Net metering turns out to be an exceptionally helpful instrument for private individuals who need to go green yet can’t pay for full PV frameworks. It gives them a significant incentive to use solar power. While they build up their funds, particularly if they don’t have a spot of land where they can set up panels or don’t have cash outlay to put in a complete framework.
Net metering has been utilized by solar clients around the nation for over 40 years and is credited with developing into one of the most mainstream methods to support PV adoption.
There are two sorts of net metering.
Gross metering: in which all of a private PV framework’s yield is assessed at full retail cost and then credited against general use.
Net metering: in which yield is assessed at reduced costs, often set by state law.
How Net Metering Works
When you switch to a solar energy system, it pays for itself over time. After that, the energy it generates is free at least, until the panels wear out and need to be replaced. And because the sun doesn’t give a hoot about what time of day it is or how much you’re using at any given moment, your home can actually produce more than you use on a regular basis.
Net metering gives you credit for that extra energy when your power meter swings in reverse, so to speak. The way it works is this: you get fed up with paying the electric company for electricity. You decide to install solar panels on your roof so that you can start saving money instead.
After your installation is complete, you invest in some new appliances and turn off all non-essential lights. You might even unplug some older ones that are still running on their original 1980s technology (you know they’re sucking up electricity even when they’re turned off).
You finally have enough excess power being generated by your solar panels to cover what your house uses on average after dark. So every night, that power meter runs backward as compensation for all the free electricity that’s been generated during daylight hours.
Cons of Net Metering
Net metering is practical and helpful, but it’s not perfect. One of its biggest problems is that it isn’t available to homes with batteries and microgrids, which are becoming increasingly popular in place of traditional homes with utility companies.
When these systems aren’t connected to the grid, they can’t be net-metered and don’t have access to credits for excess energy that goes back into the grid. This type of structure makes sense for homes in areas where net metering isn’t available, but it limits their flexibility in terms of their options for energy sources.
Technical Feasibility
It’s one of the ways that states encourage people to set up PV frameworks by making them less expensive. The system proprietor saves cash on energy use from their private PV framework and gives over their surplus generation to be added to what other people are utilizing in the state.
Because of this, it can make sense for proprietors to put more vitality into their private PV framework than they utilize around evening time, then get a credit back from the utility for whatever remains of their vitality creation that doesn’t get utilized immediately.
This provides an incentive for proprietors to put extra vitality into their private systems—which in turn brings down expenses and subsequently makes PV frameworks less expensive over time while supporting the development of new capacity.
Charges of Net Metering
Solar Net Metering is the process of spinning your electric meter forward when you are producing excess solar electricity, and backward when you are drawing electricity from the grid. To get the most out of your solar power system, you need net metering.
Net metering allows you to sell the excess solar electricity generated by your system back to your utility at the same price that you pay for grid power. So if your local utility charges $0.20 per kWh, then they will pay you $0.20 per kWh for the excess electricity produced by your system. This means that you will be able to offset more of your bill with clean solar energy.
If you are connected to a net-metered system, you will not receive a check each month for the electricity generated by your system. Instead, any surplus electricity that is not consumed by your home or business will be sent back out onto the electrical grid and used somewhere else in your local community.
Your utility company keeps track of this energy flow and credits it against future bills, effectively making all of your electricity consumption appear as though it were coming from one direction.
| Charges | Facility / Amenity Size |
| Free | 0 to 20 kilowatt |
| 500 | 20 to 50 kilowatt |
| 1000 | 50 to 100 kilowatt |
| 5000 | 100 to 1000 kilowatt |