I'm attending a demonstration next month in Santa Fe NM to protest the $6/kW fee that PNM is requesting our PRC approve. ~90% of the people that responded to the poll that I posted would be against this measure since it's impossible to make a profit when the utility charges you more for production than they pay for exports... for obvious reasons the math simply doesn't work. Understanding that the people using the grid should somehow pay for the grid I want to get a little more specific...
Please forgive me if this feels like I'm beating a dead horse. There is little doubt in my mind that this issue to going to become VERY prevalent in the next 5-10 years and it's important that we work to get it right...
Please provide some option feedback and I'll post a poll in a couple days. Thank you. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. :smile:
For some context we'll imagine a two PV homes, each home has a 10kW system, uses 1500kWh/month and produces 1500kWh/month. The difference is that one home uses the grid significantly less than the other by actively managing 'self-consumption'.... Plus as an extreme example a home where the residents are on vacation for a month...
High Grid use home A
Export: 1200kWh
Import: 1200kWh
Low Grid use home B
Export: 600kWh
Import: 600kWh
Vacation home C
Export: 1480kWh
Import: 15kWh
Fixed Connection Fee
- Grid maintenance is effectively socialized across all rate payers. Regardless of wether you have solar or not grid costs are divided equally among all ratepayers (Real World example WA PSE)
Home A, B & C = $8/month
Elimination of net-metering
- Export value is periodically re-evaluated and approved by the PRC in a similar fashion to rates. (Real World example TX TXU)
Home A: $54
Home B: $27
Home C: -$109.2
'Minimum Bill' + net-metering (Depending on consumption 'Negative Bill' possible)
- A fee is levied on Production or Capacity. Production fee < Export Credit so it is possible to have a profitable pay period depending on consumption. (Real World example AZ APS)
Home A/B: $7 + connection fee
Home C: ~ -$140 assuming $0.10/kWh
'Minimum Bill' + net-metering ('Negative Bill' not possible)
- A fee is levied on Production or Capacity. Production fee > Export Credit so it is NOT possible to have a profitable pay period depending on consumption. (Real World Example NM Xcel)
Home A/B: $54
Home C: ~$16 dependent on fuel cost factors
Please forgive me if this feels like I'm beating a dead horse. There is little doubt in my mind that this issue to going to become VERY prevalent in the next 5-10 years and it's important that we work to get it right...
Please provide some option feedback and I'll post a poll in a couple days. Thank you. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. :smile:
For some context we'll imagine a two PV homes, each home has a 10kW system, uses 1500kWh/month and produces 1500kWh/month. The difference is that one home uses the grid significantly less than the other by actively managing 'self-consumption'.... Plus as an extreme example a home where the residents are on vacation for a month...
High Grid use home A
Export: 1200kWh
Import: 1200kWh
Low Grid use home B
Export: 600kWh
Import: 600kWh
Vacation home C
Export: 1480kWh
Import: 15kWh
Fixed Connection Fee
- Grid maintenance is effectively socialized across all rate payers. Regardless of wether you have solar or not grid costs are divided equally among all ratepayers (Real World example WA PSE)
Home A, B & C = $8/month
Elimination of net-metering
- Export value is periodically re-evaluated and approved by the PRC in a similar fashion to rates. (Real World example TX TXU)
Home A: $54
Home B: $27
Home C: -$109.2
'Minimum Bill' + net-metering (Depending on consumption 'Negative Bill' possible)
- A fee is levied on Production or Capacity. Production fee < Export Credit so it is possible to have a profitable pay period depending on consumption. (Real World example AZ APS)
Home A/B: $7 + connection fee
Home C: ~ -$140 assuming $0.10/kWh
'Minimum Bill' + net-metering ('Negative Bill' not possible)
- A fee is levied on Production or Capacity. Production fee > Export Credit so it is NOT possible to have a profitable pay period depending on consumption. (Real World Example NM Xcel)
Home A/B: $54
Home C: ~$16 dependent on fuel cost factors
Last edited: