SRP Demand Charge

[Chancellor32]

The biggest concern with solar in AZ with SRP is the demand charge. Enter the PW! Been over a week now with 0 demand and actually a negative demand! This is all while the AC is on and my house is nice and cool. Bill has dropped $5-$10 a day since turning on our system.

 

[D3xDt3Reaction]

View attachment 442512 View attachment 442511 View attachment 442510 The biggest concern with solar in AZ with SRP is the demand charge. Enter the PW! Been over a week now with 0 demand and actually a negative demand! This is all while the AC is on and my house is nice and cool. Bill has dropped $5-$10 a day since turning on our system.

That’s awesome. I’ll bet SRP won’t give you a negative demand charge for negative peak demand, though.

 

[Chancellor32]

That’s awesome. I’ll bet SRP won’t give you a negative demand charge for negative peak demand, though.

I wish they would! Another day of negative demand lol

 

[Darwin]

I’ll bet SRP won’t give you a negative demand charge for negative peak demand, though.

Yes, unfortunately, demand by definition can't be negative. To make it even worse, demand is not net metered over the 30 minute demand period. So if in a given half hour, you send 6kW net surplus power to the grid for 15 minutes and then consume 2 kW net for 15 minutes, your demand penalty will be (0 + 2kW)/2 = 1 kW for the 30 minute period, despite producing a net (-6kW + 2kw)/2 = -2 kW power surplus to the grid for that same 30 minute period.

This is one of many things that kills me about SRP's demand plans. In this example, you get charged a 1 kW demand fee, despite having provided 2kW of energy to the grid over a 30 minute period during peak demand hours. SRP charges you a demand fee despite having helped them with their demand problem, pays you only 6 cents per kW for you excess power, and then turns around and sells that excess power to your neighbor for 22 cents/kW.