![]() Check out this article to learn if your state offers net metering or another type of solar compensation program, and be sure to visit the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (DSIRE®), which tracks net metering and other solar incentives and rebates. While net metering is not the only way that utilities compensate homeowners for going solar, it’s by far the most common and effective solar policy at the moment. In fact, thanks to net metering, you can save tens of thousands of dollars over the lifetime of their solar panel system by offsetting your need for electricity from the grid. Net metering is the best solar policy because it allows you to store every unit of energy you produce with solar to be used at a later date from the grid. ![]() ![]() Instead of “banking” the credits earned from the excess energy generated by your solar panels, you’ll “sell” that energy back to your utility, typically at the wholesale rate instead of the retail rate. However, with net billing, your compensation rate is typically lower than what you pay for electricity. Under net metering, your credits are typically a one-to-one exchange: a kilowatt-hour produced by your solar panels is worth the same amount as a kilowatt-hour produced by the grid. Net billing is similar to net metering in that it allows you to essentially use the grid as storage for the excess electricity generated by your solar system. In the past, net billing has been most common in large commercial solar installations, but it’s becoming more and more popular for home installations as the total number of distributed solar energy systems increases. With buy all/sell all net metering, you don’t directly consume any of the energy generated by your solar panels. Two separate meters are required for this type of net metering and the user will pay the difference between the amount generated and amount consumed. In return, they get 100% of their home’s energy from their utility at the retail rate. Buy all/sell allĪs opposed to other models of metering, the buy all/sell all model works by allowing users to sell 100% of the energy generated by their panels to the utility company. While traditional net metering is the most popular way to receive credits back from solar energy generated, there are other ways depending on where you live and what your state and utility provider have available. In these instances, you would pay for the electricity you use, minus any excess electricity your solar panels generated. If you produce less electricity than you use in a given month, you must buy electricity from your utility to make up the difference. When your solar power system generates more electricity than you use over the course of a month, you will receive a credit based on the net number of kilowatt-hours you gave back to the grid. With the right design, your system can generate enough power to match your total electricity use for a year, even if you produce much more than you need in some months and much less in others. Instead, you will build up extra credits during the summer months so that you can draw from them at night and during the winter months when you need them. Because these variations in production are fairly predictable, your utility won’t send you a monthly check when you produce more than you need. In general, most homes will produce excess electricity in the summer months and will use more electricity from the grid in the winter. How do electricity bills work with net metering? Net metering helps you to account for these seasonal differences in solar production by crediting you for the excess electricity your panels produce so that you can use it at a later date. ![]() However, the amount of electricity your solar panels produce will vary throughout the year: more in sunnier summer months, and less when the sun is lower in the sky and sets earlier in the winter. With a correctly sized solar energy system, you can produce enough electricity to match your home’s electricity use for the entire year. At the end of the month or year, you’ll be billed the net amount of what you send to the grid and what you pull from the grid: hence “net metering”. When your energy use is higher than your solar panel production, either at night or on cloudy days, you’ll pull electricity back from the grid, running your meter forwards. When your photovoltaic system produces more electricity than you’re using at any point during the day, the electricity is sent back to the grid, running your electric meter in reverse. Say you've installed a solar panel system and you live in an area with a net metering program. ![]()
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