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Need help with CA NEM 2.0.

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tomas

Out of warranty...
Supporting Member
Oct 22, 2012
4,345
4,266
Santa Barbara/New York
I’m very conversant with net metering in many states but new to CA and want to confirm my understanding of SCE distribution charges before I sign contract for install. If you have a 2.0 system and understand how all the charges work, please Dm (start conversation). Thx.
 
I am a PG&E customer plus a CCA for the generation portion. The California NEM2.0 are consistent between PG&E, SDG&E and SCE to the best of my understanding.

You have a CCA (SBCE) so you end with the split between the transmission+distribution costs from SCE and the generation cost from SBCE. What you actual costs are will depend very heavily on if you are a net consumer (both $$ and kWh) or a net generator (both $$ and kWh).

If you get to net $0 and 0 kWh at your annual true-up(s), you will pay at least the following:
  • Minimum Daily Charges (MDC) (PG&E is $0.34810/day)
  • Non-Bypassable Charges (NBC) on all imported kWh (PG&E is $0.02666/kWh)
  • Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) on imported-exported kWh (for PG&E it depends on the year and mine is $0.01985/kWh)
  • Franchise Fee Surcharge (FFS) on imported-exported kWh (PG&E is $0.00048/kWh)
Your monthly payment of MDCs offsets your NBCs, but not PCIA or FFS. You owe SCE max(0,NBC-MDC) plus the PCIA and FFS. Since you are $0 and 0 kWh you don't owe SBCE anything.

If you are a net generator and exported more kWh then you imported, then your NEM balance for SCE Trans+Dist and SBCE Gen should be negative, so you again for SCE you owe max(0,NBC-MDC) and SBCE as a nice SCE carries for the credit to the new year or send you a check based on their surplus generation rules and both balances reset to $0.

If you are a net consumer and imported more kWh than you exported, then your NEM balance for SCE Trans+Dist and SBCE Gen should be positive and those balances are what you would be paying minus the MDCs that you paid to SCE plus the NBCs on everything that all of the kWh that you imported.

Basically get as much solar on your house as you can, be cautious with your imports, but don't worry about it too much. I am a net generator and I paid just the MDCs over the year and my CCA cut me a check for $306 as my NBCs were lower than the MDCs. If you divide the MDC/NBC it comes to 13.1 kWh that you can on average import every day and not pay a cent more as a net generator.
 
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With a CCA, I found they don't accumulate charges, only credits.
Since the SCE delivery charges are the higher component of one kWH, over the year you create a credit with SCE faster than generation via CCA.
So generation nets to zero earlier in the year, and you lose the ability to offset generation usage with delivery credit, since the CCA bills every month.

Also the CCA can sometimes be late in billing, so the bill can be incomplete, with a double CCA component the next month.

I quit the local CCA went back to SCE for generation because it was impossible to keep accurate track of billed usage.

That wouldn't matter though if you know you are a net kWh exporter over the year.
 
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Thanks to all for input. My CCA (Santa Barbara Clean Energy) could not explain the distribution charges to my satisfaction, so this helps a lot.

Today, without Net Metering, I am paying SCE up to 26 cents per kWh distribution charges for the energy I import from the grid.

As I read the above, under NEM 2.0, I will be paying far less... NBCs of 2.6 cents for each kWh imported, plus some other minor fees depending on whether I'm a net importer or generator.

That makes the solar equation work for me. I have no idea yet where I will land regarding net importer or generator because I've made some usage changes over the last year... but my aim is to try to balance it out... if I over generate, maybe I can buy heat pump to replace my gas furnace and thereby add the ability to air condition (don't have it now, kind of hot sometimes!).
 
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This is not true for SCE.
Minimum Daily does not offset anything, it is a constant.
The only reduction there is the twice yearly Climate Adjustment, about $40-$50
The information on SCE website is absolutely horrendous and this "Understanding Your NEM2 Billing Statement", https://www.sce.com/sites/default/f...anding_Your_NEM_2_Billing_Statement+(1)_0.pdf, provides absolutely no understanding to me.

Still, the Minimum Daily Charge should be the minimum charge per day and it should be offset by any charges including the NBCs. If it was a fixed charge then it wouldn't be called "minimum". This is from the SCE website

Minimum Daily Charge​

A flat, daily charge that is applied if a customer’s total delivery charges fall below a minimum in a billing period (about $10 for a typical residential user). This charge supports the maintenance and operation of providing electricity
 
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WAIT! Just reading more material, and trying to foot it to this discussion. I cannot. Isn't this it?

Excluding MDC, PCIA, and FSS, which are less material....

Distribution:
* For every imported kWh offset by a kWh generated into the grid: you pay NBCs (~5 cents)
* For every imported kWh NOT offset by a kWh generated into the grid: you pay distribution costs by TOU (for me, 14 to 26 cents)

Supply
* For every imported kWh offset by a kWh generated into the grid by TOU: 0
* For every imported kWh NOT offset by a kWh generated into the grid: TOU supply cost from your utility or CCA (for me, 6 to 23 cents)
* For every generated kWh in excess of total imported from grid at true up: excess generation credit from your utility or CCA (for me, 6.5 cents)

Am I wrong?
 
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WAIT! Just reading more material, and trying to foot it to this discussion. I cannot. Isn't this it?

Excluding MDC, PCIA, and FSS, which are less material....

Distribution:
* For every imported kWh offset by a kWh generated into the grid: you pay NBCs (~5 cents)
* For every imported kWh NOT offset by a kWh generated into the grid: you pay distribution costs by TOU (for me, 14 to 26 cents)

Supply
* For every imported kWh offset by a kWh generated into the grid by TOU: 0
* For every imported kWh NOT offset by a kWh generated into the grid: TOU supply cost from your utility or CCA (for me, 6 to 23 cents)
* For every generated kWh in excess of total imported from grid at true up: excess generation credit from your utility or CCA (for me, 6.5 cents)

Am I wrong?
The NEM 2.0 distribution and generation import charge/export credit is at the TOU rates. So importing during off-peak lower rates and exporting as much as possible during peaks is beneficial.
 
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WAIT! Just reading more material, and trying to foot it to this discussion. I cannot. Isn't this it?

Excluding MDC, PCIA, and FSS, which are less material....

Distribution:
* For every imported kWh offset by a kWh generated into the grid: you pay NBCs (~5 cents)
* For every imported kWh NOT offset by a kWh generated into the grid: you pay distribution costs by TOU (for me, 14 to 26 cents)

Supply
* For every imported kWh offset by a kWh generated into the grid by TOU: 0
* For every imported kWh NOT offset by a kWh generated into the grid: TOU supply cost from your utility or CCA (for me, 6 to 23 cents)
* For every generated kWh in excess of total imported from grid at true up: excess generation credit from your utility or CCA (for me, 6.5 cents)

Am I wrong?
Your CCA should be 1:1 net metering for the Generation portion of the bill. They will make you pay every month that you owe them money, but they will accumulate credits until you use them up with positive charges or the end of the year comes around. If you start your annual cycle in the Winter and have paid them for a few months, then end the year with a credit, you should get back all the credit balance, up to what you already paid. Once you are back to $0 and there is remaining credit, you will only get more if you have surplus kWh for the whole year.
 
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Your CCA should be 1:1 net metering for the Generation portion of the bill. They will make you pay every month that you owe them money, but they will accumulate credits until you use them up with positive charges or the end of the year comes around. If you start your annual cycle in the Winter and have paid them for a few months, then end the year with a credit, you should get back all the credit balance, up to what you already paid. Once you are back to $0 and there is remaining credit, you will only get more if you have surplus kWh for the whole year.
I’m sorry, but you lost me…. My CCA doesn’t do distribution. SCE does. So CCA does net metering for supply, not distribution… right? How is CCA even involved in distribution charges? Did you mean Supply in first sentence?
 
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I’m sorry, but you lost me…. My CCA doesn’t do distribution. SCE does. So CCA does net metering for supply, not distribution… right? How is CCA even involved in distribution charges? Did you mean Supply in first sentence?
The CCA ONLY bills for Generation. SCE should be billing you for the total rates MINUS Generation. Then they add PCIA, and FFS that bundled customers don't pay or pay but don't see.
 
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