Sangre de Cristo Electric Association, Inc. > Save Energy & Money > Net Meter (Solar, Wind, Hydro) Bill Explanation

Net Meter (Solar, Wind, Hydro) Bill Explanation

Production

This is the amount of kilowatt-hours (kWhs) that your solar generation system has produced.

kWh Usage

This is your usage over what your generating system produces.

If your generating system produces more than you use this will be a negative number and will be added to your Net Banked.

Net Banked KWH

This is like your energy savings account. Your monthly invoice will show how much energy you have produced in excess of how much you have used. In this case, the number in the kWh usage column will be a negative number.

Your invoice shows you your bank balance as of the time billing is processed at the end of the month.

Banked energy is used before any usage is added to your bill.

If your usage is higher than your production, you will only be charged for the amount of usage over your production. If your production is higher than your usage, your bank balance will grow.

Your banked kWh balance will carry over from month to month until the end of the calendar year or until it’s used up when your energy consumption exceeds your solar production. If you have any unused kWh in your net banked balance on December 31st, you’ll be reimbursed at the current rate for excess generation (referred to as avoided cost under Rate Schedule 6 Net Metering). This amount will be applied as a credit on your December bill.

Peak Demand Charge

This charge is based on each member’s highest one-hour energy need (kW) during peak hours – 5-9 p.m. Monday through Saturday within the monthly billing cycle.

Think of this charge like traffic. Most of the day, the road is clear. But during rush hour, when everyone is using power at the same time, the system has to handle that peak demand. The electric system is built to handle those busiest moments—even if they only happen for a short time. And those peak periods can drive a significant portion of the overall cost to deliver power. Your Demand Charge reflects the highest level of energy you use during peak hours (5–9 p.m.).

Service Availability Charge

The Service Availability Charge recovers what it costs SDCEA to make electricity available to use at our member’s home and businesses 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This charge covers the costs of maintaining our electric system, linemen restoring outages, the fixed costs of our buildings, vehicle maintenance, property taxes, finance, supplies and equipment, software, and staffing to operate the company. These costs are fixed, in that they are necessary to make service available on our system as a whole – whether a consumer uses their electricity one month a year or 12 months a year.

Part of being tied into the electric grid means you will still have access to electricity even when the sun is not shining. If there is a power outage, a crew will be dispatched to fix the problem with no additional charges to you.

The service availability charge is unavoidable by any excess production.