What Happens to Unused Credits In Net Metering?
When the sun is shining, everyone wants their solar panels to operate well. When your system creates more power than your home needs, it sends it to the grid and gives you credits. What happens to the kilowatt hour credits that you didn’t utilize when you were net energy metering? Do they just disappear? This is the complete story, warts and all.
Picture this: it’s July. Before dinner, your solar array creates more electricity than you’ll ever need. You get credit for the additional. These can roll over like frequent flyer miles, and your energy payment can linger in your inbox for months. You float toward November, using your credit card on days when the light hardly shines.
But there’s an issue. Different states and utilities deal with these leftover credits in different ways. In many countries, additional credits from one month carry over to the next, adding up from months with a lot of credits to months with few. Your balance goes up, which will help you pay your bills in the future. But here’s the catch: many areas have a “true-up” or settlement once a year. That’s the day of judgment. Utilities check your final credit balance and then determine what to do with it.
Things are getting intriguing now. If you have credits left over at the end of the year, certain utilities will give you your money back. But don’t get too excited yet. The price is often lower than what you would pay at a store. Two to four cents per kilowatt-hour is not nearly enough for that extra gift. Where else? They will set your credit amount to zero, just like a teacher erasing the chalkboard. Then you will start afresh for the new year. Poof! Your summer savings are gone if you didn’t use them.
Some sites even let you give away credits that you don’t need. These surplus kWh can sometimes go to schools, charities, or neighbors. This is excellent karma, but it doesn’t make you a lot of money.
So, what can we learn from this? Pay particular attention to how much credit you get and the seasons. Know the regulations of your utility. Your installer probably knows everything there is to know, so ask them. With solar power, you might feel like a modern-day alchemist who can change sunlight into gold, but those “unused credits” might sometimes go away while you’re not looking. You can get every last penny from the sun’s kindness if you stay wise.