First, the "extra" power you generate may be at the end of the year, and yes you are payed wholesale cash. As far as the credit you should be credit the same retail that you pay - for usage. If you generate 5000kw and use 4800kw over the year, you get 200kw at about $0.04 (whosale rate). The cash is for actual GENERATION beyond useage.
I have 9.5kw on my roof with TOU from PG&E. The statement (bill) last month was -$238. I will burn that up in july and august running the AC, and whatever credit is left I will burn over the winter with an electric heater on a timer set of off peak time. At least I should same some natural gas burning credit over the winter.My TOU has 3 rates. Call off peak a rate of 1, partial peak a rate of 2 and peak a rate of 3. I run the pool filter and hot tub heater off peak at night, and have a timer with a green pilot light over the washer, that way the DW and kids know when they can run the (electric) dryer.
3 peak hours @ 8kw generate 72kw of off peak credit - but only 24kw of cash excess generation.
I'm surprised you're not very familiar with how the system works tied into the SCE grid. It sounds like your system is leased and you were not given all details.
My in-laws purchased a system that generates enough power to cover all their power consumption within a 12 month period plus a few excess kilowatts that are sold back to SCE for about $60 every year.
Generally speaking, the system does not generate enough power during the hot So Cal summer months to run two central AC units, pool and spa equipment, thus the system runs a deficit. However, during the cooler months of the year, the system generates more power than what is consumed, offsetting the additional power used during the hot summer months, thus breaking even at the end of a 12 month period.
I doubt seriously your system is large enough to produce enough power to break even so you will probably have to write a check to SCE almost every month.
Look at it this way: During the day, you are probably producing more power than what you're consuming and sending the excess juice to SCE. Think of it as banking your own juice with Edison. At nights, you're producing nothing, hence you're withdrawing your extra juice that was produced during the day. If you end up "withdrawing" more juice than what you banked within a given time frame, then you're using SCE power and you will be billed for what you consumed.
Oregon's system sounds pretty much like Colorado's. You're billed every month for the net power you pull from the grid. If for a month you have a net contribution to the grid, the kWh credit is carried forward to months where you're a net user from the grid. Once a year, in the spring, any remaining credits are forfeited. No money is paid out by the power company. The cutoff being right after winter is the best case timing for the consumer.
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Hi,
Yes I think that you provided the answer in your original post, it would make sense to run the pool pump from 10 am to 4 pm if you need to run it that many hours per day, because that is the lowest cost per hour in your case.
You did not provide specifics, but say the power company is charging 16 cents per KW at night (yes California rates do go that high) and you only are getting a 4 or 6 cent credit for each KW produced and sold back from 8 am to 6 pm that is not used in your home. Your cost to run the pump during the day is only 4-6 cents until you have exceeded your production. That is why I suggested letting the solar get above the 2 KW that the pump will consume before starting the pump, and stop the pump when the required number of hours run per day is over, or before the hour the solar production falls below 3 or 4 KW, and your home will be consuming more than it produces each hour.
Yes it is a huge advantage to the power company, they get to buy back power produced during the most expensive "Peak" hours, and sell those KW's to your neighbors, and still want to charge the customers a fee for using the power lines, even though your power will not go any further than the local transformer that is feeding 15 - 30 KW into your local 3-15 houses on your transformer. That transformer will never go below several dozen KW into it unless all your neighbors have solar and are net producers during the day.
Even if you have a rare neighborhood with each house having a 5 KW solar system, the next transformer down the street will be consuming all that power, if you put a meter at the power lines going into the typical 500 home 1/2 square mile tract of homes, the amperage in will never go below about 300 KW per hour during the day, even if 1/2 of the homes have solar on them. In a area with a lot of air conditioners, they might see 2500 KW per hour for the 500 homes. Your 5 KW will not cost the power company anything to transfer it to another home.
Just the power company would rather produce power at 2.1 cents per KW than pay a hundred homeowners 6 or 8 cents per KW.
Isn't Ca. a net metering state? I believe it is. It should not matter when you use your power. If you generate more power than you use (not likely with 5KW), it should show as banked KWH on your bill. If you still have excess at the end of the solar year (May in our state)you get a credit at the same rate as you pay for the generation. About $.08 per KWH.
Hmmm. A permission light to inform me I can now proceed to exercise my God given right to clean my clothes. My oh my. And in the US of A Land of the "free" of all places! God help us all, please!
George & Cathy
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az99 wrote: Isn't Ca. a net metering state? I believe it is. It should not matter when you use your power. If you generate more power than you use (not likely with 5KW), it should show as banked KWH on your bill. If you still have excess at the end of the solar year (May in our state)you get a credit at the same rate as you pay for the generation. About $.08 per KWH.
I understand the lease deal allows the solar company to collect the CA rebate based upon actual production over the term of the lease vs the immediate fixed rebate that you get for a purchase. I assume this is more profitable for the solar company.
I believe CA is net metering and is settled once a year if there is a net credit. I don't think you get retail price if there is a net refund. If you pay I believe you just pay for what you actually use and the TOU does not matter.
Time to reread the full lease agreement and wait for a bill from SCE. It may take a full 12 to 18 months to understand it all fully to know your actual production, usage and cost.
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