who have netted out negative on the meter for the past year. I've really been looking forward to seeing that credit amount on my bill and then getting that check from BGE so that I have absolute proof that these solar panel systems are indeed a good investment. So far I haven't gotten that absolute proof.

[Naptown]

I do not heat with electric - have gas for the furnace, stove and water heater. This should be one of my lowest usage months. I have Enphase micro-inverters so I can track my system's performance online. It cranks very well. BGE's digital net enabled meter does count backwards during daytime solar production. I was expecting that the meter would read negative when it went backwards from zero, but it appear that instead is just counts down from 99,999 just like an analog meter would do. Is that not how your meter works?

Based on my Enphase readings, my meter readings and what I'd estimate my consumption to be, I'd say the system itself is working fine for solar production. Plus there's the fact that BGE's website had been estimating my bill to be -$40. The issue is the bogus "meter reading" on my actual bill. I checked with a neighbor and the meter reading on their bill does correlate to their actual meter. My hope is that BGE's system is confused at my meter reading such a "high" number (99K+) and that it's doing an estimate.

Naptown, I'm not sure if you're with BGE or Potomac. With BGE there's a once a year true up for net meter customers. After the April bill cycle is when they pay back customers who have netted out negative on the meter for the past year. I've really been looking forward to seeing that credit amount on my bill and then getting that check from BGE so that I have absolute proof that these solar panel systems are indeed a good investment. So far I haven't gotten that absolute proof.

Your problem is with your net meter. In the enlighten is showing production and the meter is going backwards it is a billing problem and BGE will resolve it.
This is not the first I have heard of this it has happened before. It gets resolved, just takes a bit of time and effort.
Call your installer and have them look into it also. I have had to do this for others.

[DavidT]

BGE is going to send someone out on Friday to test the meter. Unfortunately the BGE rep could not find anything that brought to light what the issue is. The meter reading is definitely wrong though. Bizarre, given that their website clearly shows my solar production out paces my consumption on the hourly charts.

I just went to BGE's website and added up my daily usage for my last billing cycle. On their daily charts for my residence they show I netted out to -249.64 kWhs, yet they're billing me for +447 kWhs. So I'm over producing by a significant amount yet the final bill shows I'm net consuming.

[peakbagger]

You most likely aren't dealing with person, you are dealing with computer program that had the wrong input entered or is incapable of dealing with net metering. It took my utility over a year to get their automated billing to deal with net metering and for a year I got a hand typed letter signed by a real person every bill manually crediting me with power.

If they get balky you can probably call the state PUC.

[DavidT]

Great... a whole year... Ugh!! BGE (Baltimore Gas & Electric) is a pretty major player in the utility field. This net metering stuff can't be new to them. I wouldn't think this would be real difficult in today's computer age. Oh well.

Did they just pick a number out of thin air for my bill... or is it just adding up all the times I was net positive and not giving credit for the times my immediate consumption was negative... I doubt this is the first time this has happened with them.

[bcroe]

Net meter billing

It took my utility over a year to get their automated billing to deal with net metering and for a year I got a hand typed letter signed by a real person every bill manually crediting me with power.

Here net metering is still handled by hand. The people at the usual customer number
didn't have access to this info. There are special contacts for net metering. The bills
are accurate to the degree I can measure things, but may be delayed arriving for many
weeks. The problem that causes me, is timely determining PV excess generation roll
over at the end of the month, in time to make adjustments the following month.
Bruce Roe

[peakbagger]

PSNH appears to have handled the manual billing properly from day one its just they were fighting with their computer system that doesn't like negative power usage. They print a graph of average daily power usage per billing period for the last year for reference with the bill. In the months where I generated more than I used, the program defaulted to 360 KWH per day. I think they fixed that. There are still some odd numbers that show up but they do seem to end up with the right number. There are several installations just in my rural area so at some point they must have enough statewide to fix the program.

[DavidT]

...... In the months where I generated more than I used, the program defaulted to 360 KWH per day. I think they fixed that. .....

It defaulted to 360 kWh per day, or per month?

I guess for right now I just have to hang tight and let them do their meter test on Friday. I can't see that doing a lot of good though. The meter is clearly transmitting the correct data since both my hourly and daily charts available at their site show the correct data. It's just the meter reading on the bill at the end of the cycle that is messed up. But of course that's the one the bill is based on. I'm still finding it hard to fathom that the utilities still haven't figured out these processes. How long has net metering been in place now...

[inetdog]

How long has net metering been in place now...

Longer than smart meters and automated billing software, and that is part of the problem.
Smart Net Metering was not introduced by PG&E until relatively recently, while both have been available individually for quite a few years.

[peakbagger]

360 KWH/day