Thanks to the participation of PSC Commissioner, Tim Echols, PSC Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Manager, Jamie Barber, and Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney, Kurt Ebersbach we were able to learn a few things that we didn’t know before the webinar. Below is a recap of the webinar including some things we learned and a few things we are still waiting for clarification on, video of the webinar in its entirety, and some FAQs that help clarify some nuances of the new compensation program.
What we learned:
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Georgia Power customers that were on the Renewable Non-renewable tariff (“RNR”) prior to January, 1 2020 will begin to see credits on their bill in July and retroactive to the January billing cycle. Customers that switch to RNR will begin to see credits on their bill in July and retroactive to when they switched.
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Customers on a Time-of-Use (“TOU”) rate plan will receive peak-hour credit for generation exported during peak hours.
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Georgia Power customers on one of the TOU rate plans will begin to see credits on their bill later this Fall.
What we did not learn:
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If a TOU customer exports enough kWh during peak that they zero out their peak hour consumption, we do not know how the excess is then applied, i.e., whether they will be credited at the Renewable Cost Benefit (“RCB”) rate or credited to one of the other price tiers such as a shoulder or off-peak rate.
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How Georgia Power will keep track of the program caps and share that information with customers and the solar industry.
GA Solar will continue to keep track of all developments relating to this program. Stay connected by joining GA Solar and signing up for our eNews letter.
View Webinar
If you couldn’t make it to the webinar or were one of the unlucky people that registered but couldn’t get in, you can view the webinar in its entirety below:
The following are Q&As raised during the webinar:
Q: Does monthly netting apply to all Georgia utilities?
A: No. The new monthly netting compensation program came out of the 2019 Rate Case presided at the Public Service Commission (“PSC”). The PSC regulates only investor-owned utilities (“IOU”) in Georgia and Georgia Power is the only IOU in Georgia. All other utilities including EMCs and Municipal Coops are self-regulating. While a small handful of self-regulating utilities offer net metering or programs similar to monthly netting, most do not. Rates of Solar is a great resource to learn more about what your utility offers.
Q: How do I know if I qualify?
A: Existing Renewable and Non Renewable Tariff (RNR) and Energy Offset (EO) customers should have received an email or postal mail notifying them of the change. Additional communications to be provided to customers in each phase as details are confirmed.
Existing RNR customers who are eligible will not need to sign-up for additional communications or “opt-in”; they will be automatically moved over to monthly; during this process a customer may need to provide updated information (i.e. one-line).
All eligible EO customers will be offered the opportunity to switch over to RNR pending completion of required documentation (GPC will contact customers to begin the process).
Georgia Power will host a webinar for solar installers and stakeholders once the tariff is approved by the GPSC https://www.georgiapower.com/rnr
Q: What are the caps on the monthly netting program?
A: The monthly netting program is limited to 5,000 participants –OR– an additional 32 MW of capacity, whichever comes first. The additional 32 MW applies to solar energy systems installed after January 1, 2020.
Q: How quickly do you think the 5,000 participants cap will be reached at current rate of installations?
A: This is difficult to determine. While there are close to 2,000 Georgia Power solar customers, about half of them are on the RNR tariff and the other half are not. Those not on the RNR tariff will have to switch over to RNR in order to get monthly netting. Even if all the non-RNR customers switch to RNR, there are still approximately 3,000 spots left which will take time to fill.
Because commercial customers can also qualify for monthly netting, the more likely scenario is we will reach the 32 MW capacity cap before we reach the 5,000 cap. We do not yet know how Georgia Power will monitor these caps and how that information will be shared with customers and solar companies.
Q: Does monthly netting affect/reduce the fixed charges on a customer’s bill?
A: No, all fixed charges will not be reduced by compensation for energy sold back to Georgia Power.
Q: A customer on a time of use (“TOU”) rate plan who exports power during on-peak hours will get a credit equal to the on-peak kWh cost?
A: Yes, that is correct. Those on a TOU rate plan can expect to see these credits on their bill in the fall. It is taking a little longer to make this change for TOU.
Q: Are commercial customers still limited to 125% of their peak kW?
A: Yes, commercial customers are subject to the terms in the RNR tariff which includes a limit of 250kW AC or 125% of their peak demand.
Q: The new metering mentions “rooftop solar”. Does that allow residential ground based installations or does it have to be rooftop?
A: Rooftop solar is a term often used to refer to behind the meter (“BTM”) solar energy systems. BTM means that the energy being generated by the solar energy system is first consumed at the premises and will offset the amount of electricity purchased from the utility. Any excess electricity is then sold to the utility. The new monthly netting applies to all Georgia power RNR customer BTM applications regardless of whether it is installed on the roof or ground.
Q: Will customers on Flatbill or subscribe to the GPC community solar program be allowed to receive monthly netting as well?
A: Customers that are on Flatbill or subscribe to the Community solar will not be allowed to receive monthly netting.
Q: If you are an RNR customer you will have to cancel your community solar subscription to get monthly netting?
A: Yes, if you keep the community solar subscription you will remain on instantaneous netting rather than the monthly netting.
So there you have it, Monthly-Netting adds about 30% to the value of Rooftop Solar! GA Solar is excited we were part of a great coalition of solar advocates able to achieve this victory. We will continue working towards making it available to ALL Georgians. In order to do that, we’ll have to take the issue to Georgia's Congress. That is something we’ve begun discussing already, but we need your help!
If Monthly-Netting is helpful to you we’d really appreciate your support towards our on-going efforts.
Thank you to those who have contributed to GA Solar! You make what we do possible.