PG&E NEM 2.0

[aesculus]

While it's a moot point I guess, my biggest issue was why the constraints should be applied to your entire energy production and storage system vs the amount you have been cleared to move across the wire. Again if you produce and consume most of the energy behind the meter, the utilities still have been given access and control over your entire system. It would seem to me that it would have been easy to put a limit on the system (through the inverters?) that only allowed you to send back whatever amount you contracted for (your agreed to max excess) and also limit the utilities control over that much of your energy.

BTW I have no issues with the power quality stuff although requiring me to increase VARs outside of a unity requirement seems that I should get paid for that.

 

[miimura]

While it's a moot point I guess, my biggest issue was why the constraints should be applied to your entire energy production and storage system vs the amount you have been cleared to move across the wire. Again if you produce and consume most of the energy behind the meter, the utilities still have been given access and control over your entire system. It would seem to me that it would have been easy to put a limit on the system (through the inverters?) that only allowed you to send back whatever amount you contracted for (your agreed to max excess) and also limit the utilities control over that much of your energy.

BTW I have no issues with the power quality stuff although requiring me to increase VARs outside of a unity requirement seems that I should get paid for that.

If you interconnect a traditional grid-tied system to the grid, it is always possible for the full system output to pass to the grid. That's why they get some say over it - there are no established technological means to limit the grid export to a utility defined value. However, you could design the system so that it was not directly AC connected to the grid. For example, it is possible to use hybrid inverters such that they cannot export, they can only charge the battery bank from solar or charge from the grid when at low SOC. That kind of system should be immune to some or all utility oversight.

Thanks for the earlier link to the Aurora Solar blog explaining NEM 2.0. That is a good and simple explanation. However, it does not address PG&E's actual billing practice. There are NBC Adjustments that are not explained there. I have never seen a good explanation for those adjustments.

 

[aesculus]

there are no established technological means to limit the grid export to a utility defined value.

As much effort as went into what they did craft it would have been real easy to put some sort of cap on it.

Thanks for the earlier link to the Aurora Solar blog explaining NEM 2.0. That is a good and simple explanation. However, it does not address PG&E's actual billing practice. There are NBC Adjustments that are not explained there. I have never seen a good explanation for those adjustments.

I agree but I think the rest of the costs are a bit of a rounding area compared to what they did articulate.

I think there was a follow on blog to the one I quoted (a part 2) but I did not chase it down.

 

[mblakele]

Today I received my first annual true-up from PG&E under NEM2. It came with a surprise. It turns out I was missing something important about NBC, and the PG&E "Summary of NEM YTD Charges" wasn't helping. As a result, instead of being close to zero like I expected, I owe PG&E about $170.

I'm on EV-A, and I'm signed up with PCE. Comparing bills, I think part of the problem was that I had confused NBC and MDC (minimum delivery charge). I've been paying around $10/mo for MDC, and for some reason I thought that was paying for each month's NBC. Not so. I should have paid more attention to this language:

The Minimum Delivery Charge is billed monthly and credited at True-Up if the total NEM Charges Before Taxes or total State Mandated Non-Bypassable Charges are greater than your cumulative Minimum Delivery Charges. Refer to Detail of NEM Charges page for details about the State Mandated Non-Bypassable Charges.​

Also:

This amount [MDC] can include applicable discounts and may be deducted at True-Up if your total NEM Charges Before Taxes are greater than your total Minimum Delivery Charges.​

Well, OK. I knew NBC would be part of the NEM2 package. But does PG&E show you when you are piling up a large NBC total for true-up? Not that I can see. The NEM summary in each monthly bill shows "YTD Estimated NEM Charges At True-Up", which is what led me to believe I'd be close to zero. There's also a line item "NBC Net Usage Adjustment" for each month, and I think that if I totaled that up for the year it'd be the true-up NBC total. But if there's a running total of NBC on each monthly bill, I haven't been able to find it. I think it's up to NEM2 customers to track that.

What could I do to minimize NBC at true-up? My net off-peak usage was 6-MWh, roughly equal to my gross solar generation, while net grid usage was 3.6-MWh. Perhaps I should mentally add about 5-c/kWh to my off-peak rate, taking it up to about 18-c/kWh. But my big draws are EV charging and electric heat, so increasing self-consumption is difficult.

In the big picture, this NBC total was only about $14/mo. That won't break my budget, but I figure it may push out the payback period for my rooftop solar by 1-3 years. Would a powerwall or other battery help? Probably, but I haven't tried to model it yet.

The final surprise at true-up was from Peninsula Clean Energy. On page 7 their section of the bill still shows me a positive "PCE NEM Credit Balance" of about $280, and no mention of true-up. I guess I can't expect to apply that PCE credit to the total NBC, because it's non-bypassable. Did that credit go up in smoke? I may have to contact PCE to find out. Or wait for the next bill.

Anyway I hope some of this may be useful if NEM2 true-up is in your future.

 

[mblakele]

My net off-peak usage was 6-MWh, roughly equal to my gross solar generation, while net grid usage was 3.6-MWh. Perhaps I should mentally add about 5-c/kWh to my off-peak rate, taking it up to about 18-c/kWh. But my big draws are EV charging and electric heat, so increasing self-consumption is difficult.

Another way to look at this: say my self-consumption was about 2.4-MWh and so my total annual consumption was 8.4-MWh. If my amortized solar cost is $600/yr, then my total for the year was a little under $900. Call it 10-11 c/kWh: I'm comfortable with that.

However I'd still rather not have that annual NBC surprise. I wonder if it would make sense for PG&E to bill both NBC and MDC monthly, instead of letting the NBC accrue all year? Then I'd have have bills around $20-35/mo, instead of $10/mo for MDC alone. Am I missing a potential problem with that?

 

[mblakele]

The final surprise at true-up was from Peninsula Clean Energy. On page 7 their section of the bill still shows me a positive "PCE NEM Credit Balance" of about $280, and no mention of true-up. I guess I can't expect to apply that PCE credit to the total NBC, because it's non-bypassable. Did that credit go up in smoke? I may have to contact PCE to find out. Or wait for the next bill.

I think I found an answer to the PCE question:

Peninsula Clean Energy

• Premium credits: surplus electricity produced is credited at $0.01/kWh above the retail value
• Credits roll-over: credits roll over each month help offset any generation charges throughout the year
• Annual cash-out: PCE cuts you a check every April for any unused credits over $100 (if less than $100, credits roll-over)

 

[miimura]

Another way to look at this: say my self-consumption was about 2.4-MWh and so my total annual consumption was 8.4-MWh. If my amortized solar cost is $600/yr, then my total for the year was a little under $900. Call it 10-11 c/kWh: I'm comfortable with that.

However I'd still rather not have that annual NBC surprise. I wonder if it would make sense for PG&E to bill both NBC and MDC monthly, instead of letting the NBC accrue all year? Then I'd have have bills around $20-35/mo, instead of $10/mo for MDC alone. Am I missing a potential problem with that?

On my bills, there was a table of accumulated MDCs already paid. The NBC should also be calculated each month and added to your true-up. After the NBCs are added to your true-up, credits can offset them. Your situation is slightly more complicated than @Ulmo earlier in this thread because your are on the PCE CCA. However, you just have a Generation Credit line before your true-up amount is totaled, then you have another page just for PCE charges. It is a little bit strange that PCE says they issue credits in April instead of after true-up.

 

[mblakele]

On my bills, there was a table of accumulated MDCs already paid. The NBC should also be calculated each month and added to your true-up. After the NBCs are added to your true-up, credits can offset them. Your situation is slightly more complicated than @Ulmo earlier in this thread because your are on the PCE CCA. However, you just have a Generation Credit line before your true-up amount is totaled, then you have another page just for PCE charges. It is a little bit strange that PCE says they issue credits in April instead of after true-up.

Thanks. I see the accumulated MDC. But as far as I can tell PG&E does not include my total NBC in the monthly NEM true-up estimate. That only seems to cover ordinary charges, and I only see a monthly line item for NBC.

The PCE timing is a bit odd, but I suppose it makes the paperwork easier for them. Working their credit balance into my estimate, it should almost exactly cancel out what I’m paying PG&E in MDC and NBC. Over the past 12 months I paid PCE less than one dollar. In all but one month I had a PCE credit balance.

With that in mind my solar ROI should work out pretty well. Based on the 12 months before PTO, I estimate net operating costs near zero and payback in less than 7 years.

 

[mblakele]

On my bills, there was a table of accumulated MDCs already paid. The NBC should also be calculated each month and added to your true-up. After the NBCs are added to your true-up, credits can offset them. Your situation is slightly more complicated than @Ulmo earlier in this thread because your are on the PCE CCA. However, you just have a Generation Credit line before your true-up amount is totaled, then you have another page just for PCE charges. It is a little bit strange that PCE says they issue credits in April instead of after true-up.

Thanks. I see the accumulated MDC. But as far as I can tell PG&E does not include my total NBC in the monthly NEM true-up estimate. That only seems to cover ordinary charges, and I only see a monthly line item for NBC.

I finally got around to building a simple spreadsheet to track NBCs for NEM2. Based on my last few bills, it looks like PG&E tracks two separate true-up estimates, and my bill shows whichever is greater:

• Estimated Total NEM Charges, as displayed on p3 of every bill
• Total of: NBC + PCIA - MDC

The trick is that while my bill shows NBC and PCIA for the current period, the second NBC-based estimate is only visible on bills where it's greater than the "Estimated Total NEM Charges". After my last true-up the first few bills showed the NBC-based estimate, and then it disappeared in favor of the larger "Estimated Total NEM Charges".

Anyway now that I'm tracking that second estimate myself, my next true-up should be less of a surprise.

 

[Ampster]

This is an update to this thread to mention that my July 2019 PG&E bill now shows an accumulated NBC charge on page 1 and repeats on page 3 together with NEM credits. I currently run a NEM credit but have 7 months to go on my relevant period.

 

[FlatSix911]

This is an update to this thread to mention that my July 2019 PG&E bill now shows an accumulated NBC charge on page 1 and repeats on page 3 together with NEM credits. I currently run a NEM credit but have 7 months to go on my relevant period.

Congrats!

 

[Ulmo]

The local county-based billing agencies are having a field day doing billing for these types of solar accounts. I just read this month's bill and it is a mess of corrections and credits for months past. It transfers almost all monies in the electric portion to a black hole of "True-Up", which it does not summarize anywhere. I feel sorry for people trying to read their bills if they have solar. I have a half decent chance of understanding it, but most people would probably go nuts trying to understand it. The thing of it is, it doesn't tell us what the balance is on the True-Up! What nuts! Maybe they're treating me different since I also have storage.

 

[miimura]

About 3 or 4 months after my Powerwall PTO I got a Corrected bill that reversed out all the charges since the PTO date and started up the Black and White bills that are now labeled "NEM Paired Storage Account". A while back it used to say something about NEM-MT, which meant Multi-Tariff. Anyway, now that they have the systems in place to check you solar exports versus what they're supposed to be, they have a dedicated billing for battery Paired Storage systems.

 

[Ampster]

I am wondering if @mblakele got his second True-Up and if it was a surprise or tracked like he thought? His last one was August 2018

 

[mblakele]

I am wondering if @mblakele got his second True-Up and if it was a surprise or tracked like he thought? His last one was August 2018

True-up tracked my spreadsheet closely, except for a surprise extra tax. For the first few months NBCs dominated, then NEM, then in the true-up month NBCs came back to the top. I think that’s an artifact of my situation: electric heat, no air conditioning, and a true-up in late summer. The PG&E bills still don’t show all the info I’d like, so I track it myself.

 

[mblakele]

I finally got around to building a simple spreadsheet to track NBCs for NEM2. Based on my last few bills, it looks like PG&E tracks two separate true-up estimates, and my bill shows whichever is greater:

• Estimated Total NEM Charges, as displayed on p3 of every bill
• Total of: NBC + PCIA - MDC

The trick is that while my bill shows NBC and PCIA for the current period, the second NBC-based estimate is only visible on bills where it's greater than the "Estimated Total NEM Charges". After my last true-up the first few bills showed the NBC-based estimate, and then it disappeared in favor of the larger "Estimated Total NEM Charges".

Anyway now that I'm tracking that second estimate myself, my next true-up should be less of a surprise.

Guess what? I received my latest true-up and it turns out there's a third way to calculate NEM2 true-up. Apparently it's the greater of the NEM balance, the NBC+PCIA-MDC calculation, and the sum of all monthly PCIA charges. I guess this is the first time PCIA has dominated that calculation for me, even though I've been in the PCE CCA/CCE the whole time.

The true-up statement from PG&E billed me for $35 and specified "Total Power Charge Indifference Adjustment". Since I was already tracking PCIA for each bill, it was easy to add up the numbers and verify. Rough numbers:

• Net NEM: -90
• Net NBC: 15
• Net PCIA: 35
• True-up: 35

I also went back to last year and verified that the PCIA calculation came out lower than the NBC calculation:

• Net NEM: 25
• Net NBC: 125
• Net PCIA: 100
• True-up: 125

Last year the true-up was for $125, matching the NBC calculation. I figure PCIA dominated this time because of reduced EV charging during lockdown, plus efforts to self-consume as much of my own generation as possible.

Derned if I can find a mumblin' word about all this at Understanding NEM though, or anywhere on PG&E's web site. And last month the statement estimated that my true-up would be a zero.

Not that I believed them, because I was tracking my NBCs and figured it'd be more like $10-20. Anyway I hope this is helpful for others who have NEM2 and pay PCIA.