Should I not be paying my NEM balance (SDGE, NEM2.0)?

[kman42]

I have had solar for less than a year and I am set to true-up this week. I have $577 in credits remaining. I have been paying my whole bill every month, including the NEM balance that it says I don't have to pay. I am, perhaps belatedly, realizing that I may have screwed myself with this approach. If I hadn't paid my NEM balance every month, then the credits would have been used toward them, right? Instead, since I paid them, I'll be getting a paltry 3-4 cents per kW for my excess usage. Am I thinking about this correctly? What's the appropriate strategy?

Thanks!

 

[jjrandorin]

I have been paying my whole bill every month, including the NEM balance that it says I don't have to pay

You should only be paying monthly what it tells you to pay monthly. You were not supposed to be paying the portion they told you that you didnt have to pay. When True up happens, then you settle up.

 

[kman42]

When I look at my previous bills, it looks like the NEM balance (the amount the told me I didn’t have to pay) adds up to the non-bypassable charges and a couple of fees (e.g. fire) which won’t get covered by generation credits. Not sure why they have to make it so complicated.