Explain my Annual Settlement SCE bill to me like I am 5

[Az_Rael]

Ok, got my "settlement bill" from SCE today, which I think is my annual "true-up" bill everyone talks about with solar.

Trying to make some sense of it. I am NEM 2.0, so been paying ~$20 or so a month unless there was a climate credit applied.

So the Summary of Billing Detail appears to be a new section that wasn't on my previous monthly bills. There is a credit listed as a "billing adjustment" for -$4.49.

Next I see my annual totals in the sidebar. This has been showing in every NEM bill with cumulative totals. I can see I have built up a "energy generation credit" amount of -$916.98. My year to date energy billed charges was $4.49 (is this where the "billing adjustment" amount came from?) I also have a positive year to date kWh so I am not a net generator I think.

Is that -$916.98 generation credit going to be reset to $0 next month? Since I only had $4.49 in billed charges (other than the $157 I paid in NBCs throughout the year)? Or will it keep rolling over somehow? It doesn't seem like I can spend those credits.

I guess I was hoping those energy generation credits would somehow come into play at the end of the year to offset those darn NBCs I have been paying. But maybe I had to be a net generator for that?

This may sound dumb, but I almost want to turn off my system for 1 month out of the year just so I can burn down those generation credits so they aren't such a high number. "cash them in" as it were.



Sorry for the newb "solar 101" type post, but they really don't make this easy to understand.

 

[miimura]

The $916.98 credit will be zeroed out because (it looks like) you were still a net consumer of 4,542 kWh over the course of the year. You cannot get a refund on TOU credits if you were still a net consumer. You cannot use the Generation Credit to offset the NBCs. That is the whole point of the NBCs - to get you to pay more for the kWh you consume from the grid.

If you want to get more value from your Generation Credit, convert some gas appliances to electric or convert more gas cars to EV, or invite friends over to charge their cars, or run your A/C at a more comfortable temperature, or.... run your Powerwalls in Self-Powered mode so you reduce your NBCs by drawing less power from the grid.

Most likely, if you were on a CCA, that Generation Credit would be about a $400 to $500 actual refund. My CCA pays out your generation balance with them, which would be equivalent to the bottom portion of your bill. Any credits from the Delivery Charges portion would still be wiped out by the utility.

 

[North75]

The $916.98 credit will be zeroed out because (it looks like) you were still a net consumer of 4,542 kWh over the course of the year. You cannot get a refund on TOU credits if you were still a net consumer. You cannot use the Generation Credit to offset the NBCs. That is the whole point of the NBCs - to get you to pay more for the kWh you consume from the grid.

If you want to get more value from your Generation Credit, convert some gas appliances to electric or convert more gas cars to EV, or invite friends over to charge their cars, or run your A/C at a more comfortable temperature, or.... run your Powerwalls in Self-Powered mode so you reduce your NBCs by drawing less power from the grid.

Most likely, if you were on a CCA, that Generation Credit would be about a $400 to $500 actual refund. My CCA pays out your generation balance with them, which would be equivalent to the bottom portion of your bill. Any credits from the Delivery Charges portion would still be wiped out by the utility.

I'm older than 5, and don't understand this "explanation" at all.

 

[cwied]

I'm older than 5, and don't understand this "explanation" at all.

I'm not sure it's possible to explain this to a 5 year old in a way that would answer any of the questions in the original post.

The advice given is correct - the extra generation credit can't be used against non-bypassable charges (NBC's). That's what they mean by "non-bypassable" - you must pay them. The best way to avoid losing credits is to use more electricity.

Community Choice Aggregators (CCA's) are local government organized power purchasing entities that buy power for those who join. They typically offer better terms for the generation credits than the utilities. In particular, it appears that many CCA's pay out the excess credit at true-up rather than just letting it expire. The CCA in my area does that. The way the CCA works is that they provide the generation part and you still pay the utility for delivery, which is why it only helps on the generation side.

Maybe the ELI5 is "use it or lose it" unless there is a CCA available.

 

[Az_Rael]

If you want to get more value from your Generation Credit, convert some gas appliances to electric or convert more gas cars to EV, or invite friends over to charge their cars, or run your A/C at a more comfortable temperature, or.... run your Powerwalls in Self-Powered mode so you reduce your NBCs by drawing less power from the grid.

Well, we already have 2 EVs for daily drivers (25k miles per year each) and I am already running the Powerwalls self powered. I could probably reduce my NBCs if I could charge during the day when the solar is up, but unfortunately I work days. I could run the AC cooler and may do that. I AM getting a hot tub installed in a few weeks though. That will help I am sure, LOL. I am not in any CCA territory, unfortunately.

I am still chewing in my brain if I turn off the panels, would that turn into “free electricity” at least until my credits run down. Would have to do the math on the NBCs which I would increase with that plan, so, meh, probably a battle only won in my mind.

Funny thing is Tesla wanted to sell me a system that was even bigger than I have by about 4kW. They were trying to offset 100% of my usage. Seeing how this works, that probably would have been even more wasted money. I guess I have some future proofing for when they make peak hours during the night and the super off peak rates during the day, which it seems like they are slowly working towards.

I'm older than 5, and don't understand this "explanation" at all.

LOL, I was using a phrase common on Reddit. I think I got the gist of the explanation, which was helpful. I will zero out next month, so I “wasted” some credits with the utility. It is too bad most of the guides you read online about NEM and the credits, don’t really spell out the nuance about needing to be a net generator to get them. Or if they do, I certainly didn’t catch that when I was sizing my system.

 

[miimura]

I'm older than 5, and don't understand this "explanation" at all.

A lot of the terminology used in this thread is particular to California utilities.
I felt I answered with reasonable clarity based on the original post.

 

[miimura]

I am still chewing in my brain if I turn off the panels, would that turn into “free electricity” at least until my credits run down. Would have to do the math on the NBCs which I would increase with that plan, so, meh, probably a battle only won in my mind.

Turning the solar off doesn't make any sense because you've already paid for it unless you're on a PPA. The extra TOU credits you ended the year with are just a result of the rate structure allowing you to earn more credits at certain times of the day. That will change.

Funny thing is Tesla wanted to sell me a system that was even bigger than I have by about 4kW. They were trying to offset 100% of my usage. Seeing how this works, that probably would have been even more wasted money. I guess I have some future proofing for when they make peak hours during the night and the super off peak rates during the day, which it seems like they are slowly working towards.

Be glad you didn't get the larger system. You would feel even worse about the surplus generation credits. You are right about the future rate plans. At the first opportunity they can get, the utility will devalue your midday generation to Off-Peak price. That is already the plan for the future EV rate in PG&E territory. When you are charging your cars at the same price as your generation, your extra credits will disappear.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

We probably only have a few more years of this nonsense until something more rational is put in place. For now, 5 year old, you're being hosed by a utility that can't figure out how to bridge the huge revenue hole solar is creating.

 

[NuShrike]

There's a lot of ways to burn off/cap the surplus credit into refundable money. There are "machines" that exist now that turn surplus kWh into $.

Figure it out.

 

[Az_Rael]

There's a lot of ways to burn off/cap the surplus credit into refundable money. There are "machines" that exist now that turn surplus kWh into $.

Figure it out.

LOL, I ran an ethereum miner for fun for a little bit, which is what I assume you are referring to.

 

[NuShrike]

LOL, I ran an ethereum miner for fun for a little bit, which is what I assume you are referring to.

They at least offset the NBCs, if not more. ^_^

Oh, because I was at 100% Green Rate subscription, on my recent tru-up I had to pay SCE ~$70 for the year on YTD energy charges of negative $700+. Quite a surprise.

I'm now at 50% GR subscription.

I've also just unsubscribed from their Smart Energy Program (that links with a smart thermostat), because those Climate-Credits are worthless on my balance, and it now conflicts with OhmConnect.