Yes. Customers participating in an existing NEM program will be automatically enrolled into SVCE’s Net Metering Program. Net consumption is billed monthly, and credits roll forward month-to-month.
Every April, SVCE pays residential and commercial NEM customers for surplus generation. SVCE will pay two times the net surplus compensation rate (NSC rate) per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of any excess solar that is produced on an annual basis. The NSC rate is based on current market prices and varies each month. This means you will get paid more for excess solar with SVCE than if you were with PG&E’s bundled service. Income-qualified customers will receive additional compensation at a price 2.5 times the NSC rate per kilowatt-hour.
Customers considering installing solar or other forms of distributed generation can become SVCE NEM customers, assuming they meet PG&E’s NEM program requirements. Generally, this includes customers with renewable electric generation systems (such as solar, wind, biogas and fuel cell installations) that are less than 1,000 kW.
For more information visit svcleanenergy.org/solar.
PG&E performs a true-up when your energy supply service is changed from PG&E to SVCE. This process is required by PG&E anytime a customer changes service providers. From the time you switch to SVCE, your NEM billing will be completed as follows:
PG&E will continue to charge you for all non-generation services. “Minimum Bill Charges” and gas charges will be due on your monthly statements, and other non-generation charges (such as delivery, transmission, public purpose programs, conservation incentive adjustment, etc.) will be billed annually via PG&E’s annual true-up process, as described in your monthly Net Metering Statement.
SVCE generation charges will be settled within your monthly bill, rather than PG&E’s annual true-up process. If credits for generation are earned, they will be noted on the bill as well.
Customers will remain on the same rate schedule, including closed rate schedules such as E-6, regardless of a transition to or from service with SVCE. There are only a few rate schedules that are not open to SVCE customers, such as SmartRate and Peak Day Pricing.
A customer transitioning to service with SVCE will remain on the same NEM program design that they were on before switching to SVCE. From the perspective of the NEM grandfathering eligibility, PG&E will treat an SVCE customer no differently than customers receiving all of their electric services from PG&E. The SVCE customer on NEM will get their generation credits from SVCE rather than PG&E, but their eligibility for grandfathering is unchanged by a move to or from SVCE.
The size of your PV system will depend on a number of factors including your energy usage, roof configuration, and goals. For example, some customers seek to maximize their return on investment by sizing their system to reduce their usage just enough to avoid paying for electricity during the most expensive times of the day. Other customers opt to eliminate their carbon footprint by sizing their system to offset 100% of their usage.
Yes, it is possible to oversize a solar system to generate excess revenue through SVCE’s Net Energy Metering program, as long as the primary purpose of the solar installation is to provide electricity for on-site use. Customers are required to interconnect with PG&E, which does not generally allow customers to interconnect systems that exceed 110% of on-site electric demand.
Visit the Solar + Battery Assistant at solar.svcleanenergy.org to learn more about your options and connect with an independent solar expert to find the right size and solar panels for your needs.
The cost of a solar PV system depends on the system size, equipment options (e.g. the make and model of panels and inverters), permitting fees and labor costs.
The Federal Investment Tax Credit currently provides a credit of 30% of the net cost of the installed system. Please consult a tax professional for more information before making any purchasing decisions.
As a Silicon Valley Clean Energy customer, you have access to the Solar+Battery Assistant and receive $1,000 off an electrical panel upgrade, if necessary for the solar panel addition.
With the Solar + Battery Assistant, receive support every step of the way while shopping from an independent expert and compare panel costs and sizes that meet your solar needs.
No. Customers are not required to install energy efficiency improvements before installing solar or participating in the NEM program. However, we strongly encourage customers to explore increasing energy efficiency as a first step before installing solar, as it is typically the most cost-effective way to lower your energy bills. Additionally, taking steps to maximize energy efficiency before installing solar can allow you to reduce the scale of the system you are planning on installing and reduce upfront solar costs.
Feed-in Tariffs are flat-rate payments per kilowatt-hour for electricity generated by a renewable resource under a long-term contract. Feed-in tariffs allow small producers of renewable energy a certain return on investment without the volatility of wholesale and retail market pricing.
Net energy metering (NEM) also allows small producers of renewable energy to offset their use of energy with excess production from their renewable generators. Under a NEM program, production of energy effectively rolls back the meter so that the customer is ultimately paid for the net of their production and use.
Feed-In Tariffs and Net Metering are both methods by which a homeowner or other customer is compensated for the renewable energy fed back into the grid. The main differences between the two programs are the type of rate (flat vs. dependent on time-of-day generation), number of meters required (two vs. one), and flexibility (long-term contract vs. non-binding program enrollment).
SVCE currently offers an attractive NEM program, but does not currently offer a Feed-In Tariff program.
SVCE is implementing the Solar Billing Plan, as ordered by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and designed by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), for new solar customers who submitted interconnection applications to PG&E after April 14, 2023. Since then, those customers in SVCE’s territory have been compensated for excess generation under NEM 2.0 policy at the retail rate. Beginning April 15, 2024, the value of exported electricity for those customers with Solar Billing Plan agreements will be based on the CPUC’s Avoided Cost Calculator. For more information, you may visit https://www.pge.com/assets/pge/docs/clean-energy/solar/nem-bill-overview.pdf.
The CPUC’s decision does not impact existing rooftop solar customers. You will maintain your current compensation rates and remain on your current NEM tariff for 20 years after the date your system was connected to the electric grid. You can add battery storage without impacting your NEM tariff.
