PVs and credits and bills (Oh my!)

This morning we reached a new high for the credit we've built up in terms of net exported energy - 1,753 kWh. The previous high was 1,738 on December 3rd, then it dropped to a low of 1,477 on January 28th. This winter we were net importers in December and January, and I discovered to my dismay that even though I'd built up a credit of over $300 with Nstar, I was getting billed for the energy we imported. Looking closely, I learned that I had Nstar as my energy delivery company, and Coned Solutions, via Cape Light Compact, our municipal aggregator and default supplier, as my energy supply company. Having two separate companies is part of the deregulation process - you get a choice of who supplies the energy, but not who delivers it (owns the wires). It turns out that Nstar credit doesn't offset Coned supply charges. The simple solution, that doesn't make Cape Light Compact happy, is to switch to Nstar as the energy supply company. The rates are within hundredths of a cent per kWh, but that actually doesn't matter if we are net exporters - in fact, a higher rate allows us to build up a larger credit, which we could allocate to another meter.

Comments

[David Fay]

Thanks. That's a wrinkle to net metering that I had been wondering about.

Is the credit in dollars or kWh? If the latter, then there would be no benefit to a higher rate.

David

[Dick Jones]

Marc,

You should be able to ask Nstar for "complete billing." With this, your supply charges would show up on your Nstar bill. When you pay that bill, Nstar would forward the payment to CLC/Coned. Instead of building up credits with Nstar and paying CLC/Coned, Nstar would reduce the credit and pay your supplier. Part of the purpose of "complete billing" is to avoid this problem of building up a higher and higher credit.

If that doesn't work and you don't want to switch suppliers, you can assign the credit to another NStar customer. They would then get the credit (as a present from you) or you could sell it to them for an amount equal to the credit.

Solar shouldn't be so complicated...

[David Fay]

I have been told that one solution to the problem you describe is to request "consolidated billing" from your utility, so that both supply and delivery charges appear on the same bill even though they originate from different companies. But it sounds from your description like you get a consolidated bill already and that doesn't solve the problem.

Can you confirm that your supply and delivery charges appear on the same bill?