Read this article for more recent information about Time of Use Billing With SCE
In order to lock in your savings and get grandfathered into the current solar program for 20 years, you need to go solar by mid-April, 2017.
Here’s why:
Southern California Edison’s Current Solar Billing Program Is Expiring
Changes are coming soon to Net Energy Metering (NEM) – your utility’s billing mechanism for its solar customers. Under SCE’s current net metering program, you receive full credit for the power you send to the grid. Currently, when your solar system overproduces and sends power to the grid, you receive that same amount of power back when you need it to power your home later in the day when the sun isn’t shining. For every kilowatt hour of power you send to the grid, you receive the same amount of kilowatt hours back.
[For an explainer on the basics of what NEM is and how it works, click here.]
However, once NEM 2.0 takes effect in SCE territory, all new solar customers will be on what’s called a “time-of-use” (TOU) rate structure. But what will that mean for you? It could look something like this: Say your solar system produces 1 kWh of electricity that is sent back to the grid at 10 am, you might receive 28 cents of credit. If your home then pulls that same 1 kW of electricity from the grid at 8 pm (when the sun has gone down and your solar system isn’t producing power), you could be charged 44 cents for the energy you draw. That means you’re not getting equal credits for the power your solar system produces.
These new rules are going into effect on July 1, 2017. If you go solar before NEM 1.0 expires, you won’t have to worry about time-of-use or not receiving equal credits for what your solar system produces for a long time. Customers who go solar under NEM 1.0 are grandfathered into the program for the next 20 years!
In order to make it into NEM 1.0, you’ll need to sign for your solar system by mid-April, 2017 so that your solar panels can be installed by June 30. That’s the safest way to ensure you don’t miss out the July 1 deadline.
Interested in learning about how much solar could save you? Click here for a free, no-pressure quote.
