California NEM 3.0 Actual Results

[Redhill_qik]

This might be too early, but there might be a few users out there that missed the cutoff and are operating under NEM 3.0 rules and I think it would great to have a thread to discuss how the monthly billing and annual true-up statements are working. I hope that I got enough keywords to direct people here if they are searching for information.

So, if you are in California with PG&E, SDGE or SCE with or without a CCA for generation. Please help the community out and provide some specifics on how your monthly bills look. Please provide as much information as you can about which utility, monthly/annual data for kWh, rates, credits/charges for both imports and exports along with some of your specifics including your annual kWh usage prior to solar, PV panel sizes, ESS/Powerwalls, and estimated annual production.

Maybe something in this format:

• PV Panels - 8.16kW
• ESS - 2 x Powerwall2 (13.5kWh)
• Inverter - 1 x 7.6kW
• Pre-solar annual usage - 9,850 kWh
• Solar annual estimate - 11,510 kWh
• Utility - PG&E with SVCE
• Tariff - E-TOU-C
• Monthly - July 6/26-7/25
  • MDCs = $11.28
  • NBCs = $9.23
  • Off Peak Import = 232 kWh
  • Off Peak Export = -860 kWh
  • Peak Import = 50 kWh
  • Peak Export = -256 kWh
  • Dist Total = -$192.64 (combined from B&W bill, too hard to separate to Peak/Off-Peak for me)
  • Gen Off-Peak = -$86.35
  • Gen Peak = -$40.87

Too much typing? Then post an image cap from your bill.

This should not be a thread to complain about the NEM 3.0, so just the facts please so that the community can see how it is working out.

 

[jjrandorin]

This should not be a thread to complain about the NEM 3.0

"This WILL not be a thread to complain about NEM 3.0". I am just emphasizing that not only "should" it not, "it wont (because any of that will be moved to another thread). That also includes if a post includes that information above, but also stuff complaining about NEM 3.0. I wont be editing posts, so they will likely get moved.

Any discussion in this thread should be on nuts and bolts of how this is working, and not about why, etc.

 

[miimura]

I don't think the Net Billing Tariff has even been issued yet. So, I don't think it's possible for anyone to be actually paying a bill on "NEM 3" yet. It will take some time for them to get the details approved in a formal tariff. I don't have time to look it up right now, but I recall that people that didn't make the cutoff for NEM 2 would actually be billed on that tariff for a transition period until the "Successor Tariff" was approved and in force.

 

[Redhill_qik]

I don't think the Net Billing Tariff has even been issued yet. So, I don't think it's possible for anyone to be actually paying a bill on "NEM 3" yet. It will take some time for them to get the details approved in a formal tariff. I don't have time to look it up right now, but I recall that people that didn't make the cutoff for NEM 2 would actually be billed on that tariff for a transition period until the "Successor Tariff" was approved and in force.

Hmm, I thought that everyone on NEM 3.0 had to use E-ELEC (at least for PG&E) which is published.

https://www.pge.com/tariffs/assets/pdf/tariffbook/ELEC_SCHEDS_E-ELEC.pdf

Still, this might be early.

 

[miimura]

Hmm, I thought that everyone on NEM 3.0 had to use E-ELEC (at least for PG&E) which is published.

https://www.pge.com/tariffs/assets/pdf/tariffbook/ELEC_SCHEDS_E-ELEC.pdf

Still, this might be early.

That is just the rate schedule. It says how much you buy electricity for. It doesn't say anything about how much they pay you for your exports. We are really waiting for the Net Billing Tariff. Just like I am on the Rate Schedule EV2-A but there is also NEM or NEM2 that puts forth the terms and conditions of distributed generation interconnection. All the fun topics like Non-Bypassable Charges, Net Surplus Compensation, Paired Storage, etc. are in those tariffs.

Here's the fun part about the transition to the Net Billing Tariff:

 

[YRide]

I was told the same thing when speaking to PGE for my PTO. Said anyone who missed cutoff for NEM2, would actually be on NEM2 until end of year likely…

 

[Vines]

I was told the same thing when speaking to PGE for my PTO. Said anyone who missed cutoff for NEM2, would actually be on NEM2 until end of year likely…

This is my understanding as well, that since PG&E hasn't programmed it yet, everyone on NEM 3.0 will in effect get NEM 2.0 rates until they finish the work on the NBT.

 

[holeydonut]

I want to see a draft version of the bill to see if it's like 20 pages now with the various fees, ACC import/export rates and new way of doing the true-up.

 

[miimura]

The PG&E Net Billing Tariff was released and took effect November 30th.

https://www.pge.com/tariffs/assets/pdf/tariffbook/ELEC_SCHEDS_NBT.pdf

 

[wwu123]

The PG&E Net Billing Tariff was released and took effect November 30th.

https://www.pge.com/tariffs/assets/pdf/tariffbook/ELEC_SCHEDS_NBT.pdf

Interesting that the 2nd paragraph of the tariff mentions that NBT customers may choose to enroll in SmartRate. 10 years ago, when I first got solar, I tried to enroll in SmartRate, and received this e-mail reply:

"The SmartRate program is not compatible with solar regulations and accounting. Customers do not get the $0.60 as credit with SmartRate, since it was not budgeted or intended to be used with solar.

If you have further concerns or questions, please do not hesitate to contact us, either by replying to this message directly or by contacting our Solar Customer Service Center (SCSC) Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 5:00pm at 1-877-743-4112."

It's moot for me now, since I've been on Ohmconnect since 2016, and you can only be enrolled in one demand response program. But I wonder if they changed the eligibility rules at some point, or are just carving out an exception for people on NEM3 - as anyone on this tariff would logically be expected to have solar?

And if so, is this PG&E's way of tricking NEM3 people into signing up for SmartRate, and then locking themselves out of possibly better rewards via say Tesla VPP or Ohmconnect? As any SANE person on NEM3 would have not just solar, but also batteries as well, and would be well suited to participating in one of these programs?

EDIT: IIRC, SmartRate used to be better back then than it is now. The penalty seems the same, $0.60/kwh for any net usage 4-9pm during up to 15 SmartDays, the credit seems worse $0.008/kwh for all other net usage during the four summer billing periods (I recall it being more like $0.02-0.03/kwh in the past). Moreover, since a few of the recent years have far less than 15 SmartDays, there's also a new clause that if there's no SmartDay during a billing period, you don't get the credits - that wasn't a clause way back when.

 

[BGbreeder]

And are we surprised that the utility has stacked the rate in their favor...?

Running the math on PG&E's offers never seems to pencil out to me, either...

All the best,

BG