Net Metering Charges in New Jersey

[Indept]

Pardon me if this has been discussed, I didn't find anything when I searched, I live in Gloucester county Nj and have a 10.2 kw system which I own. My system went on the air in August of 2016 and I have been generating more than I use. Up to just recently whenever I use more in a month than I produce I would use some of my reserve at so there was no charge except the $2.42 meter connection fee. Well in December I used 2 kwh's more than I produced and again in January's bill I used 184 kwh's more than I produced (my reserve was 1375 kwh's at the start so -2 for dec & -184 for January's bill left me 1189 kwh's) they charged me $4.87 for Dec & $4.95 for January. I have net metering with PSEG. The charge has always been $2.42. I can't find any notice of an increase for the connection fee, is PSEG charging delivery charges for my taking back what I have in reserve? Does anyone here have net metering with PSEG in south Jersey?
Thanks for any light you can shed on this.

[J.P.M.]

Have you called the POCO and asked ? I'd start at the source.

[Indept]

I have called but with PSEG the billing for solar is a different office than standard customers and their hours are shorter. I was just curious if any other New Jersey members here have noticed the same. I haven't received any notice of a rate increase.

[J.P.M.]

I have called but with PSEG the billing for solar is a different office than standard customers and their hours are shorter. I was just curious if any other New Jersey members here have noticed the same. I haven't received any notice of a rate increase.

Shorter hours ? Why is that such an impediment to getting answers from the source of the billing rather than from what amounts to questionable accuracy from unverifiable sources ?

[inetdog]

If part of your rate schedule is identified as delivery charges, separate from generation charges, I can see it being perfectly reasonable for POCO to charge you for returning to you some of your banked energy. I would be happy that they have not figured out that they should have designed their rate structure for billing delivery charges on the excess energy as you originally banked it!

[Ward L]

You could move to California. With SCE when I have excess power to the grid my bill is about $10/mo. When I use more power than I generate my bill is about $2! I have given up trying to figure it out. After the year long relevant period, SCE "trues up" the account to charge me for power I have used or pay me for power I have given them. The billing is very confusing....

[J.P.M.]

You could move to California. With SCE when I have excess power to the grid my bill is about $10/mo. When I use more power than I generate my bill is about $2! I have given up trying to figure it out. After the year long relevant period, SCE "trues up" the account to charge me for power I have used or pay me for power I have given them. The billing is very confusing....

On the $10/billing period, min. charges have something to do with it. You will pay about $0.32876/day or so ($120/yr.) whether you draw any power from the grid or not for that day. If you excess generate every day of a billing period (which days do not follow the calendar for either dates or the number of billing days/billing period, you'll be billed ~ $10.00 or so ($0.32876/day)*(# of days). As for billing amounts less than the min./billing period, it's possible from things like climate credits or NBC or other things.

As you write, the billing and policies are confusing, but aside from the rare hiccup as was found by a recent poster, the billing, while (what I'd consider) overly complicated or at least very poorly explained, are usually traceable. I've found this to be a good example of the old saw: Nothing can replace persistence.