A Lengthy-Time period Take On California’s Web Metering Insurance policies

Final Up to date on: fifteenth June 2025, 01:08 am

We not too long ago printed an article a few lawsuit introduced in California in response to the state’s change to “Web Metering 3.0.” One of many feedback in response offered a superb long-term tackle the state’s altering internet metering insurance policies over time. Right here it’s:

By GoCoyote

As a former electrician within the energy trade right here in California, I view internet metering 3.0 as a cash seize for one thing that the utilities already profit from. Mainly grabbing the total bag of sweet as soon as that they had a couple of items.

The big utilities have been very proof against residential and industrial internet metering, however ended up benefiting as soon as sufficient programs had been linked for the entire causes listed and extra, plus one crucial purpose not talked about.

Since residential prospects had been principally paying mounted charges as a substitute of ‘time of use’ charges, they had been paying low charges throughout occasions of peak use when ‘time of use’ prospects had been being charged very excessive charges. Web metering would ‘commerce’ the worth of PV energy fed into the grid for the worth of energy used throughout occasions of no daylight.

Every year the utility would settle the accounts, and if the shopper had a ‘internet utilization’ of energy, they paid for that. If the shopper had a ‘internet manufacturing’ of energy over their utilization, then the shopper paid nothing (the zero in ‘internet zero’), and the utility stored the total worth of any extra energy manufacturing from the shopper.

This meant that that the excess energy from residential photo voltaic programs was offsetting the ability value to the utility at low mounted charges (or zero for any yearly extra), after which the utility offered it on to industrial prospects with ‘time of use metering’ for a lot increased charges throughout late afternoons when the grid load was highest resulting from industrial demand and air con hundreds being at their peak. The utility may ‘purchase’ the photo voltaic vitality for 20 cents a kWhr, after which promote it on for 60 cents a kWhr, all of the whereas benefiting from not having to run extra peaker vegetation.

Beneath the unique internet metering everybody benefited; the PV homeowners acquired a direct offset on their energy use (right down to a zero quantity invoice for the 12 months), and the utilities acquired to make a revenue on that energy. Now that the utility can get the surplus PV energy for even much less (mainly the wholesale value of energy) they can make much more revenue from their internet metering prospects, whereas the shoppers lose out on the worth that they used to get from with the ability to zero out their energy invoice.

This drastically devalues residential PV programs, since their increased value may very well be partially offset by instantly offsetting the price of energy on a one to 1 ratio. Now residential PV programs need to be a lot bigger (and costlier) with a purpose to offset the identical quantity of grid energy they use.

Zeroing out prospects’ energy payments is now unattainable, since even when they might produce sufficient vitality to offset the worth of the ability bought, there are actually ‘mounted’ month-to-month expenses to simply have a PV system linked to the grid that they must pay no matter manufacturing.

A extra honest system could be for the utilities to pay a barely decrease value (1 or 2 cents/kWhr) beneath full charge to the shopper till internet zero is reached, after which pay them the wholesale charge for all manufacturing over internet zero. This could incentivize barely bigger programs since extra energy would then be bought, albeit at a decrease charge.