Figured I'd share my experience with my local utility from my project start to just about 1 year with solar.
My utility is JEA, which is a community owned utility and not investor owned like the majority of Florida utilities. This brings some positives, and some negatives.
First, the Florida investor-owned utilities have a published guide that requires $1M liability insurance for any systems over 10kw. JEA does not have that requirement, you only need a $1M policy if you have over 100kw. I had to present my findings, and a direct communication from JEA stating this to Tesla on four different occasions when they asked for my liability insurance policy over my order to install dates.
A downside is that JEA didn't approve the PW+ hardware, so Tesla had to re-engineer using the prior gen inverters. I think the jury is still out on whether that was good or bad, as I've been seeing many posts about PW+ inverter failures, far more than the prior gen. The biggest problem here was it extended the project timeline by at least nine months as Tesla and JEA worked out the equipment to be installed. (Ordered June 12, 2021, installed August 29, 2022, PTO Jan 2023). During this time, JEA's battery incentive went from $4,000 to $2,000, then went away completely the month before the system was installed. That really stunk, but I had moved it into the 'would be nice' category after the first year of waiting.
Tesla's experience with JEA was apparently so bad, that they abandoned my area to third-party installers. I think I was one of the last they delivered to. You can still get a quote from Tesla.com/solar, however the prices have increased over 40% from what I paid through Tesla directly, and it calls out 'third party installers' when you get a quote.
PTO seemed to take longer than it should have, but I think Tesla was partly to blame for this. The system was inspected by the county two days after install, but Tesla 'didn't get the memo' until my third or fourth call to check status (before I got someone who knew what was going on). They were waiting on the inspection to complete, and I got a screenshot of the county permits website that showed it had passed inspection (this was into November). Once they got that through Tesla's system, it was about 60 days for JEA to inspect and swap the meter with a 2 way. Part of that delay I'm sure was Tesla scheduling their installer to be present for the inspection and meter swap.
Billing: JEA not only provides electricity, but water and sewer also. I hadn't thought about the implications of this, but it turned out to be very positive. JEA, like many other providers, has a meter fee (basic monthly charge) of $15. However, when I generate more than I use, that PV T2 credit goes against that monthly fee and I get negative costs for my electric bill. Those negative electric costs then go against my water and sewer bill instead of being piled up and sent as a 1099 and (possibly) taxed.
Anyways, if anyone is looking at solar and is with JEA, I figured this would help answer some questions that I had and have experienced in the last year.
My utility is JEA, which is a community owned utility and not investor owned like the majority of Florida utilities. This brings some positives, and some negatives.
First, the Florida investor-owned utilities have a published guide that requires $1M liability insurance for any systems over 10kw. JEA does not have that requirement, you only need a $1M policy if you have over 100kw. I had to present my findings, and a direct communication from JEA stating this to Tesla on four different occasions when they asked for my liability insurance policy over my order to install dates.
A downside is that JEA didn't approve the PW+ hardware, so Tesla had to re-engineer using the prior gen inverters. I think the jury is still out on whether that was good or bad, as I've been seeing many posts about PW+ inverter failures, far more than the prior gen. The biggest problem here was it extended the project timeline by at least nine months as Tesla and JEA worked out the equipment to be installed. (Ordered June 12, 2021, installed August 29, 2022, PTO Jan 2023). During this time, JEA's battery incentive went from $4,000 to $2,000, then went away completely the month before the system was installed. That really stunk, but I had moved it into the 'would be nice' category after the first year of waiting.
Tesla's experience with JEA was apparently so bad, that they abandoned my area to third-party installers. I think I was one of the last they delivered to. You can still get a quote from Tesla.com/solar, however the prices have increased over 40% from what I paid through Tesla directly, and it calls out 'third party installers' when you get a quote.
PTO seemed to take longer than it should have, but I think Tesla was partly to blame for this. The system was inspected by the county two days after install, but Tesla 'didn't get the memo' until my third or fourth call to check status (before I got someone who knew what was going on). They were waiting on the inspection to complete, and I got a screenshot of the county permits website that showed it had passed inspection (this was into November). Once they got that through Tesla's system, it was about 60 days for JEA to inspect and swap the meter with a 2 way. Part of that delay I'm sure was Tesla scheduling their installer to be present for the inspection and meter swap.
Billing: JEA not only provides electricity, but water and sewer also. I hadn't thought about the implications of this, but it turned out to be very positive. JEA, like many other providers, has a meter fee (basic monthly charge) of $15. However, when I generate more than I use, that PV T2 credit goes against that monthly fee and I get negative costs for my electric bill. Those negative electric costs then go against my water and sewer bill instead of being piled up and sent as a 1099 and (possibly) taxed.
Anyways, if anyone is looking at solar and is with JEA, I figured this would help answer some questions that I had and have experienced in the last year.
