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Received PG&E electric bill for $1,042.49!

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jboy210

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Dec 2, 2016
7,906
5,415
Northern California
Hi,

I think this bill is because we are moving from PG&E to East Bay Community Energy so we need to true-up for the last 7 months. But still, that number is a bit surprising.

I need to dig into those 12-page NEM statements they have been sending me to fully understand where these charges are coming from.
 
That document is the most difficult to understand but yes your right. When you switch, you activate true-up right away, and that also becomes your new true-up with EBCE. I decided to stay on PG&E, and rejected the auto move to EBCE.

The best thing to do is call that number at the bottom of the Page 1 (1-800-743-5000). Don't call the main PG&E line as they don't know how to read that "black/white" report as they call it, only the "blue/white" bill you get.

The guys on this special PG&E line are well versed in this report, and can walk you through every single page. What they will tell you is that only page 1 (front) and page 2 (back) are the most relevant to you to understand why your true-up cost is so high. It breaks it all down right there for you.

Online the main PG&E, the staff on this special line are also very happy to help you out online the main line.
 
unfortunately your switch over missed the summer months where you would likely decrease the true up significantly.
That said, make sure they were in fact crediting you for your production. When I added PWs, they messed up my billing and I was no longer getting credit for my generation to the grid. Took me ~6 weeks to get it corrected and they back credited my bills (B&W)

You will see a page in the B&W bill that shows "Exported to the Grid" and "Solar Generation Eligible for Credit". On mine it is page 2. Thosse 2 numbers should match unless you hit a limit. When mine was messed up, it would show for example -659 exported to grid, zero eligible for credit
 
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one more thing, you can use a payment plan to pay off the large bill at no interest. It is something like 14 installments. Thats what I did because I got one of those large true ups when I added PWs. Changed from July true up to May true up and got the same surprise.

Hopefully you can still do the installments even though you switched to Community Energy
 
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So we have a community aggregate, Silicon Valley Clean Energy, and their annual true up is in April so coming up on seeing that for the first time. They give 1-to-1 credit.

Then we also have a true up with PG&E even though we were SVCE customers before our solar/PWs went in. That one is in November (our PTO came in October). Don’t really understand why we have two true-ups but we do. We pay our PG&E bill each month which includes the like $10 fee for being a SVCE customer.
 
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one more thing, you can use a payment plan to pay off the large bill at no interest. It is something like 14 installments. Thats what I did because I got one of those large true ups when I added PWs. Changed from July true up to May true up and got the same surprise.

Hopefully you can still do the installments even though you switched to Community Energy
Thanks. I will just pay it if the numbers match. Still better than the $300-400/mo electric bills we used to get.
 
unfortunately your switch over missed the summer months where you would likely decrease the true up significantly.
That said, make sure they were in fact crediting you for your production. When I added PWs, they messed up my billing and I was no longer getting credit for my generation to the grid. Took me ~6 weeks to get it corrected and they back credited my bills (B&W)

You will see a page in the B&W bill that shows "Exported to the Grid" and "Solar Generation Eligible for Credit". On mine it is page 2. Thosse 2 numbers should match unless you hit a limit. When mine was messed up, it would show for example -659 exported to grid, zero eligible for credit
I am interested how adding the PWs had an impact on the bill. I just got my system installed so looking forward to seeing how it will all play out with PWs and PV.