A change to the solar structure wasn't really part of the original conversation, but as the conversation rolled on, changes were suggested by AE and vetted by the working group, which included a consultant from Solar Austin, so, as far I understand, it was "blessed" by the industry as being either a positive or neutral.
Kathy Sokolic in the neighborhood or Stan at Lighthouse could probably shed more light on the process to the extent you are interested.
So I just got my utility bill which reflects the new rate structure and solar credit. From what I can tell, Aman is correct that solar producers should come out ahead under the new system. I can attest that even though our family used more than we produced last month, we ended up with a credit - a scenario that would not be possible if we were still doing net metering.
ALSO, HERE'S THE REALLY BIG NEWS! My bill reflected that the credit applied to my WHOLE utility bill and NOT to just the electric portion. I called AE and verified that this will be the case moving forward. So, have no fear about lost credits!
Greg, same story here: I had a small net surplus of 5kWh for last month, but my total electricity charges were -$17.98, which was applied against the rest of the utility bill.
I might add that while it does appear that residential solar customers are coming out well with the new rate structure and solar credit, we've also lost something important: our guaranteed hedge against rising energy costs. With net metering, we were effectively insulated against market variables like fuel charge rates and tiered rate structures. Esp. for homes that regularly produce close to or more than they consume, what does it matter if the rates go up when net billing leaves you with only a customer charge to pay? At present, we're all subject to a number of variables that can dramatically change the overall value of solar for the homeowner. Chief among them is the -$.128/kWh solar credit. If AE should decide to lower the solar credit amount and raise rates, our bills will look a whole lot different. And since they are in charge of the rates, without a lot of community push back, there's not a whole lot we can do to control our own "electricity destiny".
To be fair, AE provided us a substantial rebate to install our system, and our electric bills will never amount to much. So for us, it's not so much about the money, but rather the notion of providing our own power for our home and knowing that by doing so, we will not be subject to cost fluctuations of the energy market. Only time will tell.
I have taken the liberty to convert it to an annual one. With a smaller system and relatively low usage, we will saving more with the new rates and reach a break-even faster.
In case someone else wanted to input usage data to see your bills and savings on an annual basis, I have added the modified spreadsheet.
The usage data is readily available from the lighthouse solar monitor page.
Just a nerdy refinement if we continue to use this spreadsheet framework...make sure the 1% Sales Tax doesn't add to the credit by also returning money back to the customer. Add an IF statement...something like: =IF(SUM(G9:G19)>0, $F20*SUM(G9:G19), 0)
----- There is an important additional consideration as well. The last paragraph of the PDF I mentioned above talks about the Solar credit carry over: "Any amount of solar credit in excess of the customer's total charges for electric service under the residential rate schedule shall be carried forward and applied to the customer's next electric bill. The customer's carry-over credit, if any, shall be reset to zero in the first billing month of each calendar year." ----
I just received my City of Austin bill for September. It uses the new rate plan. The solar credit I received was larger than my overall electric bill. The excess credit was applied to the rest of my City of Austin bill and reduced the rest of the charges for water, solid waste, etc.
It appears as though any solar credits in excess of our electric bill will be credited to the rest of our City of Austin bill for the month. If this continues to be the case, it appears as though we have less of a concern about losing any solar credits on Dec 31 of each year as most of us likely won't have any.
As Amin noted above, the change to the rate structure for solar users was included in the full rate change proposal made by AE last year. You can find the section of the rate proposal change that discusses it here (5 page pdf):
AE includes details about why they made the change to the Value of Solar approach, how they anticipate this change will impact solar users and show several examples.
As a noted above as well, the solar credit will be adjusted at the beginning of every calendar year. AE will use what is called the Value of Solar algorithm to set the solar credit rate. The Value of Solar algorithm is not defined in detail in the above document but the document states that it was developed by AE in a 2006 study. If the Value of Solar had been used in previous years, the solar credit would have been:
2006 10.3 cents/kWh 2007 11.8 cents/kWh 2008 16.4 cents/kWh 2009 13.8 cents/kWh 2010(?) 12.6 cents/kWh (they list this as 2011 but it looks like it should be 2010) 2011 12.8 cents/kWh (current)
I point this out to give you an idea as to what types of solar credit and the size of change in the credit we might expect in the coming years.
