California Public Utilities Commission looking to change rates

[Riverside Solar]

How many months of the year will you

Seems like sizing a system just got a bit more difficult. That $10 minimum charge will eat up a lot of the credits banked during the low usage, high production Spring months. We now have to ask, how many months of the year will you pay the minimum charge even though you don't use any power? Better to pay the minimum charge for a few months rather than year round though. I'm guessing most 80% coverage systems will pay $10 at least three months of the year. Would there ever be a scenario where you over produce on purpose in an attempt to offset the $10? Likely not since the roi on the larger system would probably never happen. But I suppose one never knows when it comes to electric rates.

Did I see 21 cents as the new tier 1 price? Ouch in Riverside we pay about 10 cents for tier one and it expands to about 500 kWhrs in the summer. We do however pay $10 or $20 a month as a fixed charge depending on the main panel size. $10 for 100amp $20 between 100 and 200 amp and more for 400 amp service panels.

[J.P.M.]

I'm going to wait a few days until the dust settles before I start pricing revisions to my stuff. I'd rather not do that too many times because those people keep farting around.

[sensij]

Picker's revised proposal passed unanimously. Some discussion in this link.

I see the $10 minimum charge as an incentive to *not* overproduce. If you are going to be paying anyway, you might as well get some energy for it. The minimum bill can not get wiped out by net metering credits... it is a real charge, not a paper charge. I think overproducing at $0.04 / kWh for no reason except to pay the minimums would be an awful financial decision for most. Making it somewhat less painful, the CA Climate credit largely offsets SDG&E's current 0.17 / day charge (~5.00 / mo), although the minimum is likely to go up to $10/mo this year (SDG&E suggests November).

As Friday’s decision states: “At least one opt-in TOU rate should include the default TOU attributes set in this decision: (i) a baseline credit, (ii) no super user electric surcharge, and (iii) a minimum bill rather than a fixed monthly charge. Alternative opt-in TOU rates can be offered with different features (i.e., no baseline credit, added super user electric surcharge, fixed monthly charge).”

Section 11.2.4 of the decision (pages 289-296) is most directly focused on SDG&E. The approved glidepath is as follows:

Glidepath.GIF

Putting that in perspective...

If tier 1 is fixed at $0.18 / kWh

2015 - up to 100% / up to 130% / >130% = $0.18 / $0.203 / $0.392
2016 - up to 130% / >130% = $0.18 / $0.299
2017 - up to 130% / up to 400% / >400% = $0.18 / $0.253
2018 - up to 130% / up to 400% / >400% = $0.18 / $0.243 / $0.342
2019 - up to 130% / up to 400% / >400% = $0.18 / $0.225 / $0.394

Tier 1 will not be held constant at 0.18, of course... it will increase as needed to keep the overall revenue constant as the higher tier price decreases, with up to 5% increase allowed on top of that. I would guess at least $0.24 by 2018, maybe higher. The other piece of bad news is that since tiers 1 and 2 will be combined next year, the baseline allocation will also be reduced by a few percent... so really, the 130% of the new baseline might be more like 120%-125% of today's.

Looking ahead, TOU plan design and rates should be where most of the interesting stuff is happening. By 2019, tiered plans will no longer be the default rate, although at least one will still be available to opt-in. The uncertainly of the TOU design makes projecting the cost effectiveness of a PV installation even more difficult, since the tiered plan may turn out not to be the best choice as new options are introduced.

[FUN4ME]

Does anyone know if existing solar customers will be "GRAND-FATHERED IN" to their current rate structure? or is the $10.00 a month charge across the board?
Once upon a time I though that I read that we would be grand-fathered in for 20 years. I am with SCE if that matters.

Thanks Erich

[sensij]

The net metering grandfathering offers two basic protections:

1) Solar customers will have access to the same rate plans as non-solar customers.
2) The credit you receive for exporting energy back to the grid will be equal to the price you would have paid had you bought that energy and consumed it.

It will not protect you against changes in the rate design, and if a $10 minimum bill is incorporated into the tariff you are on, you will have to pay it. There are lobbying groups (CALSEIA, schools, etc) who are pushing for some kind of transition period when TOU plans change, and my loose reading of the CPUC decisions suggests that 5 years may become the typical transition time. SCE's TOU-D-A and TOU-D-B were just launched this year, and should have some time before major changes occur. However, the current TOU plans out there are mostly experimental or pilot in nature, and will probably be replaced by something else as customers become more aware of TOU and utilities learn more about how to price them, and as they comply with the guidelines CPUC has laid out.

[J.P.M.]

Does anyone know if existing solar customers will be "GRAND-FATHERED IN" to their current rate structure? or is the $10.00 a month charge across the board?
Once upon a time I though that I read that we would be grand-fathered in for 20 years. I am with SCE if that matters.

Thanks Erich

Short answer: Everyone gets hit the same way, whatever that is.

The rest: In CA, for the cust. of I.O.U's affected by the recent CPUC ruling and AB 327, net metering is grandfathered for 20 yrs. for the installation, provided it slipped in under the 5% cap. Users and owners of any such system, including original and subsequent owners, will be allowed net metering for the account that system feeds.

However, that's a different matter than tariff structure(s) and billing.

All users, solar or not, are and will continue to be subject to all rates and changes that affect all users. Whether tiered, T.O.U. or other rate tariffs, all customers on any particular tariff in the same location are billed the same way, solar users and non solar users alike.

Net metering and how customers are billed for what they use are two different matters. All customers, solar and non solar are, and will continue to be subject to the same rate tariffs in the same ways. The diff. is that current and future solar array owners (for 20 yrs. from array PTO anyway) will have the current sweetheart net metering to reduce the amount of electricity they are billed for using whatever tariff they're on, either now or in the future.

If that were not the case, solar array owners would not only have a great deal, but their rates would be frozen for 20 years. That would really be a sweetheart deal. I suppose you could say that a 100% offset array accomplishes close to the same thing, but probably in a non cost effective way.

[FUN4ME]

Thanks for the replies, I figured you guy's would be more in the know.

So going forward in time, is solar going to become less attractive than it is today?
I have friends that want to go solar, should I tell them to hurry and get it done?

Also do you know about when the 5% cap was met, I was one of the last to get the CSI rebates.

Thanks again Erich

[sensij]

The 5% cap has not been hit yet. For SDG&E, it looks like 1 year or less until it is reached. For SCE, it looks unlikely to get hit before the July 1, 2017 deadline, which is the hard stop for net metering availability in its current form. PG&E might be in early 2017. You can follow monthly reports on the cap in this thread.

Whatever replaces net metering is unlikely to be as favorable as the current agreement. It isn't clear yet what it will be.

[sparkle]

few things which were passed in CA
1) min bill of $10/month
2) E6 will be slowly phased out over 5 years. people can still opt for it before end of year
3) two tiers instead of current 4

anyone knows if overage (difference in day rate vs night rate) can be used to offset min bill ? if not, then probably I will install additional air conditioner.. LOL..

[sensij]

few things which were passed in CA
1) min bill of $10/month
2) E6 will be slowly phased out over 5 years. people can still opt for it before end of year
3) two tiers instead of current 4

anyone knows if overage (difference in day rate vs night rate) can be used to offset min bill ? if not, then probably I will install additional air conditioner.. LOL..

Yeah, one other thread on the topic:

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showthread.php?22046-SDGE-New-Rate-Info-Posted-on-Website

The minimum bill is hard cash, it can't be paid with net metering credits. It can be paid with the ~$0.04 / kWh excess generation credit (or whatever they call it) that gets paid out at the end of the year, but no one should really want to do that.

[SunEagle]

Yeah, one other thread on the topic:

http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showthread.php?22046-SDGE-New-Rate-Info-Posted-on-Website

The minimum bill is hard cash, it can't be paid with net metering credits. It can be paid with the ~$0.04 / kWh excess generation credit (or whatever they call it) that gets paid out at the end of the year, but no one should really want to do that.

To be clear. Is that the new rate for only SDGE or all CA POCO's?

[J.P.M.]

To be clear. Is that the new rate for only SDGE or all CA POCO's?

AB 327 mandated the changes for the I.O.U.'s (the big 3 - SCE, PG & E and SDG & E) - Investor Owned Utilities. Other/smaller POCOs may/may not follow along.

[sensij]

To be clear. Is that the new rate for only SDGE or all CA POCO's?

I'm not sure which rate you are talking about, but in general my comments are SDG&E specific. However, SCE and PG&E are also under CPUC oversight and generally subject to the same mandates, and the recent rate reform activity has put all three of them on a similar rate glide path with fewer tiers and less differential between the base tier and upper tier(s). All of them will also move to a default TOU billing plan by 2019, with instructions to make the tariffs and rate comparisons more transparent. We'll see.

Tangentially, in discussion of the successor to net metering, it is becoming clear that under current assumptions, PG&E's rates will not be increasing as sharply as SDG&E and SCE over the intermediate term. This results in the model showing less solar uptake in PG&E areas. It is a little perverse, but there are some in the solar industry that seem to be rooting for higher electricity rates, since the end result is likely to be more sales for them.

[ericf1]

The minimum bill is hard cash, it can't be paid with net metering credits. It can be paid with the ~$0.04 / kWh excess generation credit (or whatever they call it) that gets paid out at the end of the year, but no one should really want to do that.

Also, as long as the semi-annual Climate Credit is applied to our bills, that $60-$70/year can be used to offset the $120/year minimum.

[schpen]

thanks for this super helpful hint!

The built in search in the forum software is next to useless.
A far better method is to use Google search and include site:solarpaneltalk.com as an additional search term.

Thanks inetdog - this is the best way to search forums in general. Much appreciated.