When going solar, homeowners go into agreements with both their installers and utility providers in terms of payment and power generation, respectively. One of those agreements is the tracking of charges and credits through your electrical meter, which culminates at the end of the year in the form of a True-up bill.
For many California residents, PG&E offers a renewable energy savings program called Net Energy Metering. Net Energy Metering monitors your energy consumption and production throughout the day, and allows you to collect energy credits when you are producing more power than your home uses in any given period.
You can learn more about how the Net Energy Metering program works by clicking the link here
In recent months, PG&E changed their tiered usage plans to Time of Use, which can make it difficult to keep track of your home's energy usage throughout each hour of the day. Because not everyone has their home’s energy output on their mind, renewable energy programs such as Net Energy Metering can help simplify the day-to-day, month-to-month usage of your home's utilities.
During installation, your utility provider would install a ‘net meter’ specifically designed to measure the difference between the energy produced by your home's solar system and the energy provided by the utility company.
Each month you are charged a fee for minimum delivery charges from the electrical grid in addition to whatever you may pay for gas. At the end of the month, your “net energy” billing statement will either show as a credit or charge. These credits and charges accumulate over the 12 month billing period into what you ‘truly’ owe or are owned in your annual True-Up statement.
When the Net Energy Metering program was initially ratified and implemented into the state of California, the terms included that any and all remaining credits at the end of a yearly billing cycle must be reset to zero before the next year.
N.E.M. allows homeowners to potentially save thousands every year from their energy usage.
You too can benefit from solar, and take advantage of your very own true up program that can do wonders for your home, contact us or check out our solar academy!